First responders are taught to protect their own lives first, and only then go in to help someone. However, if we intend to “save a life,” shouldn’t we immediately run into a burning house just to save a life? You hear it all the time, people saying, “I would do anything to save another person.” Yet, we see that first responders are told not to do that. In order to save someone else, you must know that you are safe first.
The reason for this is that when you put your life in danger, you could become a “walking dead person.” When your life is in danger, you cannot help someone else, and that creates more than one problem.
It is interesting that this logic applies not only to life and death, but this law appears in this week’s Torah portion.
This week we read about the laws that define a “City of Refuge.” A City of Refuge was a safe haven for people who inadvertently killed another person. As long as they lived in this city, no one could touch them. If they left the city, however, the victim’s family members might take revenge (i.e., take the law into their own hands). The question arises, what happens if this person’s expertise is needed outside the city limits? Can their rights be protected? Since the whole reason they want to leave the city limits is to “help someone else,” one would think that they should be protected.
However, the law states that if they leave, they are not protected.
From here we learn that although it is so important to help another person, we must make sure that we don’t give up our own principles in the process.