לרפואת הרב זאב חיים בן חי' אידל
והרב יצחק בן ברכה
והרב אברהם יוסף בן ר' משה חיים
ונעמי בת טובה
ושרה לאה בת רבקה
בתוך שח"י
Many Acharonim understand the Maggid Mishna to mean that when a person is dangerously ill, we may do anything he needs including things that won't save his life, even if it means being מחלל שבת.
However, that would be a radical chiddush and very hard to swallow and a careful reading will reveal that he never said that. What the Maggid Mishna says is that if a person lets blood and needs heat, we may light a fire for him even though he could be heated with clothing.
This means that if the מלאכה is one that is needed in order to save the person's life, we may do it even if we could could save his life in a different fashion even without having to be מחלל שבת. So we may light the fire even if we could bring him clothing. As long as the פעולה is a lifesaver, it is permitted.
HOWEVAH!!! If he is dangerously ill and he has other needs that will not save his life, the Maggid Mishna would agree that it is forbidden to perform a מלאכה for him [unlike how the Achronim understood him].
So wrote the Tzadik HaGaon HaRav Uziel Meizlish [a talmid of the Mezritcher Maggid] in his sefer Menorah Tehorah and so proved at length Rav Geshtetner [להורות נתן חלק ט' פרק ראשון סימן ח' עיי"ש].
So now we have a new and hopefully correct הבנה in the רב המגיד [as he is affectionately known in the sefarim]. [Isn't הבנה in Cuba?]
הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו!!!!
