I
teach Ethics at Framingham State University. At every session we take an
ethical problem and discuss it. Recently I presented a rabbinic dilemma to my
students that is very popular in the Jewish sources. Here
is the case:
Two
individuals, A and B, are traveling together through the desert, and between
them they have only one flask of water. If A alone were to drink the whole
bottle, he would be able to reach the town at the end of the road, but if they were to
share the bottle, the two of them would die. What should they do?
One
ancient rabbinic commentator by the name of Ben Peturah (“the Son of Petura,”
an otherwise unknown figure in Rabbinic literature) argued that both should
drink and die, rather than A should live and witness the death of B. He based
his argument on the Biblical text that reads: That your brother may live
with you, (Lev. 25: 35), stressing the word, “live.” However,
Rabbi Akiva, a 2nd cent. scholar, said to him: The word to be
emphasized is “with you” and not “life.”
This clearly implies that your life takes precedence over the life of your of
your friend. (See text in Sifra, Lev. 25:36 and BM 62a). And that is the Jewish
law on the subject.
Examples
from modern life are plentiful. Here is one: On the plane, before taking-off, an announcement
is usually made: “In case the level of oxygen falls, a mask will come down from
the ceiling. Please put it on you before you place it on the face of your
companion.” The rationale is that if you cannot take care of yourself, you will
not be able to help another.
However,
as we discussed in class, the situation may change depending on who B is. There are at least three different scenarios:
1) If B
is someone you do not know or barely know, one can easily
argue that A’s life comes first. Why should A give up his life for a stranger?
2) But what happens if B is your child? Your boy/girlfriend or husband/wife? My guess
is that here, many people would give up the bottle, and let the other drink
alone.
3) But what if you were traveling with your good friend, or your parents,
or even with some elderly relatives? Whose life comes first in these cases? For
me, the determining factor is who has a better chance to survive? At the end,
the survivor may suffer from a guilty conscience, but he/she will live after
all.
What
do you think?
Rifat
Sonsino, Ph.D.
Nov.
2015
