The attitude toward lifesaving in jewish law - The Good Samaritan an ideal or a duty, a moral or legal obligation?

U članku se istražuju glavni aspekti obveze spašavanja života prema židovskom zakonu i analizira stvarni status takozvanog »milosrdnog Samarijanca«, preispitujući je li tu riječ o zakonskoj obvezi ili moralnom nadahnuću. Analiza se temelji na glavnim biblijskim i talmudskim izvorima koji govore o ovoj obvezi i o trudu koji se mora poduzeti da bi se spasilo drugog čovjeka. Raspravlja se o financijskim sredstvima i granicama te obveze, o imunitetu koji spasilac ima pred sudskom odgovornošću, njegovim mogućnostima da traži povrat sredstava uloženih u spašavanju i o pitanjima glede misije spašavanja koja se pokazala nepotrebnom. Autor raspravlja i o zakonu u slučaju kada su život ili zdravlje spasioca ugroženi u nastojanju da se spasi život drugoga. Navodi dva slučaja dužnosti spašavanja života drugih tijekom holokausta. U analizi aspekata židovskog zakona korišteni su razni izvori rabinske literature od talmudskih vremena preko srednjega vijeka do modernih vremena, a autor ih je prvi preveo s hebrejskog i aramejskog na hrvatski jezik. U članku su dotaknuta i pitanja o statusu obveze spašavanja života u vrijeme rata te slučaj voljnog odustajanja od spašavanja života i pravne posljedice takve odluke. Rad daje i kratak uvid u ove obveze u nekim svjetskim pravnim sustavima.In this article, the author is researching and analyzing the attitude toward lifesaving in Jewish law. The purpose is to show the genuine status of the so called “Good Samaritan” in Jewish law and to ascertain if it represents a legal duty or a moral inspiration. The author starts with a short introduction. The central part of this article is the analysis of the main aspects of the obligation to save lives in the Jewish law, starting with the main Biblical and Talmudic sources for this obligation and for the efforts one must put in to save his fellow. The article further examines the questions regarding the financial means and limits of this obligation, the rescuer’s immunity from Tort Liability, his ability to reclaim expenses used for the purpose of rescue and the case of a rescue mission that happens to be unnecessary. At the next and highest level of giving, the author discusses the law in case of endangering one’s life or health to save others. The author discusses two cases from the time of the Holocaust in order to demonstrate various aspects of the duty of saving lives of others. The analysis of various aspects of Jewish law was done using many sources of rabbinical literature from the Talmudic times through the Middle Ages until modern time. This literature was translated into Croatian from Hebrew and Aramaic by the author for the first time. Other issues the author discusses in short are the status of the obligation to save life in times of war and the case of one refraining from lifesaving and the legal consequences. The last part of this article is a short comparative legal review of this obligation in the main world legal systems and in some countries