New York – Brooklyn based Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society has teamed up with NYU Medical Center for a massive anti smoking campaign that may be the first anti smoking initiative specifically targeting the Chareidi community.
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Aside from placing ads in many Jewish newspapers and distributing flyers within the Jewish community, a powerful two minute video reminds smokers that their decision to light up is a decision is not just a personal one but something that has detrimental consequences for the ones who matter most. Children of smokers can find themselves in the tragic circumstance of having a parent who is either dealing with or has died from lung cancer and may one day decide to emulate their parents by becoming smokers themselves.
Citing statistics that indicate that tobacco kills 5.4 million people annually, the campaign brings hammers home the point that even within the frum community, cigarettes not only kill people, but bring devastation and heartache to the ones they love. The toxic effects of secondhand smoke kills 50,000 people every year in addition to being linked to asthma, colds, ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome.
“Over the past few years, research has shown that young teenagers are lighting up more than in the past,” said RCCS spokesman Yoli Brill in an interview with VIN News. “It has become the norm for any bochur becoming engaged to hand out cigarettes and young teenagers have no problem getting cigarettes which many times is the start of problems with drugs and alcohol as well. Previous research has shown that 3,000 kids start smoking every year because they saw a parent smoke.”
The message from RCCS is a simple one: Quit while you are still ahead. You will be glad you did.
The rabbeim must be educated about smoking and then they must speak to their students. The students have a lot of respect for their rabbeim, therefore it is their responsibility to enforce No Smoking anywhere!
Thank you VIN! People need to understand that smoking is poison!
The problem is that some Magidya Shiur, and Rabbyim are themselves smokers and teens are influenced by this.. I suggest that any Rabbi hired at a yeshiva, must sign a document that he is absolutely not permitted to smoke on yeshiva property.
As bad as smoking is, the poster shown is very misleading. The most leading cause of preventible death is NOT smoking, rather it’s OBESITY as shown in this comprehensive study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
I am NOT saying that smoking is not dangerous. It is. but outdated scare tactic statistics is not the honest way to get the message across.
Be a realist not an idealist. Rabbanim aren’t going to say anything. If someone wants to stop they’ll stop, if not they won’t. Maybe they’ll get cancer maybe they won’t.
Did you ever read stories about the “oldest people in the world” saying in interviews that they smoked, and then wonder how they lived to 115? Did you ever go to your local Walmart parking lot and see 80 year olds smoking and wonder why they are not dead of cancer? On the other hand WHEN DID YOU EVER SEE A 90 YEAR OLD OBESE GUY??? NEVER!! They all die of heart attacks in their 60’s.
Why don’t rabanim talk about smoking? Who knows-but most rabanim that I know are obese or heavier, so I don’t think they are the ones to talk about proper health habits.
Instead of the rabbis yelling about nonsense, let them yell about smoking which kills more Yidden than anti-Semites.
Its about time that the Frum community stops living in denial and views smoking as worse then eating pork, the list of fathers and family members (2nd hand smokers) who would still be alive today if it wasn’t for the cigarette is mind boggling…. and then you have ppl who will always choose to focus on one 90 year old who smokes, but ignore the 400,000 ppl in the US who die annually from smoking.
Buy this amazing book for a friend
הספר חיים ללא עישון על פי התורה מאת הרב יחזקאל אסחייק
the nazis invented anti-smoking campaigns. we should have nothing to do with them,
In my day they all smoked in the classroom so essentially I started smoking before I even started smoking. They thought us well. After 2 major surgeries and daily chronic pain, I wish I was smarter when I was younger and stuck to just the Chumash and Rashi.
Thanks to RCCS. Bringing this issue to the forefront is a great service to our community. :Lets hope it will have an effect. Go to youtube and search “RCCS anti smoking” to see their anti smoking commercial
The Monsey Community Coalition for Health & Wellness at CAPs Bikur Cholim ([email protected]) applauds RCCS and NYU for taking on the serious issue of smoking within our community. Many chronic diseases such as obesity, asthma, COPD, and heart disease are caused or exacerbated by the lifestyle choices we make — with costly and often tragic outcomes.
Reminding us that shmiras hanefesh is a Torah imperative which we ignore at grave risk to ourselves and our community is valuable to us all. We hope that individuals will heed this message. “U’vacharta b’chaim.”
Dr. Rivka Starck, Coordinator, Monsey Community Coalition for Health & Wellness
Dr. Isaac Schechter, Director, Center for Applied Psychology, Bikur Cholim