EXOD625 Jewish law recognizes not only a right to self-defense, but a positive duty to protect endangered life, elevating the “Good Samaritan” principle (that is, the duty to rescue) to the status of a legal requirement. [See Mishnah, Sanhedrin 8:7; Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 73ff; Shulchan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 425:1-2. Rashi and Tosafot, ad.loc. Sanhedrin 73a; and Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Rotzeah 1:6.] The law also commands that we hinder a perpetrator (rodef; lit. “pursuer”) with force, even lethal force, from committing a crime, where no other means of prevention are available. Limits on Self-Defense. Given the overwhelming sanctity of life, however, the Rabbis recognized the enormous danger of issuing an obligation that overrides the prohibition against force, so they placed stringent limitations on applying the principle of defense: … 2. Force must be a spontaneous reaction to present danger, not a premeditated act of preemption or revenge. One may not kill or injure another to avenge or punish a crime. Punishment is reserved for the criminal justice system--with its careful inquiry into the facts, its procedural safeguards, and its presumption of innocence. One may cause harm in self-defense only in a moment of unavoidable urgency, when life is in immediate danger. [See for example Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Geneiva 9:7-10, Meir ben Baruch (Maharam bar Baruch) cited in Mordekhai, Bava Kamma 196, and Rashi, ad. Loc., Exodus 22:1]