Pursuit

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The Gemara relates another incident: There was a certain man who hastened and brought his donkey onboard a ferry [lemavra] before other people boarded the ferry. The donkey began to move around and was about to cause the boat to sink. A certain other man came and pushed the donkey of that first man into the river, and it drowned. The case came before Rabba, and Rabba exempted him from payment. Abaye said to him: But this individual is saving himself with another’s property…

Bava Kamma 117b:10-13

When a ship is about to sink because it is heavily loaded, and one person stands up and makes it lighter by jettisoning some of its cargo, he is not liable. For the cargo is considered like a rodef who is pursuing them to kill the passengers. On the contrary, by jettisoning the cargo and saving them, he performed a great mitzvah.
This concludes "The Laws of Injury and Damages" with God's help.

Mishneh Torah, One Who Injures a Person or Property 8:15

Rabbi Abbahu says: A person should always be among those who are pursued and not among the pursuers. One can prove that this is so, as none among birds are pursued more than doves and pigeons, as all predators hunt them, and from all birds the verse deemed them fit to be sacrificed on the altar.

Bava Kamma 93a:6

“God seeks the persecuted” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). Rav Huna said in the name of Rav Yosef: God always seeks the persecuted. If you find a righteous person persecuting a righteous person, “God seeks the persecuted”; a wicked person persecuting a righteous person, “God seeks the persecuted”; a wicked person persecuting a righteous person, “God seeks the persecuted”; even if a righteous person is persecuting a wicked person, in any case, “God seeks the persecuted.”
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Nehorai: The Holy One blessed be He always demands the…

Vayikra Rabbah 27:5

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] since God, may He be blessed, created His world and wants its settlement; and the settlement of the world is established by the delivery of the weak from the hand of the one stronger than he. And also because the eyes and heart of the pursued are always to God to deliver him from the hand of his pursuer. And [it is] like the matter that is written (Ecclesiastes 3:15), “and God seeks the pursued” — meaning to say that the pursued seeks God and pleads with Him. Therefore, Blessed be He, commanded us to help him.

Sefer HaChinukh 600:2

HALAKHAH: “The following ones one saves at the cost of their own persons” etc. “He who pursues another to kill him, whether in a house or on the field one saves at the cost of his own person, both him who pursues another to kill him or him who pursues any of the transgressions in the Torah one saves at the cost of his own person. But if it was a widow for a High Priest, a divorcee or one who had received ḥalîṣah for a common priest, a bastard or a Gibeonite for an Israel, an Israel woman for a bastard or a Gibeonite, one does not save him at the cost of his own person…

Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 8:9:2

(Devarim 25:12) "Then you shall cut off her hand": We are hereby taught that you are obligated to rescue him (from her). Whence is it derived that if you are not able to rescue him by (cutting off) her hand, you must rescue him by her soul (i.e., by killing her)? From "you shall have no pity."

Sifrei Devarim 293:1

MISHNA: And these are the ones who are saved from transgressing even at the cost of their lives; that is to say, these people may be killed so that they do not perform a transgression: One who pursues another to kill him, or pursues a male to sodomize him, or pursues a betrothed young woman to rape her. But with regard to one who pursues an animal to sodomize it, or one who seeks to desecrate Shabbat, or one who is going to engage in idol worship…

Sanhedrin 73a:1-6

“These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who departed from the land of Egypt according to their hosts, at the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Numbers 33:1).
Halakha – one who is being pursued by gentiles or by robbers, what is the ruling; may he desecrate Shabbat? This is what our Rabbis taught: One who is being pursued by gentiles or by robbers may desecrate Shabbat in order to save his life. So we find regarding David when Saul sought to kill him; he fled from him and escaped…

Bamidbar Rabbah 23:1

When a person sees a rodef pursuing a colleague to kill him, or a woman forbidden as an ervah to rape her, and he has the potential to save the victim and yet fails to do so, he has negated the observance of the positive commandment: "You must cut off her hand," and has transgressed two negative commandments: "You may not show pity," and "Do not stand idly by while your brother's blood is at stake." Even though lashes are not given as punishment for the transgression of these prohibitions - because they do not involve committing a forbidden deed - they are nevertheless very severe…

