pikuach nefesh
E42551
Pikuach nefesh is the Jewish legal and ethical principle that preserving human life overrides almost all other religious obligations.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| pikuach nefesh canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T338129 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: pikuach nefesh Context triple: [Jewish ethics, hasKeyConcept, pikuach nefesh]
-
A.
pir
A pir is a spiritual guide or master in Sufism who leads and mentors disciples on the mystical path to closeness with God.
-
B.
Gilgul (reincarnation)
Gilgul (reincarnation) is a central Kabbalistic doctrine describing the transmigration of souls through multiple lifetimes for spiritual rectification and completion of divine commandments.
-
C.
Malchuyot
Malchuyot is the section of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy that focuses on proclaiming God’s kingship and sovereignty over the world.
-
D.
Chagai
Chagai is a district in western Balochistan, Pakistan, known for its arid desert landscape and for being the site of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests.
-
E.
PIF
PIF is a regional intergovernmental organization that brings together Pacific island countries and territories to cooperate on political, economic, and security issues.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: pikuach nefesh Target entity description: Pikuach nefesh is the Jewish legal and ethical principle that preserving human life overrides almost all other religious obligations.
-
A.
pir
A pir is a spiritual guide or master in Sufism who leads and mentors disciples on the mystical path to closeness with God.
-
B.
Gilgul (reincarnation)
Gilgul (reincarnation) is a central Kabbalistic doctrine describing the transmigration of souls through multiple lifetimes for spiritual rectification and completion of divine commandments.
-
C.
Malchuyot
Malchuyot is the section of the Rosh Hashanah liturgy that focuses on proclaiming God’s kingship and sovereignty over the world.
-
D.
Chagai
Chagai is a district in western Balochistan, Pakistan, known for its arid desert landscape and for being the site of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests.
-
E.
PIF
PIF is a regional intergovernmental organization that brings together Pacific island countries and territories to cooperate on political, economic, and security issues.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Jewish legal principle
ⓘ
ethical principle in Judaism ⓘ halakhic principle ⓘ |
| alsoSpelled | pikkuach nefesh ⓘ |
| appliesIn |
life-threatening situations
ⓘ
potentially life-threatening situations ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
Jewish law
ⓘ
Sabbath observance ⓘ Shabbat prohibitions ⓘ Yom Kippur fasting ⓘ fast days ⓘ halakhic decision-making ⓘ kashrut observance ⓘ medical ethics in Judaism ⓘ |
| basedOn |
Talmud
ⓘ
Torah ⓘ |
| category |
Halakha
ⓘ
Jewish ethics ⓘ |
| coreIdea | preservation of human life overrides almost all other religious obligations ⓘ |
| discussedIn |
Babylonian Talmud
ⓘ
linked to:
Talmud
Yoma 85b ⓘ tractate Yoma ⓘ
linked to:
Mishnah
|
| emphasizes |
duty to save life
ⓘ
sanctity of human life ⓘ |
| entails |
duty to provide medical care
ⓘ
duty to seek medical treatment ⓘ obligation to violate commandments to save life ⓘ |
| exceptionToOverride |
idolatry
ⓘ
murder ⓘ sexual immorality ⓘ |
| influences |
Jewish responses to public health emergencies
ⓘ
contemporary Jewish bioethics ⓘ |
| language | Hebrew ⓘ |
| literalMeaning | saving a life ⓘ |
| normativeStatus | widely accepted across Jewish denominations ⓘ |
| overrides |
Sabbath prohibitions
ⓘ
dietary laws ⓘ fasting obligations ⓘ most ritual commandments ⓘ |
| priorityOver |
Shabbat rest
ⓘ
linked to:
Shabbat
communal prayer requirements ⓘ fasting on Yom Kippur ⓘ ritual observance ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Jewish medical ethics
ⓘ
rodef (pursuer) law ⓘ |
| religiousTradition | Judaism ⓘ |
| scripturalSource |
Leviticus 18:5
ⓘ
“You shall live by them” ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: pikuach nefesh Description of subject: Pikuach nefesh is the Jewish legal and ethical principle that preserving human life overrides almost all other religious obligations.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.