Q&A: Reviving a Dead Person on the Sabbath
Reviving a Dead Person on the Sabbath
Question
Many of our early sages reportedly had the power to revive the dead, as is well known. My serious question is whether it is permitted to revive a dead person on the Sabbath. On the one hand, presumably this is a prohibited labor, maybe building. But on the other hand, there is saving a life and “live by them” and not that he should remain dead by them, and “desecrate one Sabbath for him so that he may rise and observe many Sabbaths,” he and his children and his grandchildren.
Answer
There is no obligation to revive a dead person.
Discussion on Answer
Correct. In my opinion this is building (see the column on the prohibited labor of building).
I don’t have any theories about matters like these.
Why doesn’t the reasoning of “desecrate one Sabbath for him so that he may observe many” justify reviving him on the Sabbath?
Be fruitful and multiply also doesn’t justify desecrating the Sabbath so that there will be one more person who will observe Sabbaths. And neither does conversion.
When there is a living person, you need to save his future Sabbaths, but there is no point in creating a new person.
See column 636, a dispute among medieval authorities (Rishonim) regarding desecrating the Sabbath to save someone from apostasy. The Rashba’s view is that there is no permission. And that is even though that person going into apostasy will desecrate Sabbaths, not merely fail to observe Sabbaths as in our case. So it stands to reason that in our case probably Tosafot and the Beit Yosef would also agree with the Rashba that there is no permission.
I’m having trouble understanding the logic. You wrote that when there is a living person, you need to save his Sabbaths — meaning, so that he won’t be dead during them. We desecrate the Sabbath now so that next Sabbath he won’t be dead but alive and will observe it. And that’s also the case with reviving him, so why does his being alive on the current Sabbath affect the matter? As if from now he is commanded to observe next Sabbath? Conversion really is identical, and interesting.
I don’t see what there is to explain here. A living person needs to observe Sabbaths, and you need to make sure he also observes future Sabbaths. You do not need to create a person who will observe Sabbaths. I have nothing to add.
That’s a bit contradictory, no? You need to make sure he also observes future Sabbaths, but if he dies now then on the future Sabbath he’ll be dead, and there’s no problem at all because we aren’t concerned that dead people don’t observe the Sabbath. So let him die, health and happiness.
So therefore it’s forbidden on the Sabbath?
In another question that disappeared, I asked whether resurrection of the dead is optional or compelled. Does the Rabbi have any reasoning on the subject?