Pikuach nefesh
E79738
Pikuach nefesh is the Jewish legal and ethical principle that preserving human life overrides almost all other religious commandments.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Pikuach nefesh canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T635348 — 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: [Rabbinic Judaism, hasConcept, Pikuach nefesh]
-
A.
Der Nister
Der Nister was a Ukrainian-born Yiddish writer and symbolist author known for his mystical, allegorical prose and stories that explored Jewish life and spirituality in Eastern Europe.
-
B.
Ten Days of Repentance
Ten Days of Repentance is the Jewish High Holy Days period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur devoted to introspection, seeking forgiveness, and spiritual renewal.
-
C.
Zohar Manna
Zohar Manna was a pioneering computer scientist known for his foundational work in mathematical logic, program verification, and the formal methods of software correctness.
-
D.
Bontshe Shvayg
Bontshe Shvayg is a classic Yiddish short story character created by I. L. Peretz, symbolizing quiet, passive suffering and the tragedy of excessive humility.
-
E.
Lecha Dodi
Lecha Dodi is a liturgical Hebrew poem sung in Jewish Friday evening services to welcome the Sabbath as a bride.
- 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 commandments.
-
A.
Der Nister
Der Nister was a Ukrainian-born Yiddish writer and symbolist author known for his mystical, allegorical prose and stories that explored Jewish life and spirituality in Eastern Europe.
-
B.
Ten Days of Repentance
Ten Days of Repentance is the Jewish High Holy Days period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur devoted to introspection, seeking forgiveness, and spiritual renewal.
-
C.
Zohar Manna
Zohar Manna was a pioneering computer scientist known for his foundational work in mathematical logic, program verification, and the formal methods of software correctness.
-
D.
Bontshe Shvayg
Bontshe Shvayg is a classic Yiddish short story character created by I. L. Peretz, symbolizing quiet, passive suffering and the tragedy of excessive humility.
-
E.
Lecha Dodi
Lecha Dodi is a liturgical Hebrew poem sung in Jewish Friday evening services to welcome the Sabbath as a bride.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Jewish legal principle
ⓘ
ethical principle in Judaism ⓘ halakhic principle ⓘ |
| appliesEvenTo | doubtful danger to life ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
both physical and immediate threats to life
ⓘ
human life ⓘ serious potential threats to life ⓘ |
| associatedConcept | sanctity of life in Judaism ⓘ |
| basedOnSource |
Talmud
ⓘ
Torah ⓘ |
| categoryIn |
Jewish bioethics
ⓘ
linked to:
Jewish ethics
|
| contrastsWith | strict ritual observance without regard to life ⓘ |
| coreIdea | preservation of human life overrides almost all other commandments ⓘ |
| ethicalDomain | Jewish ethics ⓘ |
| ethicalImplication |
duty to rescue those in life-threatening danger
ⓘ
obligation to protect one’s own life ⓘ obligation to seek medical treatment ⓘ |
| ethicalStatus | supreme value in Jewish moral reasoning ⓘ |
| exceptionToOverride |
idolatry
ⓘ
murder ⓘ sexual immorality ⓘ |
| guidesDecisionMakingIn |
emergency situations in Jewish law
ⓘ
medical ethics in Judaism ⓘ |
| halakhicStatus | obligation ⓘ |
| influences |
Jewish hospital policies
ⓘ
rabbinic rulings on health and safety ⓘ |
| justifies |
breaking dietary laws to prevent danger to life
ⓘ
eating on Yom Kippur to protect health ⓘ violation of Sabbath to save life ⓘ |
| languageOfTerm | Hebrew ⓘ |
| legalDomain | Jewish law ⓘ |
| literalMeaning | saving a life ⓘ |
| moralPriority | human life above ritual observance ⓘ |
| normativeIn |
Conservative Judaism
ⓘ
Orthodox Judaism ⓘ Reform Judaism ⓘ |
| normativeSourceType | halakhic obligation rather than mere permission ⓘ |
| overrides |
Sabbath prohibitions
ⓘ
fasting obligations ⓘ most ritual commandments ⓘ |
| primaryConcern | saving life over ritual consistency ⓘ |
| recognizedBy | rabbinic authorities across denominations ⓘ |
| relatedPrinciple |
rodef (pursuer) law
ⓘ
safek nefashot (doubt of danger to life) ⓘ |
| religiousTradition | Judaism ⓘ |
| valueHierarchy | one of the highest values in Jewish law ⓘ |
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 commandments.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.