Halakha (Jewish law) addresses a number of topics applicable to tobacco and cigarette smoking. These include the health impacts of smoking; the permissibility of smoking on holidays and fast days, and the impacts of second-hand smoke on other people.
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Until the late 20th century, the use of tobacco for smoking and in the form of snuff was common among Jews. It is speculated that a Jew named Luis de Torres, who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his expedition in 1492, settled in Cuba, learned the use of tobacco, and introduced it into Europe. From this time, Jews were connected with the trade in tobacco. [1] [2]
As early as the 17th century, rabbis debated various halachic issues that arose in connection with tobacco use, particularly its permissibility on Shabbat, holidays, fast days, and whether a blessing must be recited before use. Among the early sources are Keneset ha-Gedolah by R' Chaim Benveniste (1603–73) and Magen Avraham by Avraham Gombiner (1635–83).
Gombiner referred to the "drinking of tobak [tobacco] through a pipe by drawing the smoke into the mouth and discharging it," and was undecided on whether a smoker should first make a blessing over smoking as a type of refreshment. [3] Believing that tobacco was soaked in beer—a kind of chametz —he banned smoking during Passover. [4]
Benveniste expressed himself very forcibly against smoking tutun (tobacco) on Tisha BeAv, and reportedly excommunicated a Jew who smoked on that solemn fast-day. [5] Benveniste pointed out the inconsistency of those authorities who permit smoking on holidays because it is a 'necessity,' a 'means of sustaining life,' and who allow it on fast-days because smoke has no 'substance' like food. [2] In Benveniste's opinion, smoking was prohibited on holidays; he quoted Rabbi Joseph Escapa as coinciding in this view, though he thought it unwise to enforce a generally accepted law. [2]
Writing in Turkey, an Islamic country, Benveniste further argued that smoking on fast days is Chillul Hashem (a defamation of God's name), because Muslims refraining from smoking on fast-days would see Jews smoking on theirs. [6] Despite such concerns, some Jews did smoke on Shabbat using hookas prepared before Shabbat, or else visited Muslim neighbors to enjoy the smoke in their homes. Rabbinic authorities banned this practice on the grounds that Gentiles would consider Judaism as ridiculous. [7]
The Turkish narghile, in which the smoke passes through water, early became popular; Benveniste rules that the "tumbak" (cake of tobacco, over which a burning coal is placed at the other end of the narghile) extinguishes the fire, which is forbidden on holidays as well as Shabbat. Gombiner prohibits tumbak because it is like "mugmar" (spice for burning), mentioned in the Talmud, which likewise is prohibited. This, however, is disputed by R. Mordechai haLevi [8] who permits the use of the narghile on holidays. [9] The controversy finally ended in a victory for those rabbis who permitted the use of tobacco on holidays and fast-days, except on Yom Kippur, which is like Sabbath; however, some Jews still abstain from smoking on Tisha BeAv.
Unlike smoking, the use of snuff was allowed on the Sabbath, holidays, fast-days, and Yom Kippur. [10] Jacob Hagiz (1620-74) quotes a responsum of Isaiah Pinto permitting the use of snuff on the Sabbath, even though it cures catarrh; for everybody, even healthy people, use snuff, and it can not therefore be considered a drug. [11]
The Chofetz Chaim (1838–1933) 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. [12]
R' Moshe Feinstein prohibited smoking in any place where other people are found, on the grounds that it causes them distress (even ignoring health impacts). [13]
The early modern responsa literature addresses the question of students smoking in their batei midrash and synagogues. Some rabbis sought to outlaw smoking and the use of snuff in places of worship [14] and posted notices for study halls. [15] Many leading acharonim prohibited smoking in batei midrash and synagogues on the grounds that smoking is a frivolous activity that does not show respect for the holiness of these places. [16]
When 20th century medicine discovered the negative effects of smoking on health, the question arose whether smoking is forbidden in all circumstances. The debate about the acceptability of smoking according to halacha is centered primarily around the prohibition for a person to damage his body, or bring about his death. [17]
Opponents of smoking argue that since there is a clear link between smoking and cancer, smoking should be prohibited. However, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote a responsum stating that while inadvisable, smoking was permitted for one who had already started. Feinstein explained that since the risk of illness or death due to smoking is considered small, and it is a widespread practice, it is therefore permitted under the rabbinical principle: "The Lord protects the simple." However, starting to smoke would be prohibited because of the transgression of v'lo sasuru. [18] According to students, when informed of the dangers of smoking, Rabbi Aaron Kotler ruled that smoking was a biblical transgression. [19] Many Haredi rabbis have called on people not to smoke and called smoking an 'evil habit'. These rabbis include Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, and Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach. Rabbi Shmuel HaLevi Wosner forbade people from starting to smoke and said that those who smoke are obligated to do everything they can to stop. All of these rabbis also said that it is forbidden to smoke in a public place, where others might be bothered by it. [20]
Among important Sephardi Haredi rabbis, Rabbi Ben Tzion Abba Shaul and Rabbi Moshe Tzadka called on youth not to start smoking. [21]
Other major Ashkenazi rabbis who explicitly forbade smoking include Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, Rabbi Moshe Stern, and Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Sheinberg.
