Pikuach Nefesh
They say there’s nothing worse
than breaking holy law;
Yahweh judging from up on high,
throwing lightning bolts
at his chosen tribe.
Unless that’s Zeus;
but aren’t they the same,
really,
at the end of the day?
There is nothing worse
than breaking holy law;
but He in His infinite wisdom
gave us a card
to get out of jail, for free.
To save a life
To save a life is sacred.
To save a life means everything
and anything
from those straightjacketed
by “Thou Shalt Not.”
To live, Darwin incarnate,
and the sanctity
of the human condition
trump halakha, trump millennia
of grateful obedience.
The Sabbath is holy
for those who dial 911.
Passed over; justified; encouraged.
Because life is a gift
and the human condition
deserves special privileges
even if they are not kosher.
To save a life
Pikuach Nefesh
is God Himself.
They say there’s nothing worse
than breaking holy law;
Yahweh judging from up on high,
throwing lightning bolts
at his chosen tribe.
Unless that’s Zeus;
but aren’t they the same,
really,
at the end of the day?
There is nothing worse
than breaking holy law;
but He in His infinite wisdom
gave us a card
to get out of jail, for free.
To save a life
To save a life is sacred.
To save a life means everything
and anything
from those straightjacketed
by “Thou Shalt Not.”
To live, Darwin incarnate,
and the sanctity
of the human condition
trump halakha, trump millennia
of grateful obedience.
The Sabbath is holy
for those who dial 911.
Passed over; justified; encouraged.
Because life is a gift
and the human condition
deserves special privileges
even if they are not kosher.
To save a life
Pikuach Nefesh
is God Himself.
Shannon Frost Greenstein is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, a Contributing Editor for Barren Magazine, and a former Ph.D. candidate in Continental Philosophy. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Crab Fat Magazine, Spelk Fiction, and elsewhere. Follow her on Twitter at @mrsgreenstein or her website: www.shannonfrostgreenstein.wordpress.com. She comes up when you Google her.