What is the Jewish view on suicide from an Orthodox perspective?
What is the view when a Jew commits suicide? (from a Orthodox perspective)
For instance, my family is Jewish and my grandparents who are in their 80s now told me about some of their relatives who were in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII, and these relatives obtained poison capsules and killed themselves with it along with their children when the ghetto was being liquidated because they would have rather done it themselves than be killed by the hands of the Nazis. How would this be viewed?
Where would a prohibition against suicide come from? The most obvious place is the sixth commandment: Lo Tirsach (Do not murder)
(The common statement translating it as "Do not kill" is incorrect- that would be would be "Lo Tirhag")
So the question would be, is suicide murder? The answer is yes- since it is pre-meditated killing of a human. However, it is not as simple as that.
In the Tanach Saul kills himself when he sees that he will be captured by the Phillistines. The perushim (Rabbinical commentaries) state there are two aspects to Saul’s suicide that made it legitimate.
1) on a personal note- he was in despair, he saw no future and thus lost reason due to his despair
2) on a national level he feared being taken alive, and then being used as an object of ridicule to attack Bnei Yisrael or even to try and force concessions from them which could have led to idoltary.
So when it comes to suicide, it appears that there are two criteria to go by to make it legitimate- 1) if you are so depressed as to lose reason and 2) if your staying alive could lead to Jews being ridiculed and forced into idol worship.
The Mechaber (literally the author- Rav Yosef Karo) comments on this in the Shulchan Aruch (a codification of the Jewish law used to help arrive at decisions since it takes into account the Talmud and past Talmudic Rabbinical precedents) that we should always try to declare a suicide to be ill or to be in despair like Saul. In the modern era, the vast majority of Jewish communities follow the ruling first stated by HaRav Moshe Feinstein that suicide is generally a result of a depression, either medically or temporary, that push people into the level of despair felt by Saul; thus we declare most suicides to be as a result of depression or temporary insanity and do not act treat the person any differently to any other deceased.
In the case of the martyrs of the holocaust, there is no question they could have been said to have been at the same level of despair as King Saul. No one can besmirch the memory of those that could not face the degradation, abuse and daily living with the fear that on this day they might well be tortured or killed. The people who died in the holocaust, whether by their own hands or at the hands of the Nazis are all righteous martyrs whose memories will be blessed in the world to come.
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November 25 2009 05:12 pm | Uncategorized
The Sage on 25 Nov 2009 at 10:52 pm #
A person is not allowed to commit suicide. In fact one that does will lose his share in the world to come. This is in normal circumstances. When a Jew is faced with forced acceptance of another religion or death, he should choose death. The same applies in a situation of immorality. A woman (or man) may kill herself rather than have illicit relations. Also, we learn from the story of Yehuda and Tamar in Genesis, probably parshas Vayeshav – I do not have it in front of me) that one should throw himself into a fire rather than embarrass someone. There are other situations that also warrant a person submitting to death.
That being said, without knowing the exact situation of your relatives, it is very hard to pass judgment. especially, when conditions in the ghettos were inhumane and the death camps worse than that.
References :
For further info:
aish.com
simpletoremember.com
gottorah.com
ohr.edu
ou.org
allonyoav on 25 Nov 2009 at 11:06 pm #
Where would a prohibition against suicide come from? The most obvious place is the sixth commandment: Lo Tirsach (Do not murder)
(The common statement translating it as "Do not kill" is incorrect- that would be would be "Lo Tirhag")
So the question would be, is suicide murder? The answer is yes- since it is pre-meditated killing of a human. However, it is not as simple as that.
In the Tanach Saul kills himself when he sees that he will be captured by the Phillistines. The perushim (Rabbinical commentaries) state there are two aspects to Saul’s suicide that made it legitimate.
1) on a personal note- he was in despair, he saw no future and thus lost reason due to his despair
2) on a national level he feared being taken alive, and then being used as an object of ridicule to attack Bnei Yisrael or even to try and force concessions from them which could have led to idoltary.
So when it comes to suicide, it appears that there are two criteria to go by to make it legitimate- 1) if you are so depressed as to lose reason and 2) if your staying alive could lead to Jews being ridiculed and forced into idol worship.
The Mechaber (literally the author- Rav Yosef Karo) comments on this in the Shulchan Aruch (a codification of the Jewish law used to help arrive at decisions since it takes into account the Talmud and past Talmudic Rabbinical precedents) that we should always try to declare a suicide to be ill or to be in despair like Saul. In the modern era, the vast majority of Jewish communities follow the ruling first stated by HaRav Moshe Feinstein that suicide is generally a result of a depression, either medically or temporary, that push people into the level of despair felt by Saul; thus we declare most suicides to be as a result of depression or temporary insanity and do not act treat the person any differently to any other deceased.
In the case of the martyrs of the holocaust, there is no question they could have been said to have been at the same level of despair as King Saul. No one can besmirch the memory of those that could not face the degradation, abuse and daily living with the fear that on this day they might well be tortured or killed. The people who died in the holocaust, whether by their own hands or at the hands of the Nazis are all righteous martyrs whose memories will be blessed in the world to come.
References :
Orthodox Rew; Acting Rabbi; Shlkhan Aruc; Iggeros Moshe
gottago on 25 Nov 2009 at 11:29 pm #
There are 3 sins which a Jew is allowed to die rather than commit. Murder, adultery and other sexual sins and idol worship. If the members of the Ghetto where going to be forced to kill each other, raped or forced to convert to another religion, they die rather than commit those sins.
In general, I don’t think that we can judge the actions of any jew during the holocaust. The situation was much worse than we can fathom and for us to judge would be "judging before being in their shoes"
References :