Pikuach Nefesh — Saving Life Overrides All
Pikuach nefesh (saving a life) overrides virtually every other commandment in Jewish law — establishing that the preservation of human life is the supreme value in the legal tradition.
Pikuach nefesh (saving of a soul/life) is the principle that the preservation of human life takes precedence over almost all other commandments, including Shabbat, kashrut, and fasting on Yom Kippur. The Talmud derives this from Leviticus 18:5: 'You shall keep My statutes and My laws, which if a person does, he shall live by them' — and concludes 'live by them, and not die by them.' One may violate Shabbat, eat non-kosher food, and transgress almost any law when a life is at stake — not merely permitted but obligated to do so, because saving a life is more important than observing any given commandment. The Talmud further extends this to one sixty-sixtieth of a risk to life — extreme care is required even when the threat is not certain. This principle generated Jewish medicine's remarkable emphasis on life-preservation and has informed Jewish bioethics on questions of abortion, euthanasia, and medical treatment.
You shall live by them — and not die by them. Save a life and you may violate the Sabbath.
Bioethicist Daniel Callahan's work on the goals of medicine — arguing that medicine's primary purpose is life-preservation within a framework of quality of life — is enriched by the Talmudic tradition of pikuach nefesh, which established life-preservation as the supreme legal value while never abandoning questions of human dignity and appropriate limits.
Talmud Bavli
Written about in
- What Judaism says about justice
Saving a life suspends almost every other commandment, including the Sabbath. The most protected day of the week gives way to one person's survival.