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N9. Helping a Person Who Needs Rescue.    [Make a Comment]

We are duty-bound to help a person who needs rescue provided it is reasonably within our ability to do so.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scriptures

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 (Maimonides RP247; Chinuch C600)
If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker's private parts with her hand, you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

Jeremiah 22:3
This is what ADONAI says: "Do what is right and just; rescue the wronged from their oppressors; do nothing wrong or violent to the stranger, orphan or widow; don't shed innocent blood in this place."

Psalm 82:4
Rescue the destitute and needy; deliver them from the power of the wicked!

Proverbs 24:11-12
Yes, rescue those being dragged off to death - won't you save those about to be killed? If you say, "We knew nothing about it," won't he who weighs hearts discern it? Yes, he who guards you will know it and repay each one as his deeds deserve.

Matthew 9:10-13
While Yeshua was in the house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners came and joined him and his talmidim at the meal. When the P'rushim saw this, they said to his talmidim, "Why does your rabbi eat with tax-collectors and sinners?" But Yeshua heard the question and answered, "The ones who need a doctor aren't the healthy but the sick. As for you, go and learn what this means: 'I want compassion rather than animal-sacrifices.' For I didn't come to call the 'righteous,' but sinners!"

Supportive Scriptures

Matthew 25:31-46
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all the angels, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The 'sheep' he will place at his right hand and the 'goats' at his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest, I needed clothes and you provided them, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the people who have done what God wants will reply, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you our guest, or needing clothes and provide them? When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' The King will say to them, 'Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!' Then he will also speak to those on his left, saying, 'Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, a stranger and you did not welcome me, needing clothes and you did not give them to me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they too will reply, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick or in prison, and not take care of you?' And he will answer them, 'Yes! I tell you that whenever you refused to do it for the least important of these people, you refused to do it for me!' They will go off to eternal punishment, but those who have done what God wants will go to eternal life.

Mark 3:1-5
Yeshua went again into a synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse him of something, people watched him carefully to see if he would heal him on Shabbat. He said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Come up where we can see you!" Then to them he said, "What is permitted on Shabbat? Doing good or doing evil? Saving life or killing?" But they said nothing. Then, looking them over and feeling both anger with them and sympathy for them at the stoniness of their hearts, he said to the man, "Hold out your hand." As he held it out, it became restored.

Mark 12:30-31
... and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength. The second is this: 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other mitzvah greater than these.

Luke 5:30-32
The P'rushim and their Torah-teachers protested indignantly against his talmidim, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?" It was Yeshua who answered them: "The ones who need a doctor aren't the healthy but the sick. I have not come to call the 'righteous,' but rather to call sinners to turn to God from their sins."

Luke 6:36
Show compassion, just as your Father shows compassion.

Luke 10:25-37
An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, "Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?" But Yeshua said to him, "What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?" He answered, "You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself." "That's the right answer," Yeshua said. "Do this, and you will have life." But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, "And who is my 'neighbor'?" Taking up the question, Yeshua said: "A man was going down from Yerushalayim to Yericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him naked and beat him up, then went off, leaving him half dead. By coincidence, a cohen was going down on that road; but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levi who reached the place and saw him also passed by on the other side. But a man from Shomron who was traveling came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. So he went up to him, put oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he set him on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two days' wages, gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Look after him; and if you spend more than this, I'll pay you back when I return.' Of these three, which one seems to you to have become the 'neighbor' of the man who fell among robbers?" He answered, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Yeshua said to him, "You go and do as he did."

Commentary

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is the well-known "golden rule", but it does not appear in the Bible in that form. What is in the Bible is Mark 12:30-31, which states:

'... and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You are to love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other mitzvah greater than these.

Applying that principle, Scripture teaches that we have a duty to help others, even to try to save the life of a person who is attacked. What is unclear is whether the duty applies even if it puts the protector in danger and, because Scripture is silent on the matter, I will not speculate.

The parable of the "good Samaritan" is the classic Scripture that lauds assisting a person who has been attacked, but it is noteworthy that at no time was the "good Samaritan" in danger since he gave his help after the attack on the injured man had occurred. Nevertheless, he helped the stranger in need by spending his own time and money.

Interestingly, some U.S. States have adopted what they call the "Good Samaritan Law" which does not require that a bystander help a person who is in distress, but states that if he does and causes injury in the process, he cannot be sued for his attempt.

Classical Commentators

The mitzvah that Maimonides and HaChinuch glean from Scripture is that we must seek to save the life of one who is attacked even if it requires killing the attacker. In reaching this conclusion they rely on Deuteronomy 25:11-12 in a very strange way, which is to construe that the man who is attacking the other is not trying to kill him, but that the wife who comes to her husband's aid (by grabbing the attacker's private parts) is trying to kill the attacker, and thereby becomes a lethal attacker herself. That is why Scripture commands that we must show no pity on her and cut off her hand. Meir did not address the subject.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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