hunger strike 2025 source sheet

From where do we derive that one who sees another drowning in a river or being dragged away by an animal or being attacked by bandits is obligated to save them? From the verse, “You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor!” (Leviticus 19:16).

It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world."

Rabbi Abbahu says: A person should always be among those who are pursued and not among the pursuers. One can prove that this is so, as none among birds are pursued more than doves and pigeons, as all predators hunt them, and from all birds the verse deemed them fit to be sacrificed on the altar.

Anyone who has the capability to effectively protest the sinful conduct of the members of his household and does not protest, he himself is apprehended for the sins of the members of his household and punished. If he is in a position to protest the sinful conduct of the people of his town, and he fails to do so, he is apprehended for the sins of the people of his town. If he is in a position to protest the sinful conduct of the whole world, and he fails to do so, he is apprehended for the sins of the whole world.

A similar idea is taught in anotherbaraita: When the community is immersed in suffering, a person may not say: I will go to my home and I will eat and drink, and peace be upon you, my soul.

He said to that attribute: It is revealed and known before Me that even had they protested the conduct of the wicked, they would not have accepted the reprimand from them. They would have continued in their wicked ways. The attribute of justice said before Him: Master of the Universe, if it is revealed before You that their reprimand would have been ineffective, is it revealed to them? The Holy One, Blessed be He, retracted His promise to protect the righteous and decided that those who failed to protest would also be punished.

(3) “Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” Because on your fast day You see to your business And oppress all your laborers! (4) Because you fast in strife and contention, And you strike with a wicked fist! Your fasting today is not such As to make your voice heard on high. (5) Is such the fast I desire, A day for men to starve their bodies? Is it bowing the head like a bulrush And lying in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, A day when the LORD is favorable? (6) No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. (7) It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, And not to ignore your own kin.

Mar Zutra said: The primary reward for fasting is for the charity given to the poor on the fast day (see Isaiah 58).

The eldest member of the community says to the congregation statements of reproof, for example: Our brothers, it is not stated with regard to the people of Nineveh: And God saw their sackcloth and their fasting. Rather, the verse says: “And God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their evil way” (Jonah 3:10). And in the Prophets it says: “And rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God” (Joel 2:13). This teaches that prayer and fasting are insufficient, as one must also repent and amend his ways in practice.

§ And the mishna further taught that they decrease greetings between one another. The Sages taught: Ḥaverim, members of a group dedicated to the precise observance of mitzvot, do not extend greetings between each other at all. Amei ha’aretz, common, uneducated people, who extend greetings to ḥaverim, do so while unaware that this is inappropriate. The ḥaverimanswer them in an undertone and in a solemn manner. Andḥaverimwrap themselves and sit as mourners and as ostracized ones, like people who have been rebuked by God, until they are shown mercy from Heaven.

2. Some say that a person who is harmed by eating, such that it is their delight not to eat, should not eat. Rem"a: And so with one who finds delight in weeping, in order that their pain will leave their heart: such a person is permitted to weep on Shabbat. (Igur in the name of the Shibolei haLeket)

3. Regarding a person who fasts every day, and eating on Shabbat is painful for him because of the change in routine (explanation: a fixed thing), some say they have seen many pious and noble people who have fasted on Shabbat because of this reasoning, and they say that so acted Rabbi Yehuda heChasid.

R. Akiva said: And with respect to which was the Torah more stringent? With the temple service or with the Sabbath? [The Torah was more stringent] with the temple service than with the Sabbath, for the temple service takes precedence over the Sabbath and the Sabbath does not take precedence over the temple service. And the matter is a kal va’homer - if the temple service takes precedence over the Sabbath and a risk to life takes precedence over it, with regard to the Sabbath, which the temple takes precedence over - is it not logical that a risk to human life should supersede it? Behold, you have learned that a risk to life takes precedence over the Sabbath.

(1) 1. All cases of saving a life supersede Shabbat, and he who hurries in these matters is praised. Even if there is a fire in a different yard and there is concern that it will move to this yard and cause danger, we put it out to ensure that it does not spread.