(ז) לא תעמוד וגו'. ת"ר, מניין לרואה את חבירו טובע בנהר או חיה גוררתו או לסטין באין עליו שהוא חייב להצילו, ת"ל לא תעמוד על דם רעך קיר"ל לא תעמוד עצמך על דמו אלא הצילהו, ובכלל זה אם שמע שאנשים חושבים עליו רעה ולא גלה אזנו שיזהר עובר על לאו זה. –
גופא מניין לרואה את חברו שהוא טובע בנהר או חיה גוררתו או לסטין באין עליו שהוא חייב להצילו ת"ל לא תעמוד על דם רעך והא מהכא נפקא מהתם נפקא אבדת גופו מניין ת"ל והשבותו לו אי מהתם הוה אמינא ה"מ בנפשיה אבל מיטרח ומיגר אגורי אימא לא קמ"ל
וְהִנֵֵּה נְטִיַת הַלֵּב הַבְּרוּרָה דְּעַל הַצָּלַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ צָרִיךְ לְהוֹצִיא כָּל מָמוֹנוֹ. דְּהַלֹא מִצְוָה זוֹ דּוֹחָה כָּל הַתּוֹרָה כֻּלָּה, וַהֲלֹא מְחַלֵּל שַׁבָּת לְפַקֵּחַ אֶת הַנֶּפֶשׁ אַף שֶׁצָרִיךְ לְבַזְבֵּז כָּל הוֹנוֹ שֶׁלֹּא לְחַלֵּל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת.
וּלְשִׁיטַת מִקְצַת הַפּוֹסְקִים )חֹשֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט סִימָן תכ״ד( צָרִיךְ לְהִכָּנֵס לְסָפֵק סַכָּנָה כְּדֵי לְהַצִּיל חֲבֵירוֹ,וְקַל וָחוֹמֶר הַדְּבָרִים ומַה אִם סָפֵק סַכָּנָה נִדְחֵית מִשּׁוּם הַצָּלַת הַנֶֶּפֶשׁ, כָּל שֶׁכֵּן שֶׁחַיָּב לְהוֹצִיא כָּל מָמוֹנוֹ לְהַצִּיל נֶפֶשׁ חֲבֵירוֹ דְּכָל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ יִתֵּן בְּעַד נַפְשׁוֹ ...
My clear inclination on this issue is that to save a life one would have to expend all of his money if needed. After all, this mitzvah (saving a life) supersedes the whole Torah. Does one not desecrate Shabbat in order to save a life even though one has to be willing to lose all his money to avoid desecrating Shabbat? (Even though one must lose all one’s money so as to avoid the desecration of Shabbat, nonetheless one desecrates Shabbat to save a life. Therefore, all the more so must one spend all one’s money to save a life.)
Rabbi Joachim Prinz--March on Washington 1963
I speak to you as an American Jew.
As Americans we share the profound concern of millions of people about the shame and disgrace of inequality and injustice which make a mockery of the great American idea.
As Jews we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a two-fold experience -- one of the spirit and one of our history.
In the realm of the spirit, our fathers taught us thousands of years ago that when God created man, he created him as everybody's neighbor. Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept. It means our collective responsibility for the preservation of man's dignity and integrity.
From our Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years we say:
Our ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe . Our modern history begins with a proclamation of emancipation.
It is for these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black people ofAmerica that motivates us. It is above all and beyond all such sympathies and emotions a sense of complete identification and solidarity born of our own painful historic experience.
When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not '.the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.
A great people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.
America must not become a nation of onlookers. America must not remain silent. Not merely black America , but all of America . It must speak up and act,. from the President down to the humblest of us, and not for the sake of the Negro, not for the sake of the black community but for the sake of the image, the idea and the aspiration of America itself.
Our children, yours and mine in every school across the land, each morning pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands. They, the children, speak fervently and innocently of this land as the land of "liberty and justice for all."
The time, I believe, has come to work together - for it is not enough to hope together, and it is not enough to pray together, to work together that this children's oath, pronounced every morning from Maine to California, from North to South, may become. a glorious, unshakeable reality in a morally renewed and united America.