Mishna on Horayos 13 ‘A man comes before a woman to enable life and to return a lost article. A woman comes before a man for clothing and to remove from captivity. If they are to suffer indignity, the man comes before the woman.’ The Mishna listed two concepts for each gender. The next Mishna (the last in the tractate) list the hierarchy of Kohen, Levi, Yisroel, Mamzer, Nissin, Etc. But the Talmid Chacham would precede them all.
There are two points to define, what is “enable life” and why is a man first. Rambam on the Mishna: “You already know that thenitrety of mitzvos obligate men and only some obligate women, as was clarified in Meseches Kiddushin. And he is sanctified more than her. Hence, he is preceded to ‘enable life’.” Rambam hilchos Matnos Aniyim 8:15 “The woman comes before the man to feed, to clothe, and to remove from captivity. Because it is for the man to dispense (necessities) not the woman, and her shame is great.” The Rambam codifies the second concept of the Mishna, but not the first. Also, the Rambam does not explain what it means to ‘enable life’. Though the Rambam famously codifies that we do not give preference to one life over another in Hilchos Rotzeach 1:9. I would be very happy if you can point me to a Rambam that I am unaware of.
The gemara in Kesubos (67) states that an orphaned girl is provided for before an orphaned boy. Rashi clarifies ‘providing’ charity for food. However, the Rashba explains it to mean clothing in line with second concept of our Mishna. But for food the orphaned boy precedes her as the first concept of the Mishna. Rashba concludes from the verse, “and your brother shall live from you” that, ‘your brother precedes your sister’. This last line seems to be based on Rebbi Akiva’s (BM 62) statement that, “your life precedes your brother’s life.’ This is in regard to two travelers in the dessert, and one of them runs out of water. He may keep his own water to himself, in order to survive. But Rebbi Akiva is not stating that one may cause injury to a fellow Jew to prolong his own life. This is a solid source for the Rashba because it refers to food supply as life. It follows that the Rashba is not reading the Mishna as triage. Rather as ownership of the food supply. Therefore, this would not be applicable to hospitals or sinking ships. Moreover, it is known that a woman is not appointed over charity funds (see BB 8). then, it is possible, that a man receiving charity first, is only because he is receiving from other men. But if a woman had a private charity fund, then she would be required to feed woman first. The reson to understand the Rashba like this, is that the Gemara in Kesubos clearly states the reasomn of the Rambam that is the way of a man to provide for himself. Which applies to food just as much as clothes. The only reason to separate the two, is based on the verse ‘live with you’. Additionally, we would have to contend with a difference between the Rambam and The Rashba if a woman provides food for herself.
Dear Joseph, it is a bit long but the point is that life saving triage being done through a hierarchy is not found from either the Rambam or the Rashba. I will continue with Tur and SA in my next post.
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