The following story is based on a question in Chashukei Chemed. It was synthesized with a story appearing in a Hebrew weekly periodical.
An Israeli neighborhood was facing a nonstop barrage of missile attacks from a village across the border. The best tactic to neutralize the threat of the missile launchers, it was concluded by the powers that be, was to insert an elite commando team into enemy territory. They would blow up the weapons and return to Israel. To avoid detection, they would disguise themselves as the enemy.
The team infiltrated the border of the neighboring country and successfully planted time-delay bombs among their targets. However, they were soon discovered by hostiles. The team leader sent an urgent transmission to his commander requesting emergency extraction. The team leader indicated that they would make their way to the roof of a designated building and wait there for rescue.
Due to the urgency, a helicopter was immediately deployed, but because of time constraints, the pilot was only informed of the location of the pickup; the rest of the intelligence was to be delivered via radio. However, it soon became apparent that the radio apparatus was faulty, and communications could not be established with the helicopter. This created a frightening crisis. The pilot had not yet been informed that the elite commando unit was in disguise, so he would approach the target and see individuals dressed as hostiles— and open fire. An alert was sent out for all radio technicians to report to base immediately. To avert a tragedy, they had to establish communications with the helicopter at all costs.
Meanwhile, Yair and Ziv, two generals, began a secret conversation.
Yair: We have to discuss the awful possibility of what we should do if communications are not established.
Ziv: I know exactly what you are thinking. You are contemplating shooting down the helicopter with a missile.
Yair: Unfortunately, that is exactly the scenario I wanted to discuss. We have one pilot who may unwittingly be responsible for the deaths of ten of his fellow soldiers. It seems we may have to sacrifice his life to save ten others.
Ziv: That is a well-known halachah. If someone is running after a victim to kill him, he is called a rodef. The victim is permitted to kill the rodef, the pursuer. In this case, the helicopter pilot is a rodef. He will pursue the ten soldiers. We are allowed to stop him at all costs.
Yair: I know that halachah, but here the victims, the elite commando team, won’t be killing the pursuer, the pilot— we will. Just because the potential victim is allowed to kill his pursuer, does that give a permit to anyone?
Ziv: The Rambam rules that anyone who witnesses the actions of the pursuer could and should kill him. Since the pilot is a rodef, on his way to kill the innocent commandos, we could and should shoot the helicopter down to avoid a bigger tragedy.
Yair: Just one second. The Gemara in Sanhedrin discusses a mother who is having difficulty during childbirth. The Gemara clearly says we cannot harm the life of the partially born child to save the life of the mother; we cannot pick and choose which life is more valuable. We just leave things as they are without getting involved. How can we possibly choose to save the lives of the soldiers over the life of the pilot? We should just let the events play out, whatever happens.
Ziv: Well, obviously, there is a big distinction between the case you mentioned and our situation. The Gemara is discussing picking one life over another one. Here we are discussing choosing to save ten lives by sacrificing one. Surely here we can pick ten lives over one.
Yair: Rashi in Sanhedrin (72b) compares the case of our Gemara to the case of Sheva ben Bichri. Yoav was pursuing Sheva ben Bichri to kill him. Sheva ben Bichri took refuge in a city, putting the entire city in danger. Consequently, Yoav besieged that city. The townspeople saved their lives by killing Sheva ben Bichri.
Ziv: That’s exactly my point. The townspeople were allowed to kill Sheva ben Bichri—one individual who managed put the entire city in danger—in order to save the lives of everyone else.
Yair: Actually, Rashi says that the townspeople were allowed to kill Sheva ben Bichri only because if they didn’t, the whole city, including Sheva ben Bichri, would have died. There was nothing to be gained by sparing his life. Therefore, they killed him to spare their own lives. Otherwise, it is evident from Rashi that you cannot kill one person even to save many, many lives. Therefore, we can’t shoot down the helicopter even to save many lives.
Ziv: Actually, the Rambam says that the only reason we can’t pick the life of the baby over the life of the mother is that being born is a natural event. The baby is not doing anything personally to endanger the mother. Here, the helicopter pilot is going to take an active role in shooting his fellow soldiers, Heaven forbid. Therefore, he would be deemed a rodef and we can choose to save the lives of ten soldiers over his.
Yair: The Tiferes Yisrael actually explains the Gemara differently. He says we cannot choose the life of the mother over the baby because the baby did not make any bad decisions. If someone made a bad decision, not even realizing that he was putting everyone in danger, we may choose other lives over his. He gives an example of a forger in medieval times who hides in a Jewish city. He is putting everyone’s life in mortal danger, as the authorities may take revenge against the entire city. Since the forger made a bad decision, we may hand him over to the authorities to save the lives of the people in the city. This is true even though we know the authorities may unreasonably execute the forger. But the pilot did not make any bad decision. He is doing exactly what he is supposed to do. Therefore, you cannot shoot the helicopter down even to save many lives.
Ziv: That is interesting. But the Rambam is a Rishon. He seems to be saying the sole determinant of whether or not someone is considered a rodef is if the person is taking any action. The pilot is taking action. Therefore, we should follow the Rambam and sacrifice the life of the pilot to save ten other lives.
Yair: But let us first ask Rav Elyashiv, shlita [this story took place before his petirah] this unfortunate and tragic question.
Rav Elyashiv: Even according to the Rambam, the helicopter pilot cannot be considered a rodef. Even if we consider a rodef a person who merely unwittingly does an action that endangers others, the pilot would be different. He is the exact opposite of a rodef. He is trying to save lives. Not only that, he is endangering his own life to save others. We cannot apply the title of rodef to him and you cannot shoot down the helicopter. You must let the events play out, and Hashem should save us from the impending disaster.
The helicopter approaches the intended extraction point. The team leader and his squad have made it to the designated roof. They see the helicopter and thank Hashem profusely for their imminent rescue. However, they become uneasy when they realize that the helicopter is not approaching; the pilot seems to be getting ready to fire. The team leader realizes that they look like the enemy!
This squad was blessed to be part of a program to send Israeli soldiers tzitzis from donors in the United States. The team leader instructs everyone to pull out their tzitzis strings and wave them. Unbelievably, the pilot is able to spot the incredible sight in time. He hovers over the building and executes a daring extraction.
The ending of this story was printed in a weekly periodical in Israel about ten weeks ago. I have not been able to confirm this story with any other source. However, it is well known that One Israel Fund has a program where the donor pays $36 and receives a pair of IDF-regulation tzitzis, while an identical pair is given to an IDF soldier free of charge. More information about this program can be found at oneisraelfund.org/oif-projects/idf-tzitzit/.
Maggid shiur and Rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. He leads the Daf Yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, and writes “Delving into the Daf” each week for The Jewish Home.
