In the spring of 1943 Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, known as the Ponovezher Rav, established an orphanage in B'nei B'rak to absorb and care for the many orphaned children who had been rescued from the Holocaust and were sent to the Land of Israel. Unfortunately, with the first group of children scheduled to arrive on a Sunday, the Ponovezher Rav found himself without any linens or pillows for the children to sleep on due to the dire situation in Israel at that time. On Friday, with two days remaining until their arrival, Rabbi Kahaneman announced that he would be speaking on Shabbos afternoon in the largest synagogue in town.
He began his speech by citing the Talmud in Bava Metzia (62a), which discusses a case in which two people are lost in the desert with only one flask of water. If they split the water between them, both will die before they are able to reach the nearest settlement, but if one of them drinks it, he will be able to survive. Rebbi Akiva derives Leviticus 25:36) that your life takes precedence over that of your friend, and therefore the one with the water should drink it all.
On the other hand, the Talmud (Kiddushin 20a) teaches that a person who acquires a Jewish servant in a sense acquires a master for himself, due to the Torah's requirement to equate the servant's standard of living to his owner's level of comfort. Tosefos adds that sometimes even this is not sufficient, such as in a case when the owner possesses only one pillow. If he takes it for himself, he violates the Torah's requirement to give his slave equal treatment, and he therefore has no choice but to give his only pillow to his servant, leaving himself with nothing on which to sleep.
Rabbi Kahaneman noted that this ruling of Tosefos seems to contradict the teaching of Rebbi Akiva. Just as the person who is lost in the desert is permitted to drink all of the water due to the principle of "your life takes precedence," shouldn't this same reasoning allow the master to keep his sole pillow for himself?
The Ponovezher Rav explained that the two rulings are in fact compatible, as the requirement to give the pillow to the servant actually emanates from the Torah's concern for the primacy of the owner's well-being. If the master were to keep the pillow and lay down in comfort while observing his servant tossing and turning, his conscience would bother him so much that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the pillow and a good night's rest.
Therefore, precisely in order to allow the master to be at peace with the arrangement, the Torah requires him to give the pillow to his servant for his own well-being so that he can sleep soundly through the night.
Similarly, the Ponovezher Rav continued, in only one day a large group of Jewish children would be arriving at the new orphanage in B'nei B'rak, which was completely lacking pillows and sheets on which they could sleep. Questioning how any of those present could go home and enjoy a comfortable night's sleep now that they were aware of this situation, he advised them that for their own well-being, they should immediately donate the only pillows and linens in their possessions, a suggestion which was fulfilled by the inspired and touched listeners as soon as Shabbos was finished.
