Some have the notion that the Shabbos may only be violated by people already dealing with the chilul Shabbos but others should refrain. Is that correct?

We learned in previous shiurim that there is a concept that says, [1] 'kol hazariz harei teh meshubach' which means that the quicker the better, no questions asked. When it is necessary for the sake of pikuach nefesh to violate the Shabbos it does not matter who violates the Shabbos - the quicker anyone present does so is praiseworthy.

A doctor once told me that he was called on Yom Kippur to treat a patient in shul and he asked an onlooker to call an ambulance. The reaction was, “you are a doctor and you must call the ambulance”. The onlooker would not call the ambulance, which is obviously a direct contradiction of the halacha.

My neighbor knocks on my door on Friday night asking to borrow my car in order to take his wife to hospital. It is not an emergency but she must go. Must I give up my car, knowing that as a result the battery will fail, or can I say to him that he should call the ambulance service?

We will first present this question in a different context. Imagine days of yore when your living room was illuminated by candlelight, your neighbor knocks on your door on Friday night saying that he needs your candle in order to provide light in his living room for a case of pikuach nefesh. If you were not around he would be permitted to light his own candle. However, figuring that since you already have a candle burning, and carrying a burning candle is only an issur d’rabanan whereas lighting a candle is an issur d’oraisso, he prefers to ask you for your candle. The problem is that you will be left sitting in the dark. Must you relinquish your candle or may you tell him to light his own candle?

We find a very interesting machlokes in this matter. HaGaon Rav Pinchas Epstein ztz”l of Yerushalyim held that one must relinquish one’s candle for the sake of the pikuach nefesh and thus one’s friend will not have to violate the Shabbos. He goes further and says that one must try and obtain a candle, hot water etc. from one’s neighbor even though the neighbor will be left without hot water or will have to sit in the dark.

On the other hand, HaGaon Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l held [2] that since the person dealing with the pikuach nefesh is obliged and permitted to light a candle for the sake of pikuach nefesh, the neighbor does not have to relinquish a candle and thus be left sitting in the dark.

HaGaon Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita learns [3] that indeed one need not wake one’s neighbor or call upon him to relinquish his candle, but if the neighbor is aware of the pikuach nefesh he is obliged to relinquish his candle even though he is not involved.

It is very nice that we now know that there is a machlokes, what is one supposed to do?

It is not for us, especially through this medium, to pasken on such a heavy issue, rather it is up to the rabbonim to give shiurim in hilchos Shabbos and to teach these matters. Our purpose in these shiurim is to heighten your awareness and thus enable you to ask the right questions beforehand, should the need arise.

Can you apply the above to the car?

According to the above it is a machlokes whether one should approach one’s neighbor for his car. Even if the neighbor is approached, there is reason to believe that the neighbor need not provide his car when he will incur a loss, because the person dealing with the pikuach nefesh can call an ambulance service.

This refers only to a Jewish driven ambulance but a gentile ambulance service is preferable to driving a car when, as explained in previous shiurim, provided there is ample time to reach the hospital without endangering the patient in any way.

Is the above not superfluous, when after all it is a case of pikuach nefesh and one must be as quick as possible?

When time is a factor one must do whatever is quicker, which includes waking a neighbor, borrowing his car, taking his light etc. The above only refers to a case where although it is pikuach nefesh, one has ample time to organize the situation.

We must stress that when time is a factor or when there is doubt whether it is a factor, one must do whatever possible to bring the patient to medical care.