Q&A: Preserving the Torah and Saving a Life
Preserving the Torah and Saving a Life
Question
A hypothetical question, but one that interests me at least, and I hope you’ll agree to answer: why not? Is a person permitted, or perhaps even obligated, to give up his life or to commit a forbidden sexual transgression in order to save the texts of the entire Torah and all rabbinic literature, which would otherwise be lost to humanity—like the daughters of Lot? And what about sacrificing someone else’s life for such a purpose?
Answer
I don’t think one needs to give up his life. To violate a prohibition—yes, because “desecrate one Sabbath for him so that he may keep many Sabbaths.” Even according to the view that one may desecrate the Sabbath for spiritual life-endangerment (according to the Beit Yosef there is a dispute among the medieval authorities on this—Tosafot and Rashba), giving up one’s life is not like desecrating the Sabbath. The same applies to a transgression for the sake of Heaven, like that of the daughters of Lot. There too, if it involves murder or suicide, then no. In my opinion, this applies only to a transgression that has purely halakhic aspects.