I have discussed to what extent one should avoid violating shabbos by using a non-Jew or a shinui. (See the last two posts.) But what happens when violating a mitzvah is inevitable? Sometimes one must violate a prohibition, but there still is a choice which one to violate. What has priority?
Many of the Rishonim discuss a case in which a sick person needs to eat meat on shabbos and there is non-kosher meat readily available. Is it better to eat the non-kosher meat, or is it better to slaughter an animal (which violates the prohibition of killing an animal on shabbos) to have kosher meat?
All of the Rishonim that I saw agree that it is preferable to slaughter an animal so the person can eat kosher meat. On the face, this is very hard to understand. Shabbos is one of the most severe prohibitions. Even though eating non-kosher meat is Biblically prohibited, its prohibition is non nearly as severe as violating shabbos. Hopefully next week I will discuss the rationales behind this ruling, and some of the practical differences between them.
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