Avodah Zarah, Daf Kaf Zayin, Part 4

 

אמר רב חסדא אמר מר עוקבא אבל אם אמר לו סם פלוני יפה לו סם פלוני רע לו מותר סבר שיולי משאיל לו כי היכי דמשאיל לו משאיל לאיניש אחרינא ואתא ההוא גברא לאורועי נפשיה

 

R. Hisda said in the name of Mar Ukba: But if he said to him that such and such medicine is good for him and such and such medicine is bad for him, it is permitted [to follow his advice]

for he will think that he is merely asking him, and just as he is asking him so he will also ask others, so that if he gives the wrong advice, he will come to spoil his reputation.

 

One may get advice from a non-Jewish doctor as to what medicine he should take. He does not need to worry that the non-Jew will tell him to take something poisonous, because the non-Jewish doctor would fear that the Jew will go ask a second opinion and when he hears what the non-Jewish doctor recommended his reputation will be spoiled.

 

אמר רבא א"ר יוחנן ואמרי לה אמר רב חסדא אמר ר’ יוחנן ספק חי ספק מת אין מתרפאין מהן ודאי מת מתרפאין מהן.

מת האיכא חיי שעה לחיי שעה לא חיישינן

 

Rava said in the name of R. Yohanan [and some say R. Hisda in the name of R. Yohanan]: In the case where it is doubtful whether [the patient] will live or die, we must not allow them to heal; but if he will certainly die, we may allow them to heal.

Die ! Surely there is still the life of the hour [to be considered]? The life of the hour is not to be considered.

 

R. Yohanan says that if the Jew will certainly die without the non-Jewish doctor s medical attention, he should be allowed to heal him (or at least to try).

While it is true that that the non-Jew might kill him immediately and thereby cause him the loss of the few hours/days/weeks he has left, we are not concerned with loss of such a short amount of time to live.

 

ומנא תימרא דלחיי שעה לא חיישינן דכתיב (מלכים ב ז, ד) אם אמרנו נבוא העיר והרעב בעיר ומתנו שם והאיכא חיי שעה אלא לאו לחיי שעה לא חיישינן

 

How do you know that the life of the hour is not to be considered?

As it is written, If we say: we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there (II Kings 7:4). Now is there not the life of the hour [which they might lose]! This implies that the life of the hour is not to be considered.

 

In this verse in II Kings the four lepers outside the besieged city prefer to go into the city where the enemy army might be located then die of starvation outside the city. This proves that one may put a short amount of time of one s life at risk. In other words, if I know I will die in say 2 months, I may take a risk now even though it might kill me a lot sooner than 2 months.