Finally, I am sure you heard about the tragedy this past week in Virginia of that rebbe, Reuven Bauman z"l , was pulled out into the ocean and drowned while trying to save a talmid in danger from the rip tides. He left a wife and five young childen. Supposedly, there were signs up along the beach not to swim that day, and there were no lifeguards there. My question is this: it seems pretty clear to me from my understanding of halacha that in a situation when you see someone in danger, even if they are Jewish, you are not required (and perhaps commanded not to?) put your own life in danger in an attempt to save them. Surely Rabbi Bauman z"l knew about this and surely he knew about his responsibilities to his own family. What do you think was going on in his mind when he saw that boy in the ocean and jumped in himself, trying to save him?
Dr. Eric Yitzchak Metchik
This is a very tough question. There is a much discussion in the Poskim about this issue as it touches upon many communal issues, such as endangering oneself in war to save others.
The Beis Yosef (Choshen Mishpat 626) quotes the Hagahos Maimoniyos who says that there is an obligation to enter a possible danger in order to save others from real danger. This obligation is derived from the Mitzvah of "Lo Ta'amod Al Dam Re'echa." This is also the opinion of the Sdei Chemed who quotes Rav Avraham Falaji. The Beis Yosef seems to agree with this opinion, as he adds that the reasoning behind it is that "this [danger] is certain while this [other danger] is only doubtful."
However, the Radbaz (3:627) maintains that there is no obligation to enter even a possibility of danger in order to save someone who is in real danger. He is discussing a case where a person can donate an organ from his body to save another person in mortal danger. The Radbaz rules that this is not an obligation and if one does such a thing he is foolish.
The Gemara you cite could serve as a source for this latter opinion as it asks why we need "Lo Ta'amod" if we have "va'Hashevoso Lo." The answer is that one must hire people to save the other person but nowhere does it say that one must endanger oneself, as it says "va'Chai ba'Hem" and one's own life precedes others.
These are the two basic opinions on the subject, but the main sources can be found in a very long Teshuvah by Rav Ovadyah Yosef called, "The Entebbe operation in Halachah," printed in Yabi'a Omer 10, Choshen Mishpat 6. Based on the majority of Acharonim who hold that one does not enter a possible danger to save others from real danger, he claimed that it would be preferable to negotiate with terrorists to release hostages rather than endangering others and the hostages by sending in a military mission to attempt to rescue them.
Others disputed Rav Ovadyah's analysis, as in a war situation freeing terrorists could endanger many others, and in war one is enjoined to take risks to save others. See, for example, Rav Yehudah Zoldan's analysis in Shematin 79, as well as the Tzitz Eliezer 12:57.
Yoel Domb