Weekly Commentary: Understanding Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Pikuach Nefesh
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 24 September 2013

Much has been said over the years about the stand that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
has taken that Israeli concessions can be made in order to avoid endangering
lives ("pikuach nefesh").

It is important to note that the implementation of the "pikuach nefesh"
standard by Rabbi Yosef relies heavily on expectations regarding the short
term rather than long term consequences of a decision.

And when projected medium or longer term losses are heavily discounted they
can be swamped by short term benefits - be they from a temporary lull in
violence or the benefits reaped from supporting a given decision.

Rabbi Yosef is hardly alone on the Israeli scene in giving little weight to
mid or long term consequences of policy. It could be argued that the
decisions made by secular Israeli leaders such as Ariel Sharon and others
were driven by planning horizons measured in hours or days rather than
years.

The interesting question is if it is possible for other rabbinical leaders
to claim to embrace Rabbi Yosef's "pikuach nefesh" concept while analyzing
dangers with a considerably lower "discount rate" applied to the mid term
and long term consequences of decisions so that temporary gains from
concessions are swamped by the very real threat of future dangers they may
bring.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il