Moses und Achér

Rebbe Reb Zusja von Anipoli pflegte zu sagen, dass er nicht fürchtet, dass man ihm im Jenseits fragen wird: Zusja, Zusja, wieso warst du nicht so aufrichtig und fromm wie Moses. Nein, auf dieser Frage würde er mit dem Zitat antworten (Dewarím 34:10): Und es stand in Israel kein Prophet mehr auf wie Moses; keiner kann wie Moses sein. Aber, sagte er, er fürchtet, dass man ihm die Frage stellen wird: Zusja, Zusja, wieso wurdest du nicht so aufrichtig und fromm wie Zusja [sein konnte].

Moses war so ausserordentlich, dass keiner sich mit ihm vergleichen kann. Aber, immerhin können wir die Frage stellen, wieso aus Moses ein Moses wurde.

Dodging the Draft in Dogy Ways

There is an article up on YNET about Charedi yeshiva students who dodge the draft by feigning minor insanity.

I told them that I tried to commit suicide when I was younger, but it wasn’t enough. When the mental health officer said he wouldn’t release me, I told him I hated Arabs – so he lowered my medical profile to 21. Later on, a committee approved it, and I was out.”

As the article points out, not everyone who claims a draft exemption based on mental reasons are frauds. There are people who are really not mentally suitable for army service. And the mental clause for draft exemption isn’t the most common form of draft exemption. That honor falls to the תורתו אמנותו, the Torah is his occupation, exemption, which depending on the extent of its use, may actually be a very valid exemption, depending on one’s viewpoint.

I do not want to enter here into the discussion of whether and in what measure that exemption is commendable, nor whether serving in the Israeli military is a mitzvah or something best avoided. That’s been extensively discussed elsewhere.

But I am very troubled by the fact that people would lie in order to avoid the draft. The Torah commands that we stay away from lying (Shemot 23:7, Keep thee far from a false matter), prohibits lying (Vayiqra 19:11, Ye shall not … lie one to another), and particularly prohibits misrepresenting facts in matters that may bring about monetary loss to another party (Vayiqra 25:17, And ye shall not wrong one another).

[UPDATE 20101221 at 20:26:

Brain Death and Organ Transplantation in Halacha – Redux

Recently I posted an entry entitled “When Does Death Begin, According to Halacha?” about a long awaited paper which the Rabbinical Council of America’s Vaad Halacha recently published. It turns out that it’s not just the RCA that has recently revisited “brain death” and organ transplantation in halakha, nor was their opinion piece long in the making. Turns out that British Jewry has been grappling with the same issue. The Chief Rabbi’s and London Beth Din’s rulings had yet to be published, as of last summer.

However, while the RCA’s paper is billed as a research paper and an educational tool, the London Beth Din’s decision is supposed to be an actual halakhic ruling from a national organization in a country with a significant Jewish population, making it particularly interesting.

From the Jewish Chronicle (July 15, 2010):

The founder of a campaign to encourage Orthodox Jews to carry organ donor cards has voiced frustration at the time taken by the Chief Rabbi to issue new guidelines on the subject.
…
Mr Berman, who lives in Jerusalem, said that after meeting the Chief Rabbi in March 2009, he had agreed not to lecture on organ donation in the UK until the Chief Rabbi and the London Beth Din decided their position in the summer.
…
Arguing there had been no major new developments on organ donation in medicine or Jewish law over the past decade, he declared: “I hope this review will not drag on for years, as I fear it will. This issue is of an urgent life-saving nature and should be given priority.”
…
A spokesman for the Office of the Chief Rabbi said for the past 12 months, the London Beth Din had been engaged “in careful consideration” of organ donations and living wills.

Can anyone report whether the Beth Din has meanwhile issued this ruling?

One wonders whether one of the things the Beth Din was waiting for was the RCA’s paper, as it significantly contributes to the field by documenting the medical conditions the landmark published halakhic responsa responded to.

When Does Death Begin, According to Halacha?

One of the most vexing questions in contemporary medical ethics is when a dying patient can be considered dead. Until several decades ago, the answer was simple: when a patient stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating. However, since the invention of artificial respiration, the answer is no longer straightforward.

During the last fifty years, a number of landmark halakhic responsa have been written, evaluating whether neurological definitions of death (a.k.a. “brain death“), such as the Harvard Criteria of 1968, are valid in the eyes of halakha. However, up until now, there has been no systematic attempt to research which medical information had been used as a basis for those halakhic responsa.

Recently, the Vaad Halacha of the RCA has done just that and published a extensive paper on the determination of death in halakha. The paper has been picked up by the news media [Jewish Week] and been extensively discussed in some blogs [Hirhurim I and II].

While the paper does is presented as an educational exploration, not forcing any conclusions, the paper nonetheless demonstrates that to date, there has been very little support from the halakhic responsa literature, to support accepting “brain death.” See below for my take on this. Anyway, understandably, those who advocate accepting the neurological standard were not pleased, and not everybody welcomed the paper.

The lead author of the study is R’ Asher Bush, the chairman of the Vaad Halacha, and yours truly had the privilege to contribute as an editor of the paper.

Despite having contributed to the paper’s final form, the comments below are mine only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the article’s authors.

I am back

After a three month hiatus, during which a number of projects have kept me from posting, I am now back. Watch out for a number of new posts over the coming days.