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"They threatened that if I did not kill him, they would kill me. What should I have done?"
He received a clear threat that he must kill an unfamiliar person, otherwise he will die in his place.
What did he have to do?
He addressed this question to a sage who decided the fate of his life
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The digital gemara
Rabbi Chaim David Kowalski
prison
Criminals
In collaboration with the Digital Gemara
Friday, 18 December 2020, 07:27
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Pesach Tractate Daf Ka (Photography and Editing: Walla! NEWS)
The story told in the Gemara in the Pesach Tractate is a true suspense story: a Jew came to a meeting with a rabbi, one of the greatest Amoraim of the Talmudic period, and told him that he got involved with the underworld: "The village governor told me, ' The Tzaddik, what should he do, and asked if he is allowed to kill that person to save his life?
Rabba answers him in a well-known sentence: Even if they kill you, you must not kill that person. Why? The Tzaddik explained to him that who said your blood is redder? Maybe that man's blood is redder? Your life is not more expensive than his own, so you must not take his life to save your life. From this the Gemara learns that murder is one of the offenses to which the law "kill and do not pass" applies - must not be passed even in case of supervision. Even if a person's life is in danger, he must not murder others in order to be saved.
Where did the great Amora learn this law?
The Talmud says that he learned this from simple logic: the lives of all people are equal, and there is no justification for one person to kill another person in order to be saved.
It's so simple, that the Torah didn't even have to write it.
Threatened to kill me, may I kill another instead?
Illustration (Photo: Reuters)
Rabbi Chaim David Kowalski, presenter of the
digital gemara
, explained that from this we learn an important thing: people tend to look at reality through their glasses, through their egos.
From the point of view of the ego, I feel I am the most important and the whole world revolves around me.
If something bothers me - I will remove it, and if someone threatens me - I will do everything to be saved.
But the Torah teaches us to rise above the ego.
We have to look at things from an objective point of view.
And from that point of view, I find that I am not really more important than other people.
All human beings are important and precious, "a kind person created in B'Tselem," so I must not harm other people or exploit them for my own benefit.
A Jew should accustom himself to judging reality objectively, not according to what is convenient for him personally but according to what is really right.
Like a judge in a court of law, who does not tend to one of the parties but impartially examines who is right and who is not.
In the same way, we should rise above our ego, and not just think about ourselves - but what is the best and right thing to do in any situation.
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