Question

It is stated in the Mishnah that a man takes precedence over a woman to keep him alive. Yet this law does not appear either in the Shulchan Arukh or in Maimonides, only in the Rema, who writes in this language: if both of them want to drown in a river, the man takes precedence over the woman. And in fact, the Rema frames his ruling in a case of drowning in a river and not in a case of food support. See the Biur HaGra, who noted this. But it still requires clarification why the Rema wrote it in a case where both of them want to drown, and not in a case where both of them are drowning. I saw that the halakhic authorities, the Taz and others, wrote that this is not meant literally, and I wanted to know whether the Rabbi has a different answer. Happy holiday, M