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DOCTOR’S FORUM We have endured many tragedies in our long history. This case took place during one such tragedy. The question asked was not a medical question. However, since weighing one life against another is potentially a medical issue, I thought it appropriate to include this question as part of the Doctor's Forum. The following event took place in Auschwitz on Rosh Hashanah, 1944: The Nazi commander of Auschwitz decided to eliminate all the boys between the ages of 14 and 18 who were not deemed to be big enough or healthy enough to work. He commanded erection of a vertical post of a predetermined height with a horizontal beam attached at the top. He ordered it placed in the courtyard behind the camp blocks. Erev Rosh Hashanah, sixteen hundred boys passed one by one under the horizontal beam. Those whose heads reached the height of the horizontal beam were assigned to work details. The Nazis separated the fourteen hundred boys who were not tall enough and sent them to a special cell block. They were scheduled for elimination. The Nazis appointed the Jewish kapos to guard them. The boys received no more food or drink and it was clear that they would go to the crematorium the next night. The next day, the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the fathers of the boys heard of the fate awaiting their children and tried to persuade the kapos to release their sons. The kapos replied that the Nazis took an exact count of the boys. If even one boy was missing, the kapos themselves would be executed. All that day many of the fathers tried to bribe the kapos to have their sons released. The kapos gave in to their greed and accepted the bribes. However, they said that they had to keep the count correct. To replace each boy that was ransomed, they would have to take another who had passed selection and place him in the cell block. That morning a Jew from Oberland approached Rav Meisels, one of the poskim imprisoned in Auschwitz. He asked him to rule on the following question: "Rebbi, my only son is in the cell block. He will be killed tonight. I have enough money to bribe the kapos and save to him. If I save him, the kapos will take another child in his place. The Nazis will kill that child instead. Does the Torah allow me to save my only son?" What is the correct ruling? ANSWER The Torah permits a person to save himself even if by doing so he endangers others. This halacha applies so long as the danger has yet to materialize. Once the threat is actual and not just potential, a person may not save himself at the expense of another. Regarding a third party, the halacha is more stringent. A third party may not save someone if it will endanger another. This is true even if the threat has yet to materialize. Therefore, it was forbidden for the father to save his son. In the actual case, Rav Meisels replied, “I cannot give a halachic ruling in such a grave case. We are in Auschwitz. I have no halachic source books and there are no other rabbis to consult. I have no clarity of mind due to our circumstances. I am not able to answer such a question.” The father replied, “There is no other Rabbi here so your ruling is binding. You are not telling me that I may ransom my son. If the Torah allowed me to ransom my son, I know that you would tell me so. It is clear to me that you must feel it is not permitted. Your refusal to answer me is your ruling. Tonight my son will lose his life in accordance to the Torah and the halacha. I will do nothing to save him at the expense of another. I accept God’s decree with love.” We are not faced with such questions today. We truly have much for which to be thankful. Have a shana tova u misucha.
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Editor's Note