#pikuachnefesh — Public Fediverse posts

Random reflection on #ShavuotLive hour #9, Chava Shapiro's presentation "Pikuach Nefesh (Saving a Life) and the Moral Work of Jewish Law" was a very helpful presentation, digging into the history of the principle of Pikuach Nefesh (PK).

PK is interesting because it was pretty much a universal ethical principle (which overrode almost all mitzvot in importance) with little if any dissent, but also was a principle that is arguably post-Biblical.

I also appreciated Chava's response to my question about doing activism on #Shabbat.

#PikuachNefesh #Ethics #JewishEthics #Judaism #Mazeldon

"The Talmud instructs Jews that there are three things so sinful that the ancient rabbis decided one should prefer death to doing them: sex crimes, idol worship, and—last but most important—bloodshed."

I was taught this as "Idolatry, Adultery, and Murder." I don't remember when, specifically, but at least since I was a teen. This isn't a sectarian thing in the tradition, either, or at least it didn't use to be.

#PikuachNefesh

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/israel-gaza-war-hamas-judaism-pikuach-nefesh.html

Judaism deeply treasures life, to the point that many Jewish laws can be broken for pikuach nefesh, or the preservation of life. We took a deeper look at the phrase “pikuach nefesh” and what it can mean to Jews today. https://momentmag.com/jewish-word-pikuach-nefesh/

#Judaism #Wordoftheday #Weeklyword #Etymology #Pikuachnefesh #Savealife