Must I endanger myself to save others?

Must I endanger myself to save others?

Lo sa’amod al dam re’acha (do not stand by idly when another is in jeopardy) is the mitzvah to save another person in danger. But how much risk must a person take? A house is on fire, but are passersby obligated to enter the burning building to save the people trapped inside?

Risky situations are categorized in halachah as safek sakanah (possible danger) and vadai sakanah (certain danger). There is an opinion that a person is obligated to put themselves in a safek sakanah for another who is in a vadai sakanah, since the inevitability of death for the victim trumps the risk-factor facing the rescuer. On the other hand, there are poskim who impose the injunction “V’chai bahem” (and you should live with them), i.e. we should opt out of performing almost all mitzvos if threatened with danger, since their existence is predicated on enhancing life and not looming death. The accepted view is that we are generally lenient with fulfilling lo sa’amod when posed with a safek sakanah. A bystander is exempt from putting themselves in the line of fire, though some poskim laud the person who does so and goes beyond the letter of the law.

The potential peril may vary in any given situation, and the probability of success should also be taken into account. Surely minor risks—which many people take simply to protect their own property—should not keep us from offering help to another Jew in trouble.

https://halacha2go.com?number=612

Practical Halacha: One minute a day. By Horav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, shlita, Mara D'asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights.