- Smoking in Jewish law
This article addresses the history of, and "
Halakha " (Jewish legal-literature) that applies to,tobacco andcigarette smoking byJew s from the early modern period to the present day. "Halakha" addresses three main topics:* The regulation of smoking on days of special Jewish significance
* The debate over prohibition of smoking, per se, with regard to individual Jews
* General environmental concerns (i.e., "second-hand smoke").
Historical background
Until the late 20th century, “the use of tobacco for smoking and in the form of
snuff was common among Jews, who in some countries control to a large extent the manufacture and sale of the product. It is asserted that a Jew namedLuis de Torres , who accompaniedChristopher Columbus on his expedition in 1492, settled inCuba , learned the use of tobacco, and introduced it into Europe. From this time Jews were connected with the trade in tobacco, one of the most important in early American history (M. J. Kohler, in "Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc." x. 52).” (Source: JE)Ritual and other moral concerns
Tobacco encountered the early opposition of some European
rabbi s (Hebrew for "master," or, a religious teacher), who characterized tobacco smoking as "offeringincense toSatan ." (Source: JE) More recently, some rabbis considered smoking an improper, lightheaded activity forstudents (Stone 302).Rabbis also debated the use of tobacco under traditional Jewish law, including varying aspects of its permissibility on the Sabbath,
chagim (Jewish holy days), fast-days, and whether a special "smoking"berakhah (blessing ) might be needed. Among the early sources are the "Keneset ha-Gedolah" ("Men of the Great Assembly") of Rabbi Hayyim Benveniste (1603-73) and the "Magen Avraham" ("Shield of Abraham") ofAvraham Gombiner (1635-83). Gombiner refers to the "drinking of "tabak" [tobacco] through a pipe by drawing the smoke into the mouth and discharging it," and says that a smoker should first make ablessing over smoking as a type of refreshment. Believing that tobacco was soaked inbeer — a source of "chametz ", orleaven — heban s smoking duringPassover . (ib. 343). Benveniste expresses himself very forcibly against smoking "tutun" (tobacco) on theNinth of Av , and reportedlyexcommunicate d a Jew who smoked on that solemn fast-day ("Keneset ha-Gedolah", to Orach Chayim, 551, 21). According to Jacobs and Eisenstein , Benveniste “points out the inconsistency of those authorities who permit smoking on holy days because it is a 'necessity,' a 'means of sustaining life,' and who allow it on fast-days because smoke has no 'substance' likefood . In Benveniste's opinion, smoking should be prohibited on holy days; he quotes RabbiJoseph Escapa as coinciding in this view, though he thought it unwise to enforce a generally accepted law.” (Source: JE)Writing in
Turkey , anIslamic country, Benveniste further argues that smoking is "Chillul Hashem " (a defamation ofGod ), becauseMuslim s refraining from smoking on fast-days would see Jews smoking on theirs ("Keneset ha-Gedolah", ib. 567 [ed. Constantinople, 1729, pp. 101 "et seq".] ). Despite such concerns, some Jews did smoke on the Sabbath, and visited Muslim neighbors in order to smokehooka s there.Rabbinic authorities banned this practise on the grounds thatGentile s would considerJudaism as ridiculous (Alkalai, "Zekor le-Abraham," i. 142-143, Salonica, 1798). (Source: JE)Rabbi
Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933), known as the "Chofetz Chaim " ("Desirer of Life"), also sought to dissuade practitioners from smoking. He considered it a waste of time, and saw the practice of people borrowing cigarettes from each other as morally questionable. (Cp. Stone (296f., 299) andEliezer Waldenberg ).pecific aspects of smoking
Early modern
Jewish law also addresses the Turkish "narghile", orwater pipe , which filters the smoke through water. Benveniste rules that the "narghile" violates even holy-day regulations because it may extinguish fire (which cannot be extinguished on a Jewish holy day). Gombiner forbids the "naghile's" use because its tobacco is analogous to the "mugmar" (spice incense) banned byTalmudic law . (Source: JE)Unlike smoking, the use
snuff was allowed on the Sabbath, holy days, fast-days, andYom Kippur ("Le?e? ha-?ema?", p. 51b, Amsterdam, 1707). “Jacob ?aziz (1620-74) quotes aresponsum of Isaiah Pinto permitting the use of snuff on the Sabbath, even though it curescatarrh ; for everybody, even healthy people, snuff, and it can not therefore be considered a drug ("Halakot ?e?annot," No. 101), according to Jacobs and Eisenstein.Some Jewish women also used tobacco (see Elijah of Lublin, "Yad Eliyahu", responsum No. 65, Amsterdam, 1712).
