146 Selected Responsa

dangers but insists that he takes them at his own risk and that, therefore, it is his own affair, should be flogged for endangering himself(makat mardut).(So too in Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat, 427#9).

In addition to these dangers with regard to which one should avoid exposing himself, there are also the dangers concerning which one should avoid exposing others. These are based upon the command(Deut. 22:8) to put a parapet around the roof of the house. This verse ends with: lo sosim domim b’vesecho,” which becomes the key verse in all the later discussions. In the Sifie(ad loc.) this law is extended to similar neglect of safeguards, such as leaving a well uncovered, or leaving a stumbling block in the road. This duty to avoid causing danger to oneself and to others is codified in Maimonides (Yad, Hil Rozeach XI, 4) and Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 427.

There is a third type of danger due not to carelessness or 10 neglect as are the above types, but to special circumstances involving the relative safety of a man and his fellowman. Thus, the famous case given in the Talmud (Baba Metziah 62a), of the two men in the desert drinking water enough for only one. Whose life is to be preserved? This is based upon the verse in Leviticus 25:36:“Thy brother shall live with thee,”(and is first found in Sifra to this verse), and ends with Akiba’s statement:“Your life must come first.”

Finally, there is the danger involved in the duty of martyrdom. Under which circumstances should one prefer to die rather than commit a sin? This involves the three cardinal sins, the question of whether it is in public or in private, or whether the purpose of the persecutor is to destroy the faith.(Cf. Maimonides , Yad, Hil. Yesodei Torah V,1, and Shulhan Arukh, Yore Deah 157) Yet even in those cases where it is a duty to accept martyrdom,! he decides to commit the sin and thus avoid the martyrdom, he considered an“anus” i.e., one who sins not of his own free WI and is to be forgiven. Thus it is clear that in all these four class®®