Smoking is specifically prohibited by Solomon Freehof, other Reform rabbis, as well as rabbis in the Conservative movement in the U.S. and Israel. [ citation needed ]
There is a custom still practiced today by Hasidic and some Haredi grooms who hand out free cigarettes to their friends at their vort (engagement). Recent rulings against smoking by great rabbis do not have seemed to have stopped the tradition.[ citation needed ] Early on in the Hasidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov taught that smoking tobacco can be used as a religious devotion, and can even help bring the Messianic Era. Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev is quoted as saying that "a Jew smokes on the weekdays and sniffs tobacco on the Sabbath". Rabbi Dovid of Lelov taught that it is a good religious practice to smoke on Saturday nights after the Sabbath, and this practice is followed by the Rebbes of Lelov and Skulen, however the current Rebbe of Skulen discourages people from following his example, in light of current views opposing smoking, and he himself only takes a few brief puffs of a cigarette after Havdalah. Many Hasidic Jews smoke, and many who do not smoke regularly will smoke on the holiday of Purim, even if they do not do so any other time of the year, and some consider it to be a spiritual practice, similar to the smoke of the altar in the ancient Temple. However, many Hasidic rabbis oppose smoking.
In 2006, the Vaad Halacha (Jewish law committee), sponsored by the Rabbinical Council of America, ruled that the use of tobacco is forbidden to Jews, and the committee specifically cited and reversed precedents that permitted smoking. [22]
Halakha, also transliterated as halacha, halakhah, and halocho, is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandments (mitzvot), subsequent Talmudic and rabbinic laws, and the customs and traditions which were compiled in the many books such as the Shulchan Aruch. Halakha is often translated as "Jewish law", although a more literal translation of it might be "the way to behave" or "the way of walking". The word is derived from the root which means "to behave". Halakha not only guides religious practices and beliefs, it also guides numerous aspects of day-to-day life.
The Shulchan Aruch, sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Ottoman Syria by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later. Together with its commentaries, it is the most widely accepted compilation of halakha or Jewish law ever written.
Tenth of Tevet, the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a fast day in Judaism. It is one of the minor fasts observed from before dawn to nightfall. The fasting is in mourning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia—an event that began on that date and ultimately culminated in the destruction of Solomon's Temple, downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.
Kiddush, literally, "sanctification", is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal.
The 39 Melakhot are thirty-nine categories of activity which Jewish law identifies as prohibited by biblical law on Shabbat. These activities are also prohibited on the Jewish holidays listed in the Torah, but there are significant exceptions that permit carrying and preparing food under specific circumstances on holidays.
Negiah, literally "touch", is the concept in Jewish law (Halakha) that forbids or restricts sensual physical contact with a member of the opposite sex except for one's spouse, outside the niddah period, and certain close relatives to whom one is presumed not to have sexual attraction. A person who abides by this halakha is colloquially described as a shomer negiah.
Orach Chayim, is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha, Arba'ah Turim. This section addresses aspects of Jewish law pertinent to the Hebrew calendar. Rabbi Yosef Karo modeled the framework of the Shulkhan Arukh, his own compilation of practical Jewish law, after the Arba'ah Turim. Many later commentators used this framework, as well. Thus, Orach Chayim in common usage may refer to another area of halakha, separate from Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation.
