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LEVITICUS | 19:16 idly — LEV478 God's ownership of our bodies is also behi...

LEV478 God's ownership of our bodies is also behind every Jew's obligation to help other people escape sickness, injury, and death. (Leviticus 19:16). This duty does not rest on some general (and vague) humanitarian reason or on anticipated reciprocity; it rather grows out of our role in helping God preserve what is His. Specialized training makes physicians especially able and, therefore, especially obligated to aid people in overcoming illness (S.A. Yoreh De'ah 336:1), but we all share in that duty. On the basis of (this verse, "Nor shall you stand idly by the blood of your fellow"), the Talmud proclaims that obligation to provide medical aid encompasses expenditure of the community's financial resources for this purpose. And Nahmanides understood the community's obligation to provide medical care as one of many applications of the Torah's principle "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18). Conversely, the individual Jew, when ill, has the reciprocal obligation to seek medical care.

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Source KeyDORFFLOV
Verse19:16
Keyword(s)idly
Source Page(s)234-5
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