LEV209 Elisha b. Abuyah, a contemporary of R. Akiba and R. Tarfon, is chiefly remembered as the scholar who eventually became an apostate. Nevertheless, his accepted teachings are duly recorded in the Talmud: "A man who has good deeds to his credit and has also studied much Torah, is like one who builds a structure and lays stones below it as its foundation, and clay bricks above it for the structure. Then even should much water collect, the building will not wash away. But a man who has no good deeds to his credit, though he has also studied much Torah, is like one who builds a structure and lays down a foundation of clay bricks and puts the stones above that. Then even a little water will undermine the building" (Avot deRabbi Natan 24). Using language that belies the timidity we often associated with mystics, the thirteenth-century Franco-German adept, Judah the Pious, boldly states: "Better is a little done out of awe for God than a pack of rascals who sits all day studying but does not do much else" (Judah Hehasid, Sefer Hasidim, 17). For "doing Torah" forms the basis of Jewish character, shaping our lives by guiding our actions: [this and preceding verse]. The next chapter in Leviticus deals with stealing and defrauding, with respecting laborers, not taking advantage of the deaf or blind, showing no partiality in a court of law, and calling for love, not grudges, between neighbors. These injunctions are not solely for analysis or intellectual musing. They demand doing. "Wherever you go, mitzvot accompany you. 'When you build a new house, make a railing for your roof' (Deuteronomy 22:8). When you make a door for it, a mitzvah accompanies you. 'And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house' (Deuteronomy 6:9) When you go to cut your hair, a mitzvah accompanies you. 'Do not round off the corners of your head' (Leviticus 19:27). And so with plowing, sowing, and harvesting, and so with everything! (Deuteronomy R. 6:3). Nahmanides, the great medieval Spanish commentator, directs us to learn so as to observe mitzvot: "Take care to study Torah always so that you will be able to fulfill its commands. When you rise from study, ponder carefully what you have learned; see what there is in it which you can put into practice" (Letter of Nahmanides in Feuer, A Letter for the Ages). (Continued at [[EXOD191]] Exodus 13:19 bones BOROJMV 258-9.)

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LEV210 In Judaism, generosity, nedivut, is as much concerned with "how" as "how much." Thus, "R. Yohanan b. Zakkai told his five disciples to find the chief characteristic a person should cultivate. R. Eliezer said, 'A friendly eye.' R. Joshua said, 'A good friend.' R. Yose said, 'A good neighbor.' R. Simon said, 'Seeing the consequences of one's acts.' R. Elazar b. Arakh said 'A good heart.' R. Yohanan responded, 'I prefer Elazar's answer because it will lead to all the rest" (Avot 2:9). R. Yohanan understood that, with the proper intention, the correct "how," other positive behavior follows almost automatically. So too, the hasidic master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk taught: "The Torah, speaking of God's commands, says, '… which you shall do, and live thereby' [this verse]. That means, perform them with liveliness and enthusiasm'" (Elkins, Melodies from My Father's House). From Yohanan b. Zakkai to the Kotzker Rebbe, our sages stressed the value of nedivut as referring to quality, not quantity, because rich Jews were such a tiny minority (though an important one) among us. Much of what they said also applies to us, a generation blessed with sufficient means to elevate shopping to a seriously pursued avocation. Our tradition instructs us to guard against such selfishness and greed, teaching us that sharing ourselves is every bit as important as sharing our funds. So Francie [co-author Frances Weinman Schwartz] remembers how "Jewish" a song from her NFTY camping days seemed: "Love is nothing till you give it away.…" Indeed, most of us have found ourselves fervently agreeing with the prayer of our Yiddish ancestors: "May God save me from the stingy of heart!"