Fast of the Firstborn is a unique fast day in Judaism which usually falls on the day before Passover. In modern times, the fast is usually broken at a siyum celebration, which, according to prevailing custom, creates an atmosphere of rejoicing that overrides the requirement to continue the fast. Unlike all other Jewish fast days, only firstborn children are required to fast on the Fast of the Firstborn.
Abraham Abele Gombiner, known as the Magen Avraham, born in Gąbin (Gombin), Poland, was a rabbi, Talmudist and a leading religious authority in the Jewish community of Kalisz, Poland during the seventeenth century. His full name is Avraham Abele ben Chaim HaLevi from the town of Gombin. There are texts that list his family name as Kalisz after the city of his residence. After his parents were killed in 1655 during the aftermath of the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648, he moved to live and study with his relative in Leszno, Jacob Isaac Gombiner. From there he moved to Kalisz where he was appointed as Rosh Yeshiva and judge in the tribunal of Rabbi Israel Spira.
Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg was a rabbi, posek, and dayan in Jerusalem. He is known as a leading authority on medicine and Jewish law and referred to as the Tzitz Eliezer after his 21-volume halachic treatise covering a wide breadth of halacha, including Jewish medical ethics, and daily ritual issues from Shabbat to kashrut.
Dushinsky is one of the few Hasidic dynasties not named after the place where it originated; instead, it is named after the rebbe's surname. It is relatively new, and became a dynasty in Jerusalem, where it is centered today. Unlike other Hasidic groups, it does not originate from a Hasidic background, but from the talmidim (students) of Moses Sofer.
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem. The hilltop burial ground lies at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south. Opened in 1951 on 300 dunams of land, it has continually expanded into new sections on the northern and western slopes of the hill. As of 2008, the cemetery encompasses 580 dunams in which over 150,000 people are buried.
Sabbath mode, also known as Shabbos mode or Shabbat mode, is a feature in many modern home appliances, including ovens, dishwashers, and refrigerators, which is intended to allow the appliances to be used by Shabbat-observant Jews on the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. The mode usually overrides the usual, everyday operation of the electrical appliance and makes the operation of the appliance comply with the rules of Halakha.
Religious views on smoking vary widely. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have traditionally used tobacco for religious purposes, while Abrahamic and other religions have only been introduced to the practice in recent times due to the European colonization of the Americas in the 16th century.
In Judaism, a person who is shomer Shabbat or shomer Shabbos is a person who observes the mitzvot (commandments) associated with Judaism's Shabbat, or Sabbath, which begins at dusk on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday.
Electricity on Shabbat refers to the various rules and opinions regarding the use of electrical devices by Jews who observe Shabbat. Various rabbinical authorities have pronounced on what is permitted and what is not, but there are many disagreements in detailed interpretation, both between different individual authorities and between branches of Judaism.
Yaakov Eliezer Schwartzman is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and rosh yeshiva of the Lakewood East yeshiva in Ramot, Jerusalem, Israel.
Sifrei Kodesh, commonly referred to as sefarim, or in its singular form, sefer, are books of Jewish religious literature and are viewed by religious Jews as sacred. These are generally works of Torah literature, i.e. Tanakh and all works that expound on it, including the Mishnah, Midrash, Talmud, and all works of halakha, Musar, Hasidism, Kabbalah, or machshavah. Historically, sifrei kodesh were generally written in Hebrew with some in Judeo-Aramaic or Arabic, although in recent years, thousands of titles in other languages, most notably English, were published. An alternative spelling for 'sefarim' is seforim.
In Jewish law, a posek is a legal scholar who determines the application of halakha, the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are inconclusive, or in those situations where no clear halakhic precedent exists.
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is a work of halacha written by Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried which summarizes the Shulchan Aruch, mainly the sections "Orach Chayim" and "Yoreh De'ah", and deals with daily laws, prayers, Shabbat and holiday laws, etc. The work was written in simple Hebrew which made it easy for the layperson to understand and contributed to its popularity.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Joseph Jacobs; Judah David Eisenstein (1901–1906). "Tobacco". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
