Since God had no need to create the world, His act of creation is considered to be the ultimate act of selflessness, purely for the benefit of His creatures. We are enjoined to emulate God's constant manifestations of selflessness, and thereby connect to Him, as it were.
On the other hand, the Gemara (Bava Metzia 62a) rules that if you are stranded on a desert island with a companion, and possess only enough water for one person, "your life takes precedence." When it really counts, selfishness seems to be the advised course.
So what is the primary Jewish value - selfishness or selflessness?
This seems a false question: we are exhorted to give whatever we can to our fellow, or to be selfless, if that's how you want to put it.
ReplyDeleteBut the Halacha makes it abundantly clear: my life is NOT mine to do with as I please, so it's not mine to give. Thus, I must safeguard it.
Note that the Gemara DOES permit RISKing one's life to save the life of another, so long as there's some reasonable chance you will both survive. (One who knows how to swim may jump into a river to save another.)
So, if you were on a desert island and not feeling ill effects yet, and your companion were about to die of thirst, AND you had a reasonable expectation of being rescued soon, you probably should give him your water.
If the "island" case were the only case advocating self-priority, your answer would be acceptable, but selfishness seems to pervade Halachic literature. For example, the Shulchan Aruch rules that you should lead the zimun, since the leader of the zimun receives greater reward than those who merely respond to the zimun. This, despite the fact that your leading the zimun comes at the expense of your fellow leading the zimun. Another example: the Gemara in Maseches Shabbos rules that you may not commit a "light" sin in order to save someone else from violating a more severe sin. The assumption of much of the Talmud and its codifiers seems to be that you should put your own benefit before the benefit of others, in contradistinction to Jewish philosophy, which advocates selflessness as a primary virtue.
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