What is the Trolley Problem? .
Philippa Foot was a 20th Century British philosophy who created the original trolley problem. We're only discussing the first part of the problem, which goes like this:
There is a train racing down the tracks towards five people who are tied up and can't get off the tracks before the train comes. You can't warn them or reach anyone in time to move them. You are standing at a switch that can steer the train on to the track next to them where one person is tied up and can't move. If you do nothing, five people will die in a freak accident. If you move the switch, you will cause one person to die.
What is the right thing to do?
Jewish Library Catalog
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Torah:
Well, um,"The Torah." God's revealed word...sacred history...Jewish founding myths. No matter who wrote it or when, the Torah is the founding text of Judaism, plays a key role in Christianity, and is also revered by Islam. Together these are the religions of about 4 billion people today.
Anyone who sheds the blood of another person, by some person shall their blood also be spilled; since God made each person in the image of the Divine.
Mishnah:
A collection of Jewish law and explanations of Torah. As old as the Torah but never written down since the Mishnah was only taught by memorization from teacher to student among the Rabbis who lived in the Land of Israel. Finally written down around 200 CE as the Romans threatened to kill off all teachers and Torah and the Rabbis did not want their tradition forgotten.
(ה) כֵּיצַד מְאַיְּמִין אֶת הָעֵדִים עַל עֵדֵי נְפָשׁוֹת, הָיוּ מַכְנִיסִין אוֹתָן וּמְאַיְּמִין עֲלֵיהֶן. ...לֹּא כְדִינֵי מָמוֹנוֹת דִּינֵי נְפָשׁוֹת. דִּינֵי מָמוֹנוֹת, אָדָם נוֹתֵן מָמוֹן וּמִתְכַּפֵּר לוֹ. דִּינֵי נְפָשׁוֹת, דָּמוֹ וְדַם זַרְעִיּוֹתָיו תְּלוּיִין בּוֹ עַד סוֹף הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁכֵּן מָצִינוּ בְקַיִן שֶׁהָרַג אֶת אָחִיו, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ד) דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ צֹעֲקִים, אֵינוֹ אוֹמֵר דַּם אָחִיךָ אֶלָּא דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ, דָּמוֹ וְדַם זַרְעִיּוֹתָיו. דָּבָר אַחֵר, דְּמֵי אָחִיךָ, שֶׁהָיָה דָמוֹ מֻשְׁלָךְ עַל הָעֵצִים וְעַל הָאֲבָנִים. לְפִיכָךְ נִבְרָא אָדָם יְחִידִי, לְלַמֶּדְךָ, שֶׁכָּל הַמְאַבֵּד נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ אִבֵּד עוֹלָם מָלֵא. וְכָל הַמְקַיֵּם נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ קִיֵּם עוֹלָם מָלֵא.
How do we force the witnesses in a capital case to tell the truth? We bring them in to the court's chambers and tell them: "If we convict this person of murder and execute them based on your testimony, then the blood of the victim and all his future children will hang upon you until the end of time.
How do we prove this?
When Cain killed his brother the Torah Said: “The voice of your brother’s bloods crie out to Me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: “Your brother’s bloods [demei],” in the plural.
This comes to teach that Cain was guilty of the death of his brother, Evel, and all of his future children.
The court also tells the witnesses: Adam the first man was created alone, to teach you that anyone who kills even one soul from the Jewish people is guilty of destroying an entire world.
And anyone who saves even one soul from the Jewish people gets a reward as if he had saved the entire world.
Talmud:
After the memorized tradition was written down in 200 CE, the Rabbis continued to discuss it in academies in the Land of Israel and in Babylon. They argued about every possible detail, tried to prove which decisions were the one's they received from God and often added new ideas. All these discussions were recorded as the Talmud around 450 CE. The Talmud is THE major source of what we know as Judaism today. Without the Talmud it would be hard to tell the difference between Judaism and other religions like Christianity.
The Gemara asks: From where do we learn the law that if you see someone about to commit murder and can't stop him any other way, you must kill him to stop him from committing the crime.
It is based on logical reasoning that one life is not any more important than another one.
The Gemara tells us about an incident to demonstrate this: A person came before the great teacher Rabba and said to him: The non-Jewish ruler of my town said to me: Go kill so-and-so, and if not I will kill you, what shall I do?
Rabba said to him: You must let the ruler of your town kill you and you should not kill the other person.
Who is to say that your blood is redder than the other person? Perhaps that man’s blood is redder than yours. This is how the Rabbis decided that one may not save their own life by killing another.
How to use this lesson:
Start by showing the video at the top of the page, and ask students to debate how they should respond to only the first part of the Trolley Problem: Would you throw the switch and divert the train? At each step of the discussion, ask them to identify what logical, legal or moral rule justifies their positions.
Next, learn through the Jewish texts. After each text, ask students if the viewpoint adds to the discussion or changes their point of view.
After you have discussed all of the texts, take a vote on whether or not to throw the switch. The leader should try to justify both outcomes, and let students pick.
The key objective is not to get some traditionally approved answer, but rather, to give students familiarity with the process of grappling with a text.