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LEV211 A fundamental Jewish concept gleaned from several chapters in this volume is that there is no higher priority in Judaism than the value of life. If the man's life is indeed in danger, then Maimonides (and normative Jewish law) rules that a Jew can violate every one of the Commandments in the Torah, except for the three cardinal sins (adultery, idol-worship, and murder) in order to save a human life--any human life, even a sick one (Maimonides, Hilchot Yesodai HaTorah 5:1-2). This is based on [this] verse that commands a Jew to stay alive in order to observe the commandments. The Talmud interprets this command to signify that it is preferable to violate one commandment like Shabbat in order to keep many more Sabbaths in the future, and uses the Torah phrase, "You shall live by them," to deduce that you shall not die by them (i.e., the commandments) (Yoma 85b).

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LEV227 The Talmud, based on [this] verse in Leviticus, explains why Judaism places such a high value on human life. It says that if a person can live another day to do more Mitzvot, it is imperative to violate one Mitzvah today. Thus, it can be said that except for three circumstances, there is no value in Judaism more important than the preservation of life (Yoma 85b). The juxtaposition of "He shall live by them" after stating in the same verse "You shall keep my statutes," shows us that Jews should read to verse, "You shall keep my statutes… as long as you live by them." Rabbi Judah, based on our first verse, will say that a Jew's purpose in life is to do Mitzvot. If Jews are alive, they can do more Mitzvot. Therefore, one can violate one Mitzvah (of the 610) in order to stay alive and do other Mitzvot.

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LEV221 Religion is not so much knowledge of God as godly living. What distinguishes a religion from a system of science or philosophy is its concern with man's behavior. Theories of reality are vital to it only to the degree to which they help transform the lives of men and to affect their conduct. The inner response to the Divine, which forms the root of all religion, crystallizes itself into two concepts of the holy, into ideas of God and of the human soul and its destiny, and into convictions regarding personal and social duty. Emerging from the realm of vague feeling into definite thoughts and beliefs, it permeates the mind and the world. By serving as an extra dimension of their souls, inspiring, uplifting, and disciplining them, religion transforms the lives of men. The sacred, though as sharply distinguished from the secular as sunlight mountain air is distinguished from the air of the valley, does not remain isolated from it. The sacred strives to irradiate the secular, to purify and to ennoble it, and to endow it with its own transcendent values. In this regard the sacred resembles the beautiful, which while forming the special province of art, seeks to affect all experience. It translates itself into a quality of living and finds expression in thought and in action. Of the precepts of the Torah it was stated that man was to observe them in order that he may live by them [this verse, Ezek. 20:11, 13, 21).

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LEV212 Desta is a 38-year-old new patient for me, asking for help getting pregnant. … The workup and testing I do show Asherman’s syndrome: the front and back walls of the uterus have scarred together… Desta’s risk of death in pregnancy is somewhere between 10 and 50 percent because her heart disease is now severe. .... Desta is very clear that she is willing to die to get a child far enough along in gestation to survive, even if it means that the child will face serious challenges due to prematurity and/or losing his or her mother. I look at my hands. It is not unreasonable to surgically correct her Asherman's. I have the know-how, training, and setting to do it relatively safely. Desta cannot do it for herself. As a member of the medical community, do I have an obligation to restore Desta’s uterus to a relatively normal state? I know I am obligated to return “lost property,” (Deuteronomy 22:2); I see myself as morally obligated to heal people. These are expressions of tikkun olam, the way to be God's partner in the ongoing act of creation. But the sole purpose of the surgery in her mind is to get her pregnant, a much more life-threatening condition for her than it normally is for most women. What would God want me to do? Who am I to judge what is right for her? I believe she clearly understands the risks of pregnancy to herself and her potential child. In general, I like to think of myself as a guide to the complex medical world for my patients. For me, “Love your neighbor as yourself” means respecting an individual's desires, hopes, and dreams, even if they differ from my own. In the end, a patient gets to decide for herself if she wants a treatment or therapy. A patient can choose surgery and chemotherapy or just let the cancer take its course.... If she gets pregnant and dies, I will feel my surgical actions aided and abetted her death. Although it would be with her permission and blessing--even fulfilling her greatest hope--I will know I hastened her death. In medical ethics the rule is nonmaleficence, “first do no harm.” Even though harm is far from guaranteed in this case, the risk is high enough that I believe by refusing to do the surgery I am protecting her life. Judaism clearly mandates the protection of life over nearly all other commandments, based on the Rabbis’ interpretation of Leviticus 18:5. I tell Desta I will not do the surgery. … Rabbi Akiva’s classic scenario with the water and two men in the desert does not fit from whether either one of us stand. I see her life versus a life that does not yet exist and hence cannot be snuffed out. Of course she gets the water. But she can already see her not-yet-conceived son or daughter and, like any mother, will of course give the water to her child. ... Nearly ten years have passed since this encounter.... I stole possibility, hope, and dreams by saying no. Those too are a part of being made in God's image, hence a part of what I am charged with caretaking. I still wonder if I did the right thing. (By Judith Levitan)

