Commentary for Avodah Zarah 54:4
ומנא תימרא דלחיי שעה לא חיישינן דכתיב (מלכים ב ז, ד) אם אמרנו נבוא העיר והרעב בעיר ומתנו שם והאיכא חיי שעה אלא לאו לחיי שעה לא חיישינן
How do you know that the life of the hour is not to be considered? As it is written, “If we say: we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there” (II Kings 7:4). Now is there not the life of the hour [which they might lose]! This implies that the life of the hour is not to be considered.
Daf Shevui to Avodah Zarah
In this verse in II Kings the four lepers outside the besieged city prefer to go into the city where the enemy army might be located then die of starvation outside the city. This proves that one may put a short amount of time of one’s life at risk. In other words, if I know I will die in say 2 months, I may take a risk now even though it might kill me a lot sooner than 2 months.
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