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Siman קנ״ח — Those who serve idolatry, and saving them from death
עובדי עבודת כוכבים להצילם מהמות
Two seifim, and a siman that writes its own boundaries: the seven nations, the absence of war, the land of Israel, the time of the Temple.
Structured review, tables, quick memorisation
Source: Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah קנ״ח — 2 seifim
Nosei kelim: ש״ך (7 ס״ק) · ט״ז (ס״ק א) · נקודות הכסף · פתחי תשובה (4) · באר היטב (2) · בית יוסף · טור
Compiled by: הרב יוסף חיים סממה · DAAT
For students who have mastered Levels 1 and 2
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A grave subject. This page is a study recap: it reports what the sources write, with their references, and settles nothing. For any real question, ask your Rav.
📑 Plan of the synthesis
- The axiom: a siman that carries its own boundaries
- The 3 reflex questions
- Master table — the two seifim clause by clause
- לא מורידין: the central dispute, in three positions
- בידים וסיבוב: the Taz’s distinction against the Bach
- איבה: the regime of healing, from the Tur to the Ramban
- The four words of seif 2
- The 5 golden rules
- Mnemonic — the three boundaries of the siman
- The 4 classic pitfalls, and the final flash card
1. The axiom: a siman that carries its own boundaries
The starting point:
The subject of seif 1 is not a general category: it is a category defined by four joint determinations, all written into the text. The seven nations; the absence of war; the land of Israel; the era when most fields belonged to Israel. Seif 2 adds a fifth, grammatical one: its main verb is in the past.
Hence the axiom: read the definition of the subject before the rule. None of these boundaries is a softening added afterwards; they are the Mehaber’s own words, and the Shach comments on them one by one.
💡 The marker: the Shach devotes his ס״ק א to wartime and his ס״ק ד to the clause about the land of Israel. The apparatus itself reads this siman beginning from its boundaries.
2. The 3 reflex questions
1. Whom does the seif speak of? Seif 1 names two groups and four conditions; seif 2 names another, and puts its verb in the past. Nothing may be transposed before that question is answered.
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2. Is it about not rescuing, or about doing something? The two clauses of seif 1 are not of the same order, and the whole dispute of the siman hangs on that.
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3. Is there enmity, and can one slip away? This is the regime of healing. The criterion is not the wage: it is whether a pretext is available.
3. Master table — the two seifim clause by clause
| Clause of the seif | Who speaks | What follows |
|---|
| עובדי עבודת כוכבים מז׳ עממין שאין בינינו וביניהם מלחמה | Mehaber | The subject, and its first boundary |
| ורועי בהמה דקה מישראל בארץ ישראל בזמן שהיו רוב השדות של ישראל וכיוצא בהן | Mehaber | The second category, bounded in place and time |
| אין מסבבים להם המיתה ואסור להצילם אם נטו למות | Mehaber | The rule, in two clauses of different reach |
| כגון שראה א׳ מהם שנפל לים אינו מעלהו אפילו אם יתן לו שכר | Mehaber | The example: the one who fell into the sea |
| לפיכך אין לרפאותן אפילו בשכר אם לא היכא דאיכא משום איבה | Mehaber | Healing, except for enmity |
| דאז אפילו בחנם שרי אם לא יוכל להשמט אפילו בחנם | Rama | For free too, if one cannot slip away |
| במה דברים אמורים בישראל בעל עבירות והעומד ברשעו ושונה בו תמיד | Mehaber | The clause that restricts all that precedes |
| אבל ישראל בעל עברות שאינו עומד ברשעו תמיד אלא עושה עבירות להנאת עצמו כגון אוכל נבילות לתיאבון מצוה להצילו ואסור לעמוד על דמו | Mehaber | A mitzvah to save one who sins out of appetite |
| האפיקורסים והם שעובדים לעבודת כוכבים או העושה עבירות להכעיס | Mehaber | The definition of seif 2 |
| והאפיקורסים והם שכופרים בתורה ובנבוא׳ מישראל היו נוהגין בזמן הבית להרגם | Mehaber | The verb in the past: in the time of the Temple |
| ועיין בחושן המשפט סימן תכ״ה | Rama | The reference to Choshen Mishpat |
| ומכ״מ אם בא לשוב לא החמירו עליו שקשה לפרוש מהם וחיישינן שלא יחזור לסורו | Rama | The door of repentance |
4. לא מורידין: the central dispute, in three positions
| Who | What he holds | Where it is written |
|---|
| The Beit Yosef | This is not a prohibition: there is no obligation to lower; but where they observe the seven commandments of the sons of Noah, it follows that it is forbidden | בית יוסף יו״ד קנ״ח |
| The Shach | He reports this reading and its criterion, and dismisses the Maharshal’s proof | ש״ך יו״ד קנ״ח ס״ק ב |
| The Taz | It is a prohibition; a whole sugya of the chapter Arba Mitot and Rashi prove it | ט״ז יו״ד קנ״ח ס״ק א |
| The Nekudot HaKesef | The Taz’s difficulty does not stand: the Beit Yosef spoke only of those who do not observe the seven commandments | נקודות הכסף יו״ד קנ״ח |
| The Baer Hetev | He reports all three in one line | באר היטב יו״ד קנ״ח ס״ק א |
What to retain — the dispute does not set two rules against each other but two readings of the case in view. The criterion that resolves it is written in the Shach and taken up by the Nekudot HaKesef: the observance of the seven commandments of the sons of Noah.
