16,374
edits
Medicine on Shabbat: Difference between revisions
From Halachipedia
→If one is critically ill (Choleh Sheyesh Bo Sakana)
| Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
===If one is critically ill (Choleh Sheyesh Bo Sakana)=== | ===If one is critically ill (Choleh Sheyesh Bo Sakana)=== | ||
# It is permitted and a mitzvah to violate Shabbat in order to safe a Jewish life. <ref>Shulchan Aruch 328:2</ref>Even if there is only a doubt if the patient is critically ill<ref>Shulchan Aruch 328:6, Mishna Brurah 328:17, 328:26</ref> or if there is a doubt if the procedure will safe the patient's life<ref>Mishna Brurah 328:37</ref>, nonetheless, it is a mitzvah to violate Shabbat in order to try to save a Jewish life. | # It is permitted and a mitzvah to violate Shabbat in order to safe a Jewish life.<ref>Gemara Yoma 84a, Rambam (Shabbat 2:1), Tur and Shulchan Aruch 328:2</ref> Even if there is only a doubt if the patient is critically ill<ref>Shulchan Aruch 328:6, Mishna Brurah 328:17, 328:26</ref> or if there is a doubt if the procedure will safe the patient's life<ref>Mishna Brurah 328:37</ref>, nonetheless, it is a mitzvah to violate Shabbat in order to try to save a Jewish life. Someone who delays in saving a life out of a concern of violating Shabbat is sinning in a way that is tantamount to murder.<ref>Shulchan Aruch 328:2</ref> | ||
# A rabbi should be careful to teach his community that it is permitted and a mitzvah to violate Shabbat for life endangering concerns.<ref>Mishna Brurah 328:6</ref> | |||
===Infants=== | ===Infants=== | ||
# Healthy infants and babies until the age of three (and according to some poskim even older children till the age of six or nine) are also halachically classified as “patients not dangerously ill.” <Ref> Chazon Ish, O.C. 59:3, Rav S.Z. Auerbach in Nishmas Avraham 328:54, and Rav Y.S. Elyashiv in Eis Laledes, pg. 57, quote the age of 2-3. Tzitz Eliezer 8:15-12 quotes ages of 6. Minchas Yitzchak 1:78 quotes age of 9. </ref> (In the final analysis, it all depends on the strength and maturity of the child.) <ref>The Weekly Halachah Discussion (Rabbi Doniel Neustadt)</ref> Therefore, they are permitted to take all forms of medicine, provided, of course, that no Biblical prohibitions are transgressed. <ref> Rama, O.C. 328:17. Note, however, that not all of a baby’s needs are exempt from the prohibition against medication; see, for instance, Mishna Brurah 328:131. See Tehillah l’David 328:24 and Minchas Yitzchak 4:124 who deal with this difficulty </ref> | # Healthy infants and babies until the age of three (and according to some poskim even older children till the age of six or nine) are also halachically classified as “patients not dangerously ill.” <Ref> Chazon Ish, O.C. 59:3, Rav S.Z. Auerbach in Nishmas Avraham 328:54, and Rav Y.S. Elyashiv in Eis Laledes, pg. 57, quote the age of 2-3. Tzitz Eliezer 8:15-12 quotes ages of 6. Minchas Yitzchak 1:78 quotes age of 9. </ref> (In the final analysis, it all depends on the strength and maturity of the child.) <ref>The Weekly Halachah Discussion (Rabbi Doniel Neustadt)</ref> Therefore, they are permitted to take all forms of medicine, provided, of course, that no Biblical prohibitions are transgressed. <ref> Rama, O.C. 328:17. Note, however, that not all of a baby’s needs are exempt from the prohibition against medication; see, for instance, Mishna Brurah 328:131. See Tehillah l’David 328:24 and Minchas Yitzchak 4:124 who deal with this difficulty </ref> | ||