Mishneh Torah, Murderer and the Preservation of Life 1:15-16

(Devarim 22:26) "But to the maiden you shall not do a thing. The maiden does not have a sin of death": We are hereby taught that Scripture exempts her from the death penalty. Whence is it derived that it exempts her from an offering as well? From "a sin (of death"). Whence is it derived that she is exempt from stripes as well? From "a sin of death," (stripes being in place of death.) We are hereby taught that she is exempt from all the punishments in the Torah. "For as a man would rise up against his neighbor and slay him…

Sifrei Devarim 243:1-3

Rabbi Avin began in the name of Rabbi Berekhya the Elder: “You then spoke in a vision to Your pious ones, [saying: I aided the mighty one; I raised the one chosen from the people]” (Psalms 89:20) – this is speaking of Abraham, to whom He spoke with speech and in vision. That is what is written: “After these matters, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying” (Genesis 15:1). “To Your pious ones [laḥasidekha]” – “give truth to Jacob, kindness [ḥesed] to Abraham” (Micah 7:20). “Saying: I aided the mighty one” – as he killed four kings in one night…

Vayikra Rabbah 1:4

(Lev. 1:1:) “Then [the Lord] called unto Moses.” This text is related (to Prov. 29:23), “One's pride will bring him low, but the low in spirit will obtain honor.” Whenever anyone pursues [a position of] authority, authority flees from him, but whenever anyone flees from [a position of] authority, authority will pursue him. Saul fled from authority when he came to reign, as stated (in I Sam. 10:22), “So they inquired of the Lord again, ‘Has anyone else come [here]?’ And the Lord said, ‘Here he is hiding among the baggage…

Midrash Tanchuma, Vayikra 3:1

The verse states: “And Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly” (II Samuel 3:27). Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Joab judged Abner according to the halakha of the Sanhedrin, which would sit in judgment by the gate of the city. How so? Joab said to Abner: What is the reason that you killed Asahel? Abner said to him: Asahel was pursuing me with the intention to kill me, and therefore he had the status of a pursuer, whom I had the right to kill in self-defense…

Sanhedrin 49a:12

Rebbi Ḥanina said, a baraita implies that one does not heal through spilling blood, as we have stated there: “If most of his body was outside one does not touch him, for one does not push aside one life before another life.” Not only if one would say, kill this person, but even if he told him, injure that person. It was stated, a Gentile against a Jew, is prohibited; a Jew against a Gentile is permitted. Rav Ḥisda asked, may one save the life of an adult with the life of a minor? Rebbi Jeremiah objected, did we not state, “If most of his body was outside one does not touch him…

Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 14:4:11

Whenever license is not granted to kill a thief, we should remove stones from an avalanche that fell upon him on the Sabbath. If he destroyed utensils while inside the house, he is liable for the damages. When, however, license is granted to kill a person, and he broke utensils while in the home, he is not liable for the damages, as explained above.
This concludes "The Laws of Theft" with God's help.

Mishneh Torah, Theft 9:13

The baraita states: Alternatively: A transgression extinguishes the merit of a mitzva, but a transgression does not extinguish the merit of the Torah. Rav Yosef says: Rabbi Menaḥem bar Yosei interpreted this verse as it was given on Mount Sinai, and had Doeg and Ahithophel only interpreted it in this way they would not have pursued David, as it is written: “For my enemies speak concerning me…saying, God has forsaken him; pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver” (Psalms 71:10–11)…

Sotah 21a:14-15

MISHNA: One who extinguishes the lamp on Shabbat because he is afraid due to gentiles, from whom he is hiding in his home, and due to thieves, or if one is afraid due to an evil spirit, i.e., he is depressed and prefers sitting in the dark, or if he extinguished the flame due to the sick person so that he will sleep, he is exempt. However, in a case where he extinguishes the flame in order to spare the lamp, spare the oil, or spare the wick, he is liable…

Shabbat 29b:12

TOOK. What did he take? He took an evil counsel for himself. If one runs after that which is not his, it flies from him, and what is more, he loses his own as well. So Korah pursued that which was not his, and he lost his own without obtaining the other.

Zohar, Korach 1:4

“He divided up against them at night, he and his servants, and he smote them and pursued them until Ḥova, which is north of Damascus” (Genesis 14:15).
“He divided up against them at night” – Rabbi Binyamin bar Yefet in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: The night became divided on its own. The Rabbis say: Its Maker divided it. The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Their father took action for Me at midnight, I, too, will take action for his descendants at midnight.’ When? In Egypt, as it is stated: “It was at midnight, and the Lord smote every firstborn …” (Exodus 12:29)…

Bereshit Rabbah 43:3

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