Explanatory Notes:
Lo Ta‘amod ‘al Dam Re‘ekha Bill,
5753-1992
Hanan
Porat, Knesset Member
Translated
by David Schonberg, Advocate
From the draft bill of former
Knesset member Hanan Porat, submitted to the Knesset Speaker and Deputies and
set before the Knesset on 19 Kislev 5753 (December 14, 1992).
This bill is founded
upon the command of the Torah, which stipulates the great moral rule, “You
shall not stand idly by when your fellow man is in danger of harm; I am the
Lord.”[1]
The Gemara explains this rule in graphic terms:
From where arises the obligation for one who sees his fellow man drowning
in a stream or a wild animal mauling him or robbers attacking him, that he is
obligated to save him? From the verse: “You shall not stand idly by when your
fellow man is in danger of harm.”[2]
Furthermore, the Talmud learns from
this verse that the duty of rescuing one’s fellow man also applies when this
involves great efforts and financial expense on his part, and such is the
halacha according to Rambam.[3] Tur, Hoshen Mishpat
adds that if the rescued person has the means, he is obligated to pay his
rescuer.[4]
The bill, thus, is intended to anchor this principle of Jewish law in the
laws of the State and to involve the State with responsibility for and the
application of these moral principles, both in the monetary field – by
stipulating that if the rescued person lacks the means to pay the rescuer, then
the State shall bear the costs – and in the area of punitive measures – by
providing that if rescue is knowingly withheld from one’s fellow man who is in
close proximity, then that person shall be subject to a penalty of up to one
year’s imprisonment.
Indeed, it is not usually the case
that provision is made for punishment for an offense that is committed by
omission – by “inaction.” However, “standing idly by” is not merely standing
passively by; rather, it is a blunt and serious expression of estrangement from
and disregard for human life, and it therefore deserves a suitable punishment,
where necessary.
Source: ASSIA – Jewish Medical Ethics,
Vol. IV, No. 1, February 2001, p. 4