LEV1067 Rabbi Akiba's interpretation of Leviticus 25:36 is based on a clever sequential reading of the literal Hebrew text. In Hebrew the text reads: V'hai > aheecha > eemach. The first Hebrew word V'hai, means according to R. Akiba: "(your) life." Since the word "(your) life" appears (in the Hebrew order of words) before the Hebrew word > aheecha, "your brother," Rabbi Akiba used this Hebrew sentence structure to indicate that "your life takes first precedence over the life of your brother." More important, however, is the general principle which it presents. It is not an obligation in Jewish ethics to give one's life for another. So, for example, in BT Pesachim 25b concerning a man who came before Raba with the following dilemma: "The governor of my town has ordered me: 'Go and kill so-and-so; and if not I will kill you.' Raba replied: 'Let him kill you rather than that you should commit murder; what reason do you see for thinking that your blood is redder? Perhaps his blood is redder." Rashi explains that according to Judaism it is permitted to sin in order to save another's life, but not to murder. The principle is that there is no criterion for evaluating the "utility" or worth of one individual or another. Jewish ethics does not evaluate the "utility" of the individual and since one life will be lost in any case, two evils cannot be allowed to be perpetrated; i.e., the loss of a human life and the use of a Good person to carry out the first Evil. Clearly, the ultimate triumph of Good over Evil is the struggle which Judaism is concerned with. Only in the defying of Evil can Good be served; even at the expense of human life.