Before us is Mishnah 12, the final mishnah of chapter 8 of Maseches Terumos. This mishnah builds on the principles of the previous mishnah, even though it does not deal with the laws of Terumah at all, but rather with a case that resembles it in structure.
The previous mishnah (Mishnah 11) discussed a case in which a gentile threatens to render all the loaves of bread tamei unless he is given one of them. The halachah there is to designate one loaf and hand it over - in effect, one loaf is sacrificed in order to protect the rest. According to Rabbi Bishvi, the loaf may not be placed directly into the gentile's hands, but it may be set aside, and that is sufficient.
Our Mishnah:
Our mishnah sets loaves of bread and human beings side by side: with loaves of bread one may indeed be sacrificed for the sake of the many, but with human beings this is not done. These are the words of the mishnah: "Nashim she'amru lahen goyim: tenu lanu achas mikem unetamei osah, ve'im lav harei anu metam'in es kulchen" - a group of women whom gentiles demand should choose one from among them and send her to them to be violated, and if not, they will violate all of them.
The mishnah contrasts inanimate objects, loaves of bread, with the lives of Jews. Every Jewish soul is an entire world, a complete world, and there is no way whatsoever to prefer one over another - and therefore it is forbidden to do so. This is the ruling of the mishnah: "Yetam'u es kulan ve'al yimseru lahem nefesh achas miYisrael". The outcome is sad and deeply distressing: the group may not give up one of its members; rather, all of them accept upon themselves whatever the gentiles will ultimately do to them. They have no right whatsoever to hand over even a single Jewish soul into the hands of idolaters.
This is a very sad story, but it is the halachah: with loaves of bread one may be sacrificed for the sake of the many, but with human beings Jews may not do so. One is not handed over for the sake of the many, and if harm comes to them from the gentiles as a result - tragically, there is nothing more to be done.
The Parallel Case in the Tosefta:
The Tosefta brings a parallel case, not concerning the violation of women but concerning murder, and its structure is identical: the gentiles say, "Hand over to us one of your fellow Jews and we will kill him, and if not, we will kill all of you." The halachah is the same - a Jew may not be selected as a victim, and there is no right whatsoever to do so. All the Jews are protected or unprotected equally, and not one of them may be singled out; and whatever happens, happens, just as in the case of the mishnah.
As a side point, it is worth noting that the mishnah together with the Tosefta equates, or at the very least draws a parallel between, the violation of women and the murder of a Jew, placing them on a similar plane - a fascinating and important matter in its own right.
May a Person Hand Himself Over?
In terms of practical halachah, two important points arise here. The first is an age-old question, one that has surfaced in horrific scenarios throughout Jewish history: the mishnah rules that one may not select a person from the group and hand him over for the sake of the rest, but what is the law when a person himself says, "I am prepared to hand myself and my life over in order to protect the group"? This is a terrible question, one that has indeed occurred in reality, and the halachic authorities throughout history have differed on it from one extreme to the other:
Some hold that it is a mitzvah, and one who saves the rest has earned great merit.
Some hold that it is not a mitzvah, but a person is permitted to do so.
Some hold that it is forbidden.
Some hold that it has the status of suicide, and is absolutely forbidden.
May such a halachic question never confront anyone.
The Rambam's ruling:
The Rambam rules in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, in the laws of Kiddush Hashem, that when two conditions are met it is permitted to hand over a person to death in order to save the rest of the community. This is a double qualification, and an important one:
That the person was demanded by name - that the gentile authorities say, "Hand over so-and-so to us."
That this person was liable to death in any case, meaning that he had already committed a sin that carries the death penalty. The Rambam rules this condition based on one of the two opinions in the Yerushalmi, and the precedent for it is the case of Sheva ben Bichri.
In a scenario where both conditions are met - the authorities demand a particular person, and that person has in any event committed a sin whose penalty is death - it becomes permitted to hand over that one person in order to save the community. But without them, the Rambam rules that one may not sacrifice a single Jew in order to save the many, come what may, Rachmana litzlan.
In summary: In the final mishnah of the chapter we learned that while with loaves of bread one hands over a single loaf in order to save the rest, with Jewish lives one does not hand over a single soul, even at the price of "let them all be defiled." The Tosefta extends this principle even to a case of murder, placing the two matters on one plane. We also examined the dispute among the poskim regarding a person handing himself over for the sake of the many, and the two conditions in the Rambam's ruling that permit handing over a single individual.