Is one allowed to be a firefighter if he might be required to work on Shabbat? or is he allowed to, in order to save lives?
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1@DoubleAA, I don't think that's the same thing -- finding yourself in that situation might be different from choosing an occupation that you know will place you in that situation. (That said, I know enough Jewish doctors who do or did do rotations in hospitals to suspect that this is permitted, though I don't know under what circumstances.)– Monica CellioCommented Oct 30, 2012 at 23:55
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1Also, welcome to Mi Yodeya! I'm glad to see you've registered your account and I look forward to seeing you around.– Double AA ♦Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 0:01
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1@Ariel It's not about where he lives, but what the question he is asking is. Any lemaaseh question should be posed to his personal Rabbi.– Double AA ♦Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 3:36
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2The issue isn't just about placing oneself in an occupation where you must break Shabbos to save a life, you are also expected to save property.– YirmeyahuCommented Oct 31, 2012 at 4:26
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3@Yirmeyahu We generally assume nowadays that any significant fire is a threat to life because it can easily spread to other buildings. But yes, answers that touch on that would be good.– Double AA ♦Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 4:41
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2 Answers
When I was an EMT I lived in a place where there were many Jews in the rescue squad. The local rabbis told us to arrange a rotation which ensured that there was always someone to answer calls but that we didnt have more people than we need.
I would say that Jewish firefighters should try not to be on-call on shabbat but if they need to respond to life threatening emergencies they must.
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This sounds like a huge risk to me. Weren't you ever short a person? Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 14:50
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But what about the duty to extinguish a fire to save property, either after the people have been brought to safety or to save an empty building? What if there no significant danger of it spreading?– Seth JCommented Oct 31, 2012 at 18:21
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if we were ever short we had mutual aid from other neighboring towns. there were also backups on call. Commented Dec 2, 2012 at 3:02
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tAs far as I know there is no permission to extinguish fire to save only property. If ther eis a danger of spreading or to life and limb (which there almost always is) then of course the fire must be extinguished. Commented Dec 2, 2012 at 3:03
As far as I know, since Fire-Fighting is all about rescuing lives (~ Pikuach Nefesh, פיקוח נפש) then it has priority over all other Mitzvas.
Source from Wikipedia: Here.
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3Felix, welcome to M.Y. Unfortunately, as mentioned in several comments already, firefighting involves saving property, not just lives. How do you justify that under פיקוח נפש?– Seth JCommented Oct 31, 2012 at 18:22
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