[Avodah] Just walk away

[Joseph Kaplan]

> But here
> you're putting your ruchnius above his ruchnius. Stealing a bracha is
> worth 10 gold coins; how much is stealing a (literally) once in a
> lifetime mitzvah

In the given situation we obviously don't know what he wants; if we did,
we'd simply follow it. So the bystander has two choices: assume he wants
you to stay which will result in his death or assume he wants you to leave
which will result in his living. You may want to, and may have the right,
to give up your life in such a situation. I don't think you have the
right to give up someone else's life. And if I were in that situation,
I'd rather defend myself after 120 years if I left and made the wrong
assumption than if I stayed and I made the wrong assumption.


[Email #2. -micha]

>> Yes, I think you have an obligation to
>> save a Jew's life, by depriving him of the obligation to die.  I know
>> I would thank you for it.  Do you think you are doing a Jew a favor by
>> requiring him to martyr himself?  Let him live and do other mitzvoth.

> What gives you the right to deprive him of this rare mitzvah, for which
> Rabbi Akiva longed all his life, and which the Bet Yosef was promised
> and then for some reason was deprived of?

> It seems to me that you should leave only if it appears that the person
> is going to fail the test, or if he explicitly asks you to.

We're not all R. Akivas. Indeed, almost none of us are. I think we should
be able to take what in my profession is called judicial notice that most,
if not almost all, if not all, Jews would prefer not to die under such
circumstances if possible. If the person is actually R. Akiva, then all
bets are off.

Joseph

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