Text Study: The Question of Self Defense & the “Ticking Bomb”

The concept of a rodef (pursuer) is defined in Talmud Bavli Masechet Sanhedrin 72a, as “one who pursues after another person with intent to kill him.” The Mishnah teaches that this rodef is one of three types of pursuers whom you may “save by means of their own lives” i.e., you must kill this rodef to prevent him from murdering another person. The attached PDF discusses some rabbinic sources on the rodef, which are applicable to the modern problem of the "ticking time bomb" and whether torture is permitted in such a case.