Israel – Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, president of the Shas Council of Torah Sages, has warned his followers of the dangers of smoking, and stressed the importance and plausibility of quitting if one is already addicted.
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“Doctors are against smoking; they say it causes lung cancer. Whoever can refrain from it, all the better; he should take every effort to keep away from it,” the senior Sephardi adjudicator said in his Saturday night televised sermon, which dealt with the laws of Jewish holidays.
“A person who is used to smoking – it’s hard to quit, but [he] should distance himself from it a step at a time,” he continued.
“Praise the lord, we do not smoke,” Yosef said of himself.
Yosef also suggested a less harmful substitute for social instances where cigarettes are smoked.
“There are those in yeshivas who distribute cigarettes among friends when someone gets engaged,” he said.
“Better to hand out candies than cigarettes. You start by smoking one cigarette, and then it becomes a habit, and then an addiction, and that is very bad,” the senior adjudicator warned.
Read more at Jerusalem Post
It’s time his fellow colleagues (ie the Gedolim) to all call for an end to smoking and ban it from yeshivas. It will kill you and is assur. Some have called for it-now it’s time for all to.
Jewish law and tradition put a premium on maintaining one’s health. As Maimonides (1138–1204) famously said: ‘one cannot possibly pursue the knowledge of God unless one’s body and mind are functioning properly’. In that regard, when the first questions were asked about smoking in the 19th century, since the medical science of that era was enthusiastic about the health benefits of tobacco, experts in Jewish law were generally positive about its use. However, as scientific understanding has changed, the reaction has modified along with it. Today the halakhic community recognizes that the imperative to be ‘extremely careful with our lives’ (lit. with our souls) requires that we stop smoking, work to help people beat the smoking addiction, prevent people from beginning a life-long connection to smoking, and protect people from second hand smoke.
As one who has smoked for over 40 years I know the difficulties that come with trying to quit. I have quit but I have used an e-cig to help (and not one of those expensive things from a kiosk in the mall). My doctor has approved its use, and I am now smoke free. I am trading one habit for another, but my new habit is not hurting me (or anyone else), and as I said, my doctor is all for my new habit.
Why is there even a question whether to assur it completely? What is the possible reason someone should be allowed to continue smoking?
People who smoke are killing themselves therefore they do not get buried
in the ” cemetery proper” End of debate if a person shojuld smoke
Smokers have rights from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet. However, the minute that their second hand smoke starts emanating in the direction of other people, their rights effectively cease.
What took so long!!!!!!!
About time somebody speaks up.
I would never marry off my daughter to a smoker
Maybe we should ban air travel becuase the plane can crash, or car travel for the same reason.
I started to smoke shortly before going into the US Army in 1969. The day I went entered and was sent to basic training they raised the price of cigarettes from nine cents a pack to eleven cents a pack. This greatly contributed to my addiction to cigarettes and in no time I was smoking 3-4 packs a day. I continued this filthy habit until the day I got married. (about 8 years later)
I gave it up as I entered the chupah hall. I took one last satisfying puff, flicked the remainder of the cigarette into the street and NEVER smoked again.
How did I do it? I’m not sure. I guess I thought to myself that if I can go all Shabbos without the need for a cigarette than I can give it up altogether.
Now if I can only get my son to quit smoking……………..
Whener I see a Jew smoking I go over to him in a nice way and tell him that he is precious so why should he bring harm to himself and others. I ask him to try to quit. I say I know it isn’t easy but you must try for yourself and your family.
Reb Moshe didn’t ban it… That means halachicly you can’t say its assur
I agree with banning smoking. But I do remember vociferous arguments in yeshiva from rabbis who insisted absolutely that there was no way halacha could ban smoking.
Jews were big tobacco traders. I believe Jewish traders introduced tobacco smoking to Europe. It isn’t tobacco that is unhealthy, in fact it was prescribed for treatments of lung ailments. The problem in modern cigarettes is in the chemicals in the paper, the filter and the chemicals used to process the leaf. Pure, organic tobacco and chemical free paper is no worse than schanpps. Jews have a long history with the tobacco plant. Rothman’s anyone?
“Praise the lord, we do not smoke,” Yosef said of himself.
OK, he’s definitely sending a good message to his followers, but, is this an oddity of translation, or does R’ Yosef actually refer to himself in the plural?
It doesn’t matter if one is already addicted or not. It’s a drug! And perturb others. Is there nothing in the Torah against the use of drugs?
Smoking is the new scapegoat for all the other things we do wrong. Heart attacks kill more people every year than smoking, as do car accidents. How about a speech on the dangers of Oil soaked Thursday night chulent? Rippled potato chips? Driving while talking on a cell phone, or worse, texting?
Eyeglasses with metal frames are banned but not smoking?
I’m not saying smoking is a good thing, but the only people I know who have contracted lung cancer have been non-smokers. I knew a man who smoked 2 packs a day and lived til 90.
It’s very hard to quit, nicotine is the world’s most addictive drug, worse than heroin actually, if you’re trying to quit.
It is mind over matter…. your mind must control your body.
But the same thing goes for people who EAT too much and kill themselves just as quickly…..
Rav Moshe used the term Shomer Pesoim Hashem for smokers. Thus anyone who smokes is gepaskened a fool by Rav Moshe. He may not have assered it, but he said your a fool.