5. בידים וסיבוב: the Taz’s distinction against the Bach
What to retain — the Taz separates what is done with one’s hands from what is done by a roundabout way, and proves it from the Rambam: between Jews, one who removes the ladder is exempt from death at the hands of the court. The Bach, whom the Taz calls מו״ח, joined the two. And the Taz keeps one reservation to his own conclusion: כל שאין בה משום איבה.
6. איבה: the regime of healing, from the Tur to the Ramban
| Who | What he holds | Where it is written |
|---|
| The gemara | For a wage it is permitted, because of enmity — but Abaye shows that a pretext remains available | עבודה זרה כ״ו ע״א |
| The Tur | For a wage yes, for free no | טור יו״ד קנ״ח |
| Tosafot, reading Rashi | Forbidden for free, permitted for a wage because of enmity | תוספות עבודה זרה כ״ו ע״ב |
| The Ramban, in the Beit Yosef | Where there is no pretext, permitted even for free | בית יוסף יו״ד קנ״ח |
| The Rama | He writes the Ramban’s position into the seif | הגהת הרמ״א יו״ד קנ״ח:א |
⚠️ The pitfall — thinking the criterion is the wage. It is not: it is the evasion. The wage was only one way of slipping out among others, and where none is available the rule changes.
7. The four words of seif 2
| The word | Who uses it here | What it covers |
|---|
| מומר | The gemara, and the Beit Yosef who decides | One who habitually transgresses — and on the Beit Yosef, even to provoke |
| מין | The gemara, and the Beit Yosef quoting the Rambam | One who serves idolatry |
| אפיקורוס | The Rambam | One who denies prophecy or providence — the definition in the laws of repentance |
| כופר | The Mehaber | The word he kept where the Rambam wrote otherwise |
8. The 5 golden rules
- Read the boundaries before the rule. Four conditions in seif 1, a past-tense verb in seif 2.
- Two clauses, two orders. אסור להצילם comes from ואין זה רעך; אין מסבבים is what is under discussion.
- The criterion that decides is the seven commandments of the sons of Noah. Shach ס״ק ב, and the Nekudot HaKesef.
- Healing turns on evasion, not on the wage. Gemara, Tur, Ramban, Rama.
- Seif 1 restricts itself. One who sins out of appetite: מצוה להצילו ואסור לעמוד על דמו.
9. Mnemonic — the three boundaries of the siman
Three boundaries, in the order the text sets them:
מִלְחָמָה · אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל · זְמַן הַבַּיִת
The absence of war, the land of Israel at the time when most fields were Jewish, and the time of the Temple. Each is written into the siman, and the Shach comments on two of them.
10. The 4 classic pitfalls, and the final flash card
- Reading the rule without its definition of subject. The four conditions of seif 1 are not decorative.
- Thinking the Beit Yosef permits lowering. He says it only of those who do not observe the seven commandments of the sons of Noah, and the Nekudot HaKesef recall this against the Taz.
- Thinking the criterion for healing is the wage. It is the evasion — the gemara’s עילה.
- Reading seif 2 in the present. Its verb is in the past: היו נוהגין בזמן הבית להרגם.
Flash card
Seif 1 — a subject bounded by four conditions; one does not bring about death and does not rescue; hence no healing even for a wage, except for enmity — and then for free as well, says the Rama, if one cannot slip away; and the final clause excludes the one who sins out of appetite, whom it is a mitzvah to save. Seif 2 — the apikorsim, in the time of the Temple; the Rama refers to Choshen Mishpat 425 and opens the door of repentance. Apparatus — the Shach, the Taz and the Nekudot HaKesef on the meaning of לא מורידין; the Baer Hetev reports them in one line.