The JE also cites
Hebrew poetry on tobacco: “Solomon Wilder of Amsterdam composed one in acceptance of a tobacco-pipe as abirthday present ("Ha-Karmel", 1862, vol. ii., No. 20). Another poem characterizes the cigar and cigarette as "the two tails of these smokingfirebrand s" (Isa. vii. 4; see "Ha-Bo?er Or," i. 123).”Postmodern "halakha"
Concerns about smoking and health may be observed in Jewish approaches based on "
halakha ", or Jewish law. For instance, when the link between smoking and health was still doubted, RabbiMoses Feinstein wrote a responsum stating that smoking was permitted, but inadvisable. Rabbi Feinstein claimed that smoking was a low-level concern, and permitted under the rabbinical principle "The Lord protects the simple ." More recently, rabbinicresponsa tend to argue that smoking is prohibited, under Jewish law, as self-harm. Responsa to prohibit (or virtually prohibit) cigarette smoking have been issued by several Orthodox rabbis, includingWaldenberg , andHayim David HaLevi ,Sephardi Chief Rabbi ofTel Aviv ) from 1973. Smoking is specifically prohibited bySolomon Freehof , other Reform rabbis, as well as rabbis in the Conservative movement in the U.S. and Israel. Fact|date=July 2008econd-hand smoke
The early modern responsa literature shows that Jewish students smoked in their "batei midrash" — or study halls — and
synagogue s. Some rabbis sought to outlaw smoking and the use of snuff in places of worship ("Pahad Yitzkhak", 9, p. 62a) and posted notices for study halls. ("Ha-Maggid", 1859, vol. iii., No. 16). While smoking had been extremely prevalent in Orthodox "yeshivot ", rabbinic opinions have led to a major decrease in cigarette use in Israeli and (especially) American "yeshivot". Fact|date=July 2008In tandem with
secular campaigns to restrict indoor tobacco-smoking as harmful to non-smokers, Orthodox rabbinical authorities began to make it virtually prohibiteda priori to smoke in synagogues and study halls. RabbiMoses Feinstein ruled against indoor smoking based on "halakha" covering nuisance andpollution , while most other rabbis have based a similar ruling on the Halakha concerning health. In Israel, Jewish doctors and rabbis work collaboratively on anti-smoking efforts. Fact|date=July 2008On June 30, 2006, the "
Vaad Halacha" (Jewish law committee), sponsored by theRabbinical Council of America ruled that the use of tobacco is forbidden to Jews, and the committee specifically cited and reversed precedents that permitted smoking. [cite web |url=http://www.rabbis.org/pdfs/Prohibition_Smoking_Full_Translation.pdf |title=The Prohibition of Smoking in Halacha |accessdate= |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher= ]Current-day Haredi rabbis
Famous Ashkenazi Haredi rabbis have called on people not to smoke and called smoking an 'evil habit.' These rabbis include Rabbi
Yosef Sholom Eliashiv , RabbiAharon Leib Shteinman , RabbiMoshe Shmuel Shapiro , RabbiMichel Yehuda Lefkowitz , RabbiNissim Karelitz , and RabbiShmuel Auerbach . Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner forbade people from starting to smoke and said that those who smoke should stop doing so. All of these rabbis also said that it is forbidden to smoke in a public place, where others might be bothered by it. [ [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5760/kisisa/KSSasmoking2.htm] ; [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5760/kisisa/KSSasmoking.htm] ; [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5760/vayakhel/VLasmoking.htm] ]Among important Sephardi Haredi rabbis, Rabbi
Ben Tzion Abba Shaul and RabbiMoshe Tzedaka called on youth not to start smoking. [ [http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5762/korach/KR62osmoking.htm] ]Other major Ashkenazi rabbis who explicitly forbade smoking include Rabbi
Eliezer Waldenberg , RabbiMoshe Stern , and RabbiChaim Pinchas Sheinberg .References
*
Joseph Jacobs ,Judah David Eisenstein ; “Tobacco”. In the public domain within theJewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com).
* Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography:
** "Ha-Maggid", viii., No. 37; "Ha-?efirah", i., No. 8
** "Keneset ha-Gedolah ", iii., end
** A. K.Kaufman , "Räuchert un Shikkert", Warsaw, 1900
**Löw , Lebensalter, p. 351
**Abrahams , "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages", p. 139
**Steinschneider , in "Die Deborah" (1894), vol. xl., No. 1.
* Bleich, J. D. "Smoking." Tradition 16, no. 4 (1977).::———. [Letter to the editor] Tradition 17 no. 3 (1978).::———. "Survey of Recent Halakhic Literature: Smoking." Tradition 23, no. 2 (1983).
* Etinger, Dov. Sefer Pe'er Tahat Efer: Ha-`Ishun Bi-Yeme Hol Uve-Yamim Tovim Le-or Ha-Halakhah. Yerushalayim: D. Etinger, 1988. Includes opinions by several important Orthodox rabbinic decisors.
* Feinstein, Moses. SeferIgrot Moshe h.
* RCA Roundtable. (Statement by progressive Orthodox Rabbis Saul Berman, Reuven Bulka, Daniel Landes and Jeffrey Woolf.) “Proposal on smoking” (unpublished) July 1991. Available on the web.
* Rosner, Fred. “Cigarette Smoking in Jewish Law”Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society 4 (1982): 33-45::———. Modern Medicine and Jewish Ethics. Hoboken, N.J. New York: Ktav Pub. House; Yeshiva University Press, 1986.
* Stone, Daniel. “Smoking in Halakhah” [Hebrew] Beit Yitzkhak 20 (1988)
* Waldenberg, Eliezer.Tzitz Eliezer . See: Schussheim, Eli and Eliezer Waldenberg. “Should Jewish law forbid smoking?” B’Or ha’Torah 8 (1993)
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