Saving of Human Life
For more details on this topic, see pikuach nefesh.In the event that a human life is in danger, a Jew is not only allowed, but required, to violate any Shabbat law that stands in the way of saving that person. The concept of life being in danger is interpreted broadly: for example, it is mandated that one violate Shabbat to take a woman in active labor to a hospital.
Read more about this topic: Activities Prohibited On Shabbat
Famous quotes containing the words saving, human and/or life:
“A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Uncertainty about the outcome is a given in child rearing and not a reflection of a mother’s inadequacy. She should not be misled by her wish to be omnipotent, all-powerful, all-giving, the perfect mother, who will right all the wrongs and make up for all the deprivations of her own childhood. She is simply an imperfect human being with needs of her own.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“It is not in the world of ideas that life is lived. Life is lived for better or worse in life, and to a man in life, his life can be no more absurd than it can be the opposite of absurd, whatever that opposite may be.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)