By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

It was a picture seen around the world. And it was taken in Three Hills, Alberta – Canada.

The picture was of a Canadian man, Theunis Wessels, who was mowing his lawn, but with a menacing tornado swirling behind him.
Who took the picture? It was his wife, Cecilia.

She explained that cutting the grass was on her husband’s to-do list, and as he started the task, she went for a nap.

She was then woken by her daughter who was upset that there was a tornado in the sky, but her father wouldn’t come inside.

“I did ask him if he was coming inside with that thing in the clouds when I turned to come inside and he calmly said no,” Cecilia Wessels said Sunday.

Our question is, from a halachic perspective is what Theunis Wessels did permitted? Is one permitted to risk his or her life – to mow the lawn?

The Torah generally forbids us to place ourselves in danger or risk. The main pasuk forbidding this, “venishmartem me’od bnafshosaichem – And you shall be very careful regarding yourselves (Dvarim 4:9).”

The Mitzvah is not just limited to “veNishmartem” (Dvarim 4:9). The verse later on (Dvarim 4:15), “Rak hishamer lecha” is understood by most Poskim to actually comprise a second Mitzvah (See Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita Shaar HaTeshuvos #25). There is also a third Mitzvah, “V’Chai Bahem – And you shall live by them” (VaYikra 18:5).

The Ben Ish Chai writes that a person should make every effort to ensure the general safety of both himself and those around him (Parshas Pinchas year cycle #2). The Turei Zahav in his commentary to Choshain Mishpat (427:10) cites a Midrash on Shir HaShirim that when one does this and protects himself from dangers and damage not only is he protected, but he receives extraordinary credit for the Mitzvah too.

Notwithstanding all of the above, there is a fascinating response of the Noda BiYehudah (YD MT #10) regarding endangering oneself to make a living. The topic is hunting, and he writes that it would generally be forbidden because one has to enter dangerous areas where there are wild animals in order to trap them. However, if a person is poor, and does this activity in order to sustain himself – the Torah permitted it.

TWO REQUIREMENTS

It is clear that the Noda BiYehudah lists two separate requirements. Firstly, he must be poor. Secondly, his main intent must be to provide parnassah. What is unclear is whether or not he would be permitted to do so if he had another means of making money available to him. When this question was posed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita (Tzohar #17 p. 88) he responded that although it is not ideal – it is not forbidden. Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l Kovetz Shiurim Kesuvos 136 explains that the reason is that since he has no choice in the matter we say Shomer P’sa’im hashem that Hashem watches over fools. However, when he purposefully places himself in harm’s way and he has a choice not to do so, then we do not apply this dictum.

Rav Moshe Feinstein (IM CM Vol. I #104) seems to understand this Noda BiYehudah as only referring to a remote danger, but not a significant one.

GENERALLY ACCEPTABLE DANGER

Rav Isse Yehudah Untermann, the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, in his Shaivet MiYehudah (1:9) draws a distinction between a danger that people generally do for Parnassah and a danger that is not generally done. The Tzitz Eliezer (Vol. IX 17:5) draws the same distinction. The popularity of the photograph would indicate that this would be something that is not generally done.

Rav Bakshi Doron in Torah Sh’B’al Peh #43 5762 cites the Binyan Tzion who holds that when travelling in a somewhat dangerous area there is no need to meet the two criterion of the Noda BiYehudah. It just must not be a clear and or present danger. In this case, teh tornado was present.

CONCLUSION

It would seem that the actions of the mower would not be permitted on account of the fact that it does not fit into the two criterion of the Noda BiYehudah. Also, even if it was a remote chance of danger, the way that Rav Moshe understands the Noda BiYehudah is that the fact tha it is a remote danger is only permitted with the Noda BiYehudah’s two conditions.
One last thought:

His actions did cause his daughter anxiety. We must be very careful not to cause other anxiety or stress in our actions.

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