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LEV218 Rabbi Eliezer said, “If circumcision, which pertains to only one of the two-hundred-and-forty-eight limbs of the body, takes precedence over the prohibitions of Shabbat, all the more so the saving of the entire body should take precedence over the prohibitions of Shabbat.” (After the Talmud offers a number of proofs for this, this statement is offered:) Said Rabbi Yehuda in the name of Rabbi Shmuel, “If I had been there, I would have offered an even finer proof text, specifically, “He shall live by them” (Leviticus 18:5) [that is to say, one should live by the commandments] and not die by them. Babylonian Talmud Yoma 85b.

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LEV226 The Rabbis took (this verse) and interpreted it to mean that in cases of physical survival and observance of the Law, physical survival took precedence. "He shall live by them," the Rabbis interpreted to mean that no one should die as a result of observing the Law of God. Yoma 85b, Sanhedrin 74a. This rather open-ended leniency apparently was restricted in the case of idolatry, incest, and murder. Sanhedrin 74a. [However] ... The Rabbis opinions went from apparently favoring physical life over Law under all conditions, to limiting this preference of life over Law to only when one is forced into committing any breach of God's Law by unusual circumstance. If one lives in a time where the law of the regime forces Jews to breach all God's Law they should be martyred before allowing the regime to succeed in this endeavor. Other Rabbis took this further and said that even under unusual circumstances (not a regular rule of the regime) one should not allow any breach God's Law if it is to be practiced in public. Ibid, 74a-b.

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LEV225 The ninth level (of The Stringency of Mitzvos and Classification of Punishment) is the severity of sins that require one to forfeit his life rather than transgress them. Our Sages, z"l, said (Sanhedrin 74a), "If one is told regarding any transgression in the Torah, 'Sin, and then you will not be killed,' he must sin and not submit himself to death, as the pasuk says [this verse], '… which a person shall do, that he may live by them' -- that he may live by them and not die through them." [This, however, is] to the exclusion of idolatry, illicit relations, and murder: if regarding any one of these three he is told, 'Sin, and then you will not be killed,' he must submit himself to death rather than sin – – even if he is told to sin in private. [Even] regarding any one of the mitzvos of the Torah, if he is told to sin in public, then he must submit himself to death rather than sin, as the pasuk says (Yayikra 22:32), "I shall be sanctified among the Children of Yisrael"; and in times of religious persecution, even [when forced to sin] in private, one must submit himself to death rather than sin.

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LEV219 Rashi there comments that "one is expected to perform the commandments only when he is sure he shall live by them, and not when in the performance of them he risks the possibility of losing his life. Therefore we may violate the Sabbath in cases of safek [uncertainty]." Maimonides' statement is the most instructive. "It is forbidden to delay violating the Sabbath for a sick person whose life is in danger, for it says, 'which if a man do them he shall live by them' and not die by them. We are thus taught that the commandments of the Torah are not intended to inflict punishment upon mankind but to bestow mercy, loving-kindness, and peace. As for the apikorsim, who say that this is a violation of the Sabbath and is forbidden, in regard to them Scripture says, 'I have given them laws which are not good, and commandments by which they cannot live'" (Ezekiel 20:25). Hilkhot Shabbat, Ch. 2, Para. 3.

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