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Halakha (Jewishreligious law) addresses a number of topics applicable totobacco andcigarettesmoking. These include the health impacts of smoking; the permissibility of smoking on holidays and fast days, concerns related tokashrut (Jewishdietary laws) and the impacts of smoking on people besides the smokers themselves, such as those relating tosecond-hand, andthird-hand smoke.
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Until the late 20th century, the use of tobacco for smoking and in the form ofsnuff was common amongJews. It is speculated 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.[1][2]
As early as the 17th century,rabbis debated varioushalachic issues that arose in connection with tobacco use, particularly its permissibility onholidays,fast days, and whether ablessing must be recited before use, as well as issues pertaining toKashrut (Jewish dietary laws), particularly with regard to the prohibition ofchametz onPassover. Among the early sources areKeneset ha-Gedolah by RabbiChaim Benveniste (1603–1673) andMagen Avraham by RabbiAvraham Gombiner (1635–1683).
Gombiner referred to the "drinking oftobak [tobacco] through apipe by drawing the smoke into the mouth and discharging it," and was undecided on whether a smoker should first make ablessing over smoking as a type of refreshment.[3] Believing that tobacco was soaked inbeer—a kind ofchametz—hebanned smoking duringPassover.[4]
Benveniste expressed himself very forcibly against smokingtutun (tobacco) onTisha BeAv, and reportedlyexcommunicated 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' likefood.[2] In Benveniste's opinion, smoking was prohibited on holidays; he quoted RabbiJoseph Escapa as coinciding in this view, though he thought it unwise to enforce a generally accepted law.[2]
Writing inTurkey, anIslamic country, Benveniste further argued that smoking on fast days isChillul Hashem (a defamation ofGod's name), becauseMuslims refraining from smoking on fast-days would see Jews smoking on theirs.[6] Despite such concerns, some Jews did smoke onShabbat usinghookas prepared before Shabbat, or else visited Muslim neighbors to enjoy the smoke in their homes.Rabbinic authorities banned this practice on the grounds thatGentiles would considerJudaism as ridiculous.[7]
The Turkishnarghile, 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 [he][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 ofsnuff was allowed on the Sabbath, holidays, fast-days, andYom Kippur.[10]Jacob Hagiz (1620–1674) quotes aresponsum ofIsaiah Pinto permitting the use of snuff on the Sabbath, even though it curescatarrh; for everybody, even healthy people, use snuff, and it can not therefore be considered a drug.[11]
TheChofetz 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 questionable.[12]
The famous RabbiMoshe Feinstein (1895-1986) 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 modernresponsa literature addresses the question of students smoking in theirbatei midrash andsynagogues. Some rabbis sought to outlaw smoking and the use of snuff inplaces of worship[14] and posted notices for study halls.[15] Many leadingacharonim prohibited smoking inbatei 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 to be considered strictly forbidden by halakha, or merely discouraged. The debate about the permissibility of smoking according to halakha is centered primarily around the prohibition for a person to cause harm to his body, place himself in danger, orbring about his death.[17]
The majority of contemporary halakhic authorities rule that smoking is outright forbidden, their argument being that since there is a clear causal link between smoking and deadly diseases, such ascancer andcardiovascular disease, it constitutes a violation of the obligation of one to safeguard his health. However, RabbiMoshe Feinstein wrote a responsum stating that while inadvisable and inappropriate, 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 based on the verse ofPslams : "The Lord protects the simple." However, he wrote that it should be considered forbidden for one to begin smoking, as it entails 'straying toward material pleasures', and called on parents, including those who themself smoke, to ensure that their children do not begin smoking.[18] According to students, when informed of the dangers of smoking, RabbiAaron Kotler ruled that smoking was a biblical transgression.[19] ManyHaredi rabbis have called on people not to smoke and called smoking an 'evil habit'. These rabbis include RabbiYosef Sholom Eliashiv, RabbiAharon Leib Shteinman, RabbiMoshe Shmuel Shapiro, RabbiMichel Yehuda Lefkowitz, RabbiNissim Karelitz, and RabbiShmuel Auerbach. RabbiShmuel 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, RabbiBen Tzion Abba Shaul and RabbiMoshe Tzadka called on youth not to start smoking.[21]
Other major Ashkenazi rabbis who explicitly forbade smoking include RabbiEliezer Waldenberg, RabbiMoshe Stern, and RabbiChaim Pinchas Sheinberg.
Smoking is specifically prohibited bySolomon Freehof, otherReform rabbis, as well as rabbis in theConservative 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 theirvort (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, theBaal Shem Tov taught that smoking tobacco can be used as a religious devotion, and can even help bring the Messianic Era. RabbiLevi Yitzchok of Berditchev is quoted as saying that "a Jew smokes on the weekdays and sniffs tobacco on the Sabbath". Rabbi Dovid ofLelov taught that it is a good religious practice to smoke on Saturday nights after the Sabbath, and this practice is followed by the Rebbes ofLelov andSkulen, 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 afterHavdalah. Many Hasidic Jews smoke, and many who do not smoke regularly will smoke on the holiday ofPurim, 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, theVaad 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.[22]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Joseph Jacobs;Judah David Eisenstein (1901–1906)."Tobacco". InSinger, Isidore; et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
