The Lesser of Two Evils: Be a Good Samaritan (Menachot 64a)

A good puzzle in Friday's Daf:

Rava asked: If a sick person was assessed as needing to eat two dried figs on Shabbat (because doing so would save their life) and there are two dried figs attached to two stems or there are three figs attached to one stem which do we bring?

Here's the problem. If the person only needs two figs but we bring him three we have plucked on too many figs for him. Jewish law allows one to violate the laws of Shabbat (in this case the prohibition against reaping) in order to heal a sick person. However, anything above the bare minimum is considered a true violation and is not excused in order to help the sick person. This prohibition is called "ribui b'shurin."

On the other hand, if one plucks the two stems each with a single fig on it they have not wasted any figs,  however they have done TWO acts that are a desecration of Shabbat - two reaping are worse than one. So what is the answer?

According to the Talmud, it the answer is obvious. We should bring three figs on one stem. In the fight between a desecration of amount or a desecration of number of actions, the Talmud rules in favor of avoiding the latter.  For our commentators, the reason is because bringing three figs violates a prohibition of the rabbis while plucking twice violates a biblical prohibition.

However, I think there is something more here. When one needs to save a life, they must act fast. There are times when you know what you are doing is clearly wrong. No lifeguard should pull a potential spinal victim out by their neck. Doing so is irresponsible like choose to pluck twice when one only needs to pluck once. However, when you have the potential to save someone's life you shouldn't be held accountable for acting fast even if you make small mistakes along the way. Using the same example, you could have turned the spinal victim more smoothly, you could have hooked them up tighter to the backboard, however, if you do the best you can, you should not be held liable. Don't count the figs like you don't scrutinize the knots on the backboard. Just act!

Rava's puzzle teaches us that good samaritan laws applty in some form to the rabbis.