Pardon the new-mommy-narrative, but last night my fifteen month old son threw up 6 times between the hours of midnight and three in the morning. It was horrible, and scary, and I was sure (SURE!) he was dying. He’d never thrown up before.
I knew, in my rational mind that he’d be fine. I was aware (obviously) that kids do this all the time, but to see his little ribcage heaving like that… To see him so bewildered, and crying and in pain… to hold him in my bed and wait for the next onslaught…
How many sets of bed sheets do YOU own? How often do YOU spend more than a few hours (sober) with vomit in your hair? How little sleep did YOU get last night?
I woke up thinking “There is no way I’ll manage to get a blog-post up in time. And if I do it will absolutely suck!”
And then I thought, “Wait a minute! Isn’t there some Jewish provision about how you can break any law to save a life? Maybe that’ll get me out of posting!”
See… I was so vomit-addled that I totally forgot that my contract with Jewcy is NOT, in fact, Jewish law. I also forgot that my son was not dying.
But I still wanted to read up on my loophole, called Pikuach Nefesh:
In Judaism, human life is essential and so pikuach nefesh, the obligation to save a life in jeopardy, is considered a major value to uphold. This obligation applies to both an immediate threat and a less grave danger that has the potential of becoming serious. Pikuach nefesh is derived from the biblical verse, “Neither shall you stand by the blood of your neighbor” (Lev. 19:16). According to pikuach nefesh a person must do everything in their power to save the life of another, even donate bodily organs.
And according to this site:
The Gemara in Sanhedrin rules on the basis of this verse that if someone is offered the ultimatum to violate one of the prohibitions in the Torah or be killed, that person has the duty to violate that law and save his life. This rule applies to all the prohibitions in the Torah with three exceptions. The three exceptions are the prohibitions of idol worship, illicit sexual relations and murder. Although the Torah specifically says "vechai bahem," if a person would be given the ultimatum to violate one of these three transgressions or be killed, he must refuse to violate the prohibition and sacrifice his own life.
One might ask how, knowing what we know of the world, this doesn’t require us all to become organ donors… but maybe we’ll figure that out this afternoon… When I’ve had a little sleep.
Goodnight, y’all.
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