Community Views
Editor's Notebook
No Room For Debate:
Suicide Is A Crime
Are Religious People
Better Than Others?
RABBI HERSCHEL FINMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
GARY ROSENBLATT EDITOR
The Decem-
ber 4, 1992 edi-
tion of The
Jewish News
featured a story
written by Kim-
berly Lifton en-
titled, "De-
fending Doctor
Death." Although an excel-
lently written piece, the arti-
cle led one to believe that the
Jewish point of view is in fa-
vor of physician-assisted sui-
cide. Since 1990, when Jack
Kevorkian helped Janet
Atkins kill herself, I have lec-
'tured extensively to judges,
'urors and the public at large
to try and combat Dr.
Kevorkian. I was shocked to
the utmost disbelief to read
Maxine Berman say, "No one
should play God, but you
should not shoot the messen-
_ger," giving Dr. Kevorkian
"angelic" status.
Halachah (Jewish law)
should be the basis for a
moral decision. To under-
stand why all Judaic govern-
ing bodies from all spectrums
of Jewish observance are so
much opposed to physician-
assisted suicide, let us ana-
lyze the prohibition of suicide
and the position of the doctor.
According to Jewish law,
suicide is a crime. Rambam
writes, "One is prohibited
from killing oneself because
of the verse, 'I will seek the
lood for your souls.' " As for
one who commits suicide, the
Rambam writes: "We do not
occupy ourselves at all (with
funeral rites) for one who
commits suicide intentional-
ly. We do not mourn for him
r eulogize him. However, we
do stand in a row for him, re-
cite the mourner's blessing for
him, and do all that is in-
tended as a matter of honor
for the living."
There is no room for de-
ate. Unlike other topics
where Rabbi A. would rule
such and such is the law and
Rabbi B. would disagree, sui-
cide is absolutely and com-
pletely forbidden.
The only exception to this
rule is dying for the sake of
heaven. Allowing oneself to
be killed for the sake of heav-
en is looked upon as the quin-
tessential commandment.
Rabbi Akiva bemoaned,
"When will my deeds reach
those of my forefathers, Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob?" That
is to say, "When will I be able
to sacrifice my life for Ju-
daism?"
Rabbi Herschel Finman is
assistant director in charge
of development at
Congregation B'nai Rashba
in West Bloomfield.
Doctors, one might say, are
an unusual species. A person
who attacks another with a
knife, inflicts bodily injury
upon another, or perhaps kills
someone, is a vile criminal de-
serving fines, incarceration,
or even death. If, however, a
person complains of abdomi-
nal pains and seeks the ad-
vice of a doctor, not only is the
doctor exempt from any pun-
ishment for inflicting a wound
with a knife, he may even
charge for his services.
The Talmud is quite clear
as to the role of the physician.
"You shall surely heal,"
quotes the verse. From here
we learn that a doctor has the
right and obligation to heal.
From this excerpt we see that
a physician may only heal; he
has no legal right to kill peo-
ple or assist them in commit-
ting suicide.
A story is told of Reb Isaac
Charif (1850s) who had once
fallen into a comatose state.
His doctor pronounced that
there was nothing more that
could be done for him. Sever-
al days later, that doctor was
walking in the street and en-
countered this same Reb
Isaac. He was astounded and
amazed at Reb Isaac's re-
markable recovery.
Said Reb Isaac to the doc-
Exception: dying for
the sake of heaven.
tor, "You must thank me.
When I was lying near death,
my soul ascended to heaven.
There, I was shown the vari-
ous workings of the supernal
abode. I came upon a long line
passing through a door. I in-
quired as to who these people
were and to where they were
going.
The reply came that these
were doctors, and as the Tal-
mud cites, "The best of doc-
tors go to purgatory." "Then,"
continued Reb Isaac, "I no-
ticed that you, my doctor,
were standing in that line. I
immediately pulled you from
that line and said, 'This man
is no doctor!' " Quite simply,
a doctor may not be involved
with a patient in any way ex-
cept to heal him.
In response to the Carol
Ann Quinlan case, Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein wrote, "It is
certainly forbidden to prolong
the life of a dying person. It is
prohibited, even if it is a life
of suffering and agony, to
shorten a life, although it be
for reasons of compassion,
even at the request of the pa-
tient. It is considered murder,
and one would be culpable of
the death penalty."
Ms. Quinlan fell into a
coma after being injured in a
car accident. Years later, her
parents removed all life-sav-
ing medical equipment. Their
daughter died months later.
