And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him: ‘My son’; and he said unto him: ‘Here am I.’ And when Yitzchok grew old, his...

One of the more complex questions in the Halachos of Pikuach Nefesh on Shabbos arises when the danger is neither obvious nor immediate. A person encounters a potential risk that, under certain circumstances, could become life-threatening, but he...

A Case Study in Halachic Decision-Making When Life Is at Risk The Appeal from Kobe and the Two Rulings Throughout 1941, Jewish refugees arrived in Japan, among them students of the Mir Yeshiva. They had traveled through the Soviet Union, sailed from...

On the eve of Yom Kippur in 1941, leading Poskim faced an extraordinary question: On which day should Jews in Japan fast? According to the local calendar, Yom Kippur fell on Wednesday, but according to the Chazon Ish’s calculation, it fell on...

The earlier parts of this essay discussed general guidelines, Shiurim, suitable foods for a Choleh when fasting is forbidden, artificial feeding, and several specific conditions. F.  Patients with very advanced age or dementia People of very...