Abstract
WELL, ALMOST EVERYTHING. THE Mishna says that if a human life hangs in the balance-and even if there is only a possibility that it might-the Sabbath laws are suspended. From a passage saying that if one is buried under a rock slide on the Sabbath, we should "open (mefakhin) the heap of stones above him" to save his life, was born the phrase pikuah nefesh, literally "an opening for a life:' And an opening in the law.