https://doi.org/10.26142/stgd-2019-007
The paper deals with the problem of treatment on the Sabbath from the formal point of view of Rabbinic Judaism often reaching to the beginnings of Halakhah. The Torah teaches in the Book of Exodus 20:9-11 that the Sabbath is sanctified and that no work is to be performed on this particular day which is so special for the followers of Judaism; and the Mishnah in its Tractate Shabbat 7:2 provides more details of this prohibition by mentioning thirty-nine types of prohibited work which from today’s perspective form the basis for further bans. Is it permitted then to heal on the Sabbath? In order to avoid breaking the Sabbath law, the Mishnah forbids the setting of fractures by concluding: ”and if it heals, it will heal” (Shabbat 22:6). Elsewhere, in cases of childbirth, fire, foreign invasion, a person drowning in a river or being buried in debris, in order to save lives on the Sabbath, the Mishnah allows one to cross the Sabbath limits by two thousand cubits in each direction (Rosh Hashanah 2:5; Eruvin 4:3). It is the Gemara that speaks more strongly about this problem, and the Talmudic principle pikuah nefesh (……) – saving human life, constitutes the overriding principle in Judaism, taking precedence over all religious commandments. There is also another Talmudic maxim: ”Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world” Sanhedrin (37a). The article explores the topic of treatment on the Sabbath in the light of selected texts of Rabbinic Judaism with particular emphasis on the Mishnah and the Gemara as well as on the collection Sheelot u-Teshuvot.
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