Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
The ancient Rabbis dealt with an interesting ethical dilemma that
had preoccupied some Greco-Roman thinkers before them as well.
In the Roman sources, this has to do with two men, who were thrown
overboard, holding on a plank of wood. If the two of them grab it, they will
both die but if one of them manages to keep it, he will survive. What should
they do? Various answers appear in the original sources (1). In the Babylonian
Talmud, rabbinic sages debated a similar issue but this time dealing with two
men who are traveling through the desert. They have one flask of water (kiton
in Hebrew, based on a Greek word); if both drink from it, they will die but if
one of them drinks it, he will survive.
The question is what is the right thing to do? One Rabbi, by the name
of Ben Peturah (2nd cent. CE), says that they should both drink and
die, and neither one should witness the death of the other, whereas another
Rabbi, the famous Rabbi Akiba (d. 135 CE), stated, no, he himself should drink
it and be saved. He justified his position by citing a biblical text that reads:
“And your brother shall live with you” (Lev.
25:36) that is ,your life takes precedence over the life of the other (BM 62a;
also in Sifra, Behar 5:3). Wow! When it comes to survival, you come first.
This is an unexpected position for
Rabbi Akiba who had declared that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself”
(Lev. 19:18) is a cardinal principal in biblical law. How is it possible that
on the one hand Akiba proclaims the love for the other as being primary (“a
central principle of the Torah”-zeh kelal gadol batorah, Sifra, Kedoshim
4:12) but when it comes to personal preservation, he chooses to go with
personal interest? We don’t know. One may be a major principle and the other a
specific case. Also, these quotes are attributed to these great sages, and it
is not known for sure if they are historically accurate.
Besides, I would raise another ethical problem that bothers me. The
assumption in the Roman and Rabbinic texts is that the two contestants are of
similar age and position. If that were the case, I can see why Rabbi Akiba
would give priority to the person who can grab the flask of water (or the
plank, in the Roman texts). But what happens if the other person is your parent
or your child? What happens if you yourself are hurt and unlikely to survive?
Personally, in the case of the parent or an older adult, I would go
with Rabbi Akiba, but not if the other one is my child or even my beloved wife,
unless neither one has a chance to make it alive!
What do you think?
Footnote 1: “Two Men and a Plank,” Claire O. Finkelstein, U of Penn
Law School, 2001, 279-306.
Date: Jan. 18, 2022; Number of viewers worldwide: 691,285
