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April 16, 1982

From a column by longtime Congregation Beth Sholom Rabbi Saul E. White, titled “May Religious Jews Smoke?”

I am a pipe puffer. Many of my colleagues in the rabbinate, Orthodox or otherwise, smoke cigarettes. Chaim Pearl, writing in the Jerusalem Post under the heading “Smoking and Halacha,” maintains that we are in violation of rabbinic law. The following is an excerpt.

“My father smoked about three packets a day. My mother used to complain … My father was an observant Jew and never touched a cigarette from Friday sundown until Saturday night. There was nothing unusual in that, of course. All observant Jews have the same self-discipline.

“But what is really noteworthy is that, like all the others, he never once felt the desire to smoke on the Sabbath. Most observant Jews who smoke heavily during the week will testify that from the start of the Sabbath until its conclusion they have no craving for a cigarette.

“Now I find that extraordinary. It suggests that one of two possibilities must be true. One is that these people do not really suffer from an addiction to smoking, as it would be impossible to be addicted for six days and free of the addiction every seventh day. If there is an addiction, it is not complete and is conditioned psychologically by a stronger motivation, which impels them to respect the Sabbath.

“Massive medical evidence points to the fact that smoking — particularly cigarette smoking — is dangerous to health.

“Judaism contains certain laws and values that prohibit doing anything that is a danger to life. This is the interpretation of Deuteronomy 4:15: ‘Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves.’

“Life is a gift from God and therefore has to be protected and nurtured.

“To their credit, many modern religious teachers in the Orthodox community have been articulate in their anti-abortionist views on the principle that even potential life has to be cherished. How much more so then should they actively campaign for the preservation of actual human lives, especially when the Torah clearly commands us to cherish life.”

Rabbi Joseph S. Kornfeld

April 14, 1922

From a brief item on Rabbi Joseph S. Kornfeld

Rabbi Kornfeld, for some years minister of the Jewish congregation at Columbus, Ohio, was recently appointed minister to Persia, the first rabbi to be sent by this country on a diplomatic mission. Rabbi Kornfeld for many years had been a warm personal friend of President Harding. Rabbi Kornfeld arrived in Teheran on Purim, rather an unusual coincidence, inasmuch as the scene of the drama of Esther, Mordecai and Haman is laid in Persia.