More Discussions for this daf
1. Shimshon's "Pa'am" 2. Pundak Inn 3. Shimshon
4. Embarrasing a friend 5. Embarrasing a friend 6. Embarrasing a friend
7. Yehareg v'Al Ya'avor 8. Embarrasing a friend 9. Pundak
10. Avshalom 11. Yehudah and Tamar 12. Na is a language of request
13. "Lo Yasaf" -- Yehudah and Tamar 14. david hamelech was born circumcised 15. Sotah 010; Shimshon and Giluy Arayot
16. David ha'Melech's efforts on behalf of Avshalom 17. Shem's daughter? 18. Pundak
19. בת שם
DAF DISCUSSIONS - SOTAH 10

Ahron Fishman asked:

Thank you so much for answering my questions. I really appreciate all the time and effort you put in to answer my questions on the Sugya. I had another question on the Sugya I was hoping you could answer.

Would Avizraihu have the same Dinim as the Isur its learned from? I was thinking that a possible Nafka Minah between the Rabeinu Yonah and Tosfos was does a person have to give up his life only when he is embarrassing someone with a Kum v'Aseh (e.g. making fun of him) or does it apply even in a case of a Shev v'Al Ta'aseh (e.g. when a borrower sees his lender he is embarrassed by the very sight of him). Tosfos in Pesachim 25b says we only say Yehareig v'Al Ya'avor by a Kum v'Aseh but not a Shev veal Ta'aseh. Would this be so by Avizraihu also? Does anyone talk about if Avizraihu has the same Dinim as what its learned from?

Ahron Fishman

The Kollel replies:

(1) The din that one must also sacrifice one's life for Avizraihu is Paskened in Shulchan Aruch YD 157:1 in Rema and Gra #14. A source for this is Sanhedrin 75a that if a man had a craving for a woman, she is not even allowed to speak with him from behind the other side of the fence. See Ran Yoma 3b in Rif pages DH Chutz, who writes that one learns from this that concerning the 3 cardinal sins it is not only the chief prohibition, but also the "dust" of the prohibition, for which one must give up one's life.

(2) Your comment about giving up one's life not to embarrass someone in public in a passive way, is an extremely interesting one. I would like to suggest that the Rambam maintains that one is obliged to die for this, and I will attempt to prove this.

(3) The Tosfos Pesachim 25b that you mention - that one need not sacrifice one's life in order not to kill someone in a passive way - is cited by Reb Chaim Brisker, in the very first piece in his Sefer on the Rambam Hilchos Yesodei Ha'Torah 5:1. However Reb Chaim asserts there (end DH v'Y'L) that the Rambam disagrees with Tosfos and maintains that one is obliged to lose one's life even to avoid performing the 3 sins in a passive way.

(4) I cited in a previous reply that the Pri Chadash, in his Sefer on the Rambam, Mayim Chayim to Hilchos Yesodei Ha'Torah 5:2, writes that the Rambam agrees with Tosfos Sotah 10b that one must sacrifice one's life not to embarrass one's friend in public.

(5) If we now join up the Pri Chadash and Reb Chaim Brisker, it should emerge that according to the Rambam one is obliged to lose one's life in order to refrain from embarrassing one's friend in public even in a passive way. This is a very big Chidush.

(6) I do not know whether Rabeinu Yonah sides with Tosfos or with the Rambam in the dispute I mentioned above (3) and this question requires further study.

(7) In my opinion a lender does not have to lose his life to refrain from appearing in front of the borrower. Even though the Gemara Bava Metzia 75b states that a lender who does this is equivalent to passing the borrower through water and fire, nevertheless the Gemara does not say there that the lender must lose his life for this. This is not similar to the Gemara Sotah, because in Bava Metzia he is not embarrassing him publicly because only the 2 of them know that he owes him money.

(8) However a practical application of the Chidush we mentioned above (5), could be if Reuven is sitting in a room and Shimon walks in and everyone in the room knows that something very embarrassing happened once between these 2 people. If Reuven remains in the room this will be extremely unpleasant for Shimon so Reuven would be obliged to give up his life in order to leave the room.

(9) It goes without saying that this whole subject requires a lot more thought.

Kol Tuv

Dovid Bloom