LEV214 Human life is sacrosanct, and of supreme and infinite worth. Life is of itself the summum bonum of human existence. The Divine law was ordained only "that man shall live by it" [this verse]. Hence any precept, whether religious or ethical, is automatically suspended if it conflicts with the interest of human life (Yoma 85b), the exceptions being only adultery, murder and immorality (adultery and incest)--the three cardinal crimes against God, one's neighbor and oneself--as expressly stipulated in the Bible itself (Pesachim 25a and b; Yoreh De'ah, 195:3; 157:1; based on Deut. 6:5 and 22:26). The value of human life is infinite and beyond measure, so that any part of life--even if only an hour or a second-- is of precisely the same worth as seventy years of it, just as any fraction of infinity, being indivisible, remains infinite. Accordingly, to kill a decrepit patient approaching death constitutes exactly the same crime of murder as to kill a young, healthy person who may still have many decades to live (footnote five). For the same reason, one life is worth as much as a thousand or a million lives (Footnote six) – – infinity is not increased by multiplying it. This explains the unconditional Jewish opposition to deliberate euthanasia as well as to the surrender of one hostage in order to save the others if the whole group is otherwise threatened with death (footnote seven).