Study Yoma folio 85B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אבל להחיות — אפילו מעל מזבחי. ומה זה, שספק יש ממש בדבריו ספק אין ממש בדבריו, ועבודה דוחה שבת — קל וחומר לפקוח נפש שדוחה את השבת. נענה רבי אלעזר ואמר: ומה מילה שהיא אחד ממאתים וארבעים ושמונה איברים שבאדם דוחה את השבת — קל וחומר לכל גופו שדוחה את השבת.
but to preserve a life, e.g., if the priest can testify to the innocence of one who is sentenced to death, one removes him even from on top of My altar, even while he is sacrificing an offering. Just as this priest, about whom there is uncertainty whether there is substance to his words of testimony or whether there is no substance to his words, is taken from the Temple service in order to save a life, and Temple service overrides Shabbat, so too, a fortiori, saving a life overrides Shabbat. R' Elazar ben Azarya answered and said: Just as the mitzva of circumcision, which rectifies only one of the 248 limbs of the body, overrides Shabbat, so too, a fortiori, saving one’s whole body, which is entirely involved in mitzvot, overrides Shabbat.
רבי יוסי ברבי יהודה אומר: ״את שבתותי תשמורו״, יכול לכל — תלמוד לומר: ״אך״ חלק. רבי יונתן בן יוסף אומר: ״כי קודש היא לכם״, היא מסורה בידכם ולא אתם מסורים בידה.
Other tanna’im debated this same issue. R' Yosei, son of R' Yehuda, says that it is stated: “But keep my Shabbatot” (Exodus 31:13). One might have thought that this applies to everyone in all circumstances; therefore, the verse states “but,” a term that restricts and qualifies. It implies that there are circumstances where one must keep Shabbat and circumstances where one must desecrate it, i.e., to save a life. R' Yonatan ben Yosef says that it is stated: “For it is sacred to you” (Exodus 31:14). This implies that Shabbat is given into your hands, and you are not given to it to die on account of Shabbat.
רבי שמעון בן מנסיא אומר: ״ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת״, אמרה תורה: חלל עליו שבת אחת כדי שישמור שבתות הרבה. אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: אי הואי התם, הוה אמינא דידי עדיפא מדידהו: ״וחי בהם״ — ולא שימות בהם.
R' Shimon ben Menasya said: It is stated: “And the children of Israel should keep Shabbat, to observe Shabbat” (Exodus 31:16). The Torah said: Desecrate one Shabbat on his behalf so he will observe many Shabbatot. Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: If I would have been there among those rabbis who debated this question, I would have said that my proof is preferable to theirs, as it states: “You should keep My statutes and My ordinances, which a person should do and live by them” (Leviticus 18:5), and not that he should die by them. In all circumstances, one must take care not to die as a result of fulfilling the mitzvot.