Defining death in Jewish law begins with an entirely different issue: How long must a rescuer continue to desecrate the Shabbat while digging a victim from the debris of a collapsed building? Since piquah nefesh(danger to life) overrides virtually all the mitzvot including the Shabbath . we must continue to dig away as long as the trapped victim is known or believed to be alive. Once the person is found to be dead, we may no longer violate the Sabbath for him/her.
The Mishnah Yoma specifies:"If debris fall on someone, and it is doubtful... whether he is alive or dead...you should clear away the debris from the person[even on Shabbat ]. If you find him alive, the debris should be removed, but if he be dead, leave him there[until the Shabbat is over]."
The Gemara asks:"How far does one search(if the person buried under the debris gives no sign of life? One view is that you search until you reach his nose. The other view is as far as his heart..."
Rashi comments that we search as far as his nose because"if
there is no sign of life in his nostrils,(which means, he is not breathing), then he is indeed dead and they may leave him. A contradictory view claims that we should check as far as his heart...to determine whether there is life with his breath pulsing there."
Rav Papa(a fifth generation Babylonian Amora) ruled between these two views:"If one has searched as far as the nose, it is not necessary to search any further as is written in Scripture:"In whose nostrils is the breath of the spirit of life."(Genesis 7:22
This verse reveals that the essential test of existence is the breath of life in one’s nostrils. This also appears to be the peshat(plain meaning) of the Torah’s story of the creation of man:"And the Lord
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