On Jewish Responses...

By Rabbi Cheryl Jacobs KOACH Fieldworker Southeast Region (Plantation, FL)

Praised are you, Lord our God, King of the universe who with wisdom fashioned the human body, creating openings, arteries, glands and organs, marvelous in structure, intricate in design. Should but one of them, by being blocked or opened, fail to function, it would be impossible to exist. Praised are You, Lord, healer of all flesh who sustains our bodies in wondrous ways.

If you spend enough time in any Jewish youth group, or attend a Jewish camp, or even go to enough Hillel programs on your campus, you're going to hear the "Jewish response" to a whole host of issues. There are Jewish responses to the environment; Jewish responses to HIV/AIDS; Jewish responses to domestic violence. In fact, those of us who attended rabbinical school, or pursued studies in Jewish Education were trained to do just that… provide a Jewish response to any subject you can think of.

And do you know why that is? Because in this day and age, it doesn't seem to be enough to say something is dangerous, or wrong, or harmful. People rely on us, the Jewish professionals, to try and provide another way – or really, another argument – to prevent others from doing something that could harm them. Take smoking. Even the most militant smoker knows that smoking constitutes a serious danger to the one that smokes. In fact, smoking has been linked to such evils as heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and dozens of other fatal and potentially fatal illnesses.

Whoa! 'Wait a minute' you're probably thinking, "This is the Kislev issue of the KOACH-on-Campus e-zine, and this is supposed to be a lighthearted article about oil, eight days, and a stupendous miracle!" True enough, and so, in that spirit, please think of this as my Chanukah gift to you. A way maybe to protect you and yes, even keep you alive a little longer - a Jewish response to smoking.

In all seriousness, I'm going to teach you just a bit about the rabbis' response to smoking, but you already know enough not to do it. Smoking kills you, and if that's not enough of a reason, smoking also kills those around you who are unlucky enough to inhale your smoke. And because I've been there myself, I know what you're thinking - "school's in and I'm bored - stressed out - only doing it socially - I look cool."

Many of us have used the same arguments and rationalizations. It is a basic tenet of the Torah that one is not to harm another. The point is discussed extensively in the Talmud and the Shulkhan Arukh that the infliction of injury on another party, in this case tobacco smoke, constitutes an assault. In fact, R. Moshe Feinstein (z"l), a great Orthodox commentator, wrote: "…smokers actually commit assault… and it is obvious that were the courts competent to adjudicate torts, they would be empowered to enforce collection of their estimate of the suffering caused by the smoke, and if the complainant had become ill therefrom, he would be entitled to compensation of medical expenses."

In this case R. Feinstein is talking about passive or "secondhand" smoke, the smoke that others inhale though they are not smoking themselves. If the Torah, however, and the commentators are so stringent as to forbid a human from hurting another, than how much more so when one intentionally tries to hurt themselves? In the morning prayers, many Jews recite the asher yotzar prayer that is written out above. In it, we praise God for creating our bodies and for keeping us healthy and for working God's miracles through us. Most of us would not even think of harming another human - "thou shalt not kill," etc. Then why would we kill ourselves, inside, slowly? It doesn't make sense.

Kislev is a special time of miracles. You will probably be involved on your campus with KOACH or Hillel in special Chanukah events and parties. So this Chanukah, think of this – the next time you go to light a cigarette, try lighting the Chanukiah instead.

 -Rabbi Cheryl Jacobs

[Posted 10/27/02]