The question may be asked,
what type of life does a co-
matose person have? What if
a person were riddled with
pain, would it not be more hu-
mane to end that person's suf-
fering?
In response, let us deal
with an extreme. As a world-
famous concert pianist was
playing, the lid of the piano
crashed on his hands, broke
three fingers and ended his
career. It would be absolute-
ly preposterous to suggest
that this man be allowed to
kill himself because his "qual-
ity of life" had degenerated.
So would be the case at the
other extreme. If a 119-year-
old man was feeble, senile
and incapacitated, it would be
equally preposterous to sug-
gest he be allowed to commit
suicide. According to Jud-
aism, life is holy. It cannot be
measured qualitatively, but
quantitively. If a person is
alive, he is alive --- unequiv-
ocally and without exception.
To end a life, even one of pain
and suffering, is murder. U
"Are religious
people better,
and if not, then
what's the
point?"
That pro-
vocative ques-
tion was the
subject of sever-
al articles in recent months
in the pages of Sh'ma, a bi-
weekly publication edited by
Rabbi Eugene Borowitz and
featuring short essays on a
variety of moral and ethical
topics.
In this case, the wording of
the question is imprecise —
what is meant by "religious,"
"better," or "the point"? — but
it is asked often enough, par-
ticularly by non-Orthodox
Jews, that it bears exploring.
For what it really asks is
whether ritual observance
leads to a higher level of
moral behavior, and if not,
why observe the mitzvot?
We often hear of bearded
Chasidim who pray fervent-
ly three times a day but con-
duct their business
unethically, and the response
among critics is "aha, you
see? They're not so holy, af-
ter all. They're hypocrites."
This no doubt is a source of
comfort for critics of Ortho-
doxy who may feel justified
in their own ritual practices,
or lack of them, by conclud-
ing that adherence to com-
mandments regarding what
food you eat or what prayers
you say at what time of the
day do not necessarily make
you a kinder or more honest
person.
But is it fair to hold obser-
vant Jews to a higher stan-
dard,of ethical behavior?
Avi Rockoff, an Orthodox
physician in the Boston area,
argues in Sh'ma that Ortho-
dox Jews have what he calls
"the presumption of sancti-
ty." Just as clergymen and
doctors are assumed "to op-
erate on an elevated plane,"
so, too, Orthodox Jews,
whether they like it or not,
are held to higher standards
by others. But Dr. Rockoff
suggests that Orthodox Jews
behave only as well and as
poorly as any other group,
and "as a group, we are thus
neither holier than you, nor
holier than thou."
This troubles Bernard
Reisman, a professor of
American Jewish communal
studies at Brandeis Univer-
sity, who expects Jews who
observe the commandments
to reflect the influence of
their teachings and obser-
vances by being more moral
and ethical. Dr. Reisman ar-
gues that one's religious con-
victions and practices
should have an impact on
one's behavior.
As a self-defined reli-
gious liberal, he believes
that "the ultimate purpose
of religion is to help people
behave better. Ritual con-
tributes to that end. But
the emphasis ... is on eth-
ical behavior."
A third respondent, Dr.
Abraham Twerski, an Or-
thodox physician in Pitts-
burgh, suggests that there
is no conflict between one
who says he is observant
because it is God's will and
one who says observance is
only relevant if it makes
him a better person. Be-
cause, writes Dr. Twerski,
"It is the will of God that
one becomes a better per-
son."
He offers numerous ex-
amples from the Talmud
and other traditional texts
asserting that the purpose
of observing mitzvot is
character refinement, and
concludes that there is a
higher standard of behav-
ior demanded of observant
Jews.
I think he is right and
that this "double standard"
is understandable and fair.
The glaring exceptions —
the seemingly pious Jew
who is stingy in his chari-
ty or unfair in business or
simply not kind to others —
are glaring because they
are relatively rare. We do
not give sufficient attention
to the charitable works of
Orthodox communities in
terms of visiting the sick,
supporting Torah institu-
tions, providing loans or do-
nations to the poor, and
countless other acts of
chesed, or kindness.
Is it safe to assume,
then, that there is a corre-
lation between observing
rituals and acting like a
mensch? Yes, in part be-
cause our Jewish texts and
tradition emphasize that
following the command-
ments, even when we do
not understand their logic,
helps to refine and improve
us as people.
There's logic and meta-
physics at work here. The
logic is that one could ar-
gue that since he is unwill-
ing or unable to perform
one mitzvah, it would be
hypocritical to perform oth-
ers. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
tells the story of asking a
taxi driver in Jerusalem on
the eve of Yom Kippur if he
planned to attend services
that night. The cabbie
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