How Long Can a Person Survive Underwater? The Halachic Debate on Agunot and Presumed Death

One of the most sensitive and recurring issues in the turbulent history of our people has been the question of agunot — women whose husbands disappeared, leaving them unable to remarry. Many times, husbands fled in fear of the enemy, vanished during war, were lost in exile, or disappeared during other tragic events. The great halachic decisors were tasked with determining, case by case, whether the missing husband was still alive or not.

The dilemma became far more complex if witnesses testified that the husband had fallen into the sea or drowned in a river, yet no one saw him emerge. This raises a central halachic question: How long can a person survive in water before halacha assumes he has died?

The Talmudic Story: How Long Can One Survive in Water?

The Talmud in Bava Kamma recounts an incident involving a man named Nechunya the ditch-digger, known for digging deep water pits along the roads to Jerusalem to provide water for pilgrims.

One day, Nechunya’s daughter slipped and fell into one of these deep pits. The people ran to Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, imploring him to pray for her.

The Talmud says (see Rashi) that:

• “In the first hour” Rabbi Chanina said: Peace — she is still alive.

• “In the second hour” he again said: Peace.

• “In the third hour” he said: She has come up, meaning: a natural rescue was no longer possible; she must have been saved miraculously.

Indeed, afterward the girl reported that an elderly man — identified by Rashi as Avraham Avinu — appeared and saved her.

Seemingly, the Talmud implies that only after three hours in water is a person halachically presumed dead. Many later authorities — including the Toras Emes (Siman 1) and Eliyah Rabbah (Siman 12), understood that the Rivash (Responsa, Siman 347) relied on this passage when ruling so.

Is Surviving Three Hours in Water Physically Possible?

The Mahariṭ (Responsa, Even HaEzer 26) raises the obvious question: Is it possible for a human being to remain underwater for more than two hours without oxygen?

He therefore suggests that the terms “first hour,” “second hour,” “third hour” do not refer to literal 60-minute intervals. Rather, they refer to the number of times people approached Rabbi Chanina — as if to say: “on the first occasion… on the second… on the third…”

A second explanation he offers: Perhaps Nechunya’s daughter did not drown, but clung to protrusions or ledges along the sides of the pit, enabling her to survive.

If she had been submerged in the water itself, he writes, she could not have lived for an extended period.

How Long Is “An Hour” in Halachic Language?

The Maharit brings an impressive proof that “an hour” sometimes refers to an undefined time period, not necessarily 60 minutes.

The Mishnah (Sotah 9:2) teaches that Miriam waited one hour by the Nile to see what would happen to baby Moshe. As a reward, the entire nation waited seven days for her when she was afflicted with tzara’at.

The Tosefta (Sotah 1:4) adds that the measure of reward exceeds punishment by a factor of 500. If so, the people should have waited 500 hours, not seven days (168 hours).

This proves that the “hour” in the story of Miriam was not a literal hour, but a short period of time.

We Do Not Deviate From the Rivash

Nevertheless, Rabbi Akiva Eiger (Responsa, Second Edition 47) writes a stringent conclusion: We must follow the straightforward ruling of the Rivash: Only after three full hours submerged in water may we halachically presume that the missing husband has died.