(ה) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יהוה (ס)
You shall observe My laws and My rules, so that a person does them and lives by them: I am the LORD.
(ויקרא יח, ה) וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם
"And you shall live by them" (Vayikra 18:5) - and not that you shall die by them.
יומא דנח נפשיה דרבי גזרו רבנן תעניתא ובעו רחמי ואמרי כל מאן דאמר נח נפשיה דר' ידקר בחרב סליקא אמתיה דרבי לאיגרא אמרה עליוני' מבקשין את רבי והתחתוני' מבקשין את רבי יהי רצון שיכופו תחתונים את העליונים כיון דחזאי כמה זימני דעייל לבית הכסא וחלץ תפילין ומנח להו וקמצטער אמרה יהי רצון שיכופו עליונים את התחתונים ולא הוו שתקי רבנן מלמיבעי רחמי שקלה כוזא שדייא מאיגרא [לארעא] אישתיקו מרחמי ונח נפשיה
It is related that on the day that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died, the Sages decreed a fast, and begged for divine mercy so that he would not die. And they said: Anyone who says that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi has died will be stabbed with a sword.The maidservant of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi ascended to the roof and said: The upper realms are requesting the presence of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, and the lower realms are requesting the presence of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. May it be the will of God that the lower worlds should impose their will upon the upper worlds. However, when she saw how many times he would enter the bathroom and remove his phylacteries, and then exit and put them back on, and how he was suffering with his intestinal disease, she said: May it be the will of God that the upper worlds should impose their will upon the lower worlds. And the Sages, meanwhile, would not be silent, i.e., they would not refrain, from begging for mercy so that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi would not die. So she took a jug [kuza] and threw it from the roof to the ground. Due to the sudden noise, the Sages were momentarily silent and refrained from begging for mercy, and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died.
(ד) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁאוּל֩ לְנֹשֵׂ֨א כֵלָ֜יו שְׁלֹ֥ף חַרְבְּךָ֣ ׀ וְדָקְרֵ֣נִי בָ֗הּ פֶּן־יָ֠בוֹאוּ הָעֲרֵלִ֨ים הָאֵ֤לֶּה וּדְקָרֻ֙נִי֙ וְהִתְעַלְּלוּ־בִ֔י וְלֹ֤א אָבָה֙ נֹשֵׂ֣א כֵלָ֔יו כִּ֥י יָרֵ֖א מְאֹ֑ד וַיִּקַּ֤ח שָׁאוּל֙ אֶת־הַחֶ֔רֶב וַיִּפֹּ֖ל עָלֶֽיהָ׃
(4) Saul said to his arms-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, so that the uncircumcised may not run me through and make sport of me.” But his arms-bearer, in his great awe, refused; whereupon Saul grasped the sword and fell upon it.
(ה)ואך את דמכם וגו'. יכול כשאול שהרג את עצמו לשם שמים ת"ל אך יכול כחנני' מישאל ועזריה ת"ל אך. ומקשים מה צריך קרא לחנני' מישאל ועזריה והלא מק"ו נפקא כדאמרינן מצפרדעים ומתרצים דמק"ו לחוד לא נפקא דפריכא הוא דאיכא למיפרך מה לצפרדעים שאינן מצווים שלא לחבול בעצמם ומאך לחוד בלא ק"ו נמי לא נפקא אלא שאינו נענש אם מוסר עצמו למות לכך צריך ק"ו לומר שהוא חייב למסור עצמו על קדוש השם:
(5) ואך את דמכם, “however your blood, etc.” It is possible that when King Saul committed suicide by telling his arms bearer to finish him off (Samuel I 31,4) he thought that he committed a meritorious act denying the Philistines the boast that they had killed the anointed one of God. This is why the Torah uses the diminutive word אך, when writing this legislation, to tell us that there are situations, such as when Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah agreed to be thrown into the fiery furnace, that this was not considered suicide but [after consultation with the prophet Ezekiel Ed] an act of sanctifying the name of God.
Definitions
1) Murder (including what secular law defines as first degree, second degree, and manslaughter) occurs when one human being unlawfully kills another human being.
This is clearly prohibited in both secular and Jewish law, but the punishments vary depending on the motives of the murderer and the circumstances. Declaring an act a murder presumes that the victim did not want to die.
2) Active euthanasia is one person taking the life of another in accordance with that person’s will. Sometimes this is called “mercy killing,” for the motive of the one bringing about the person’s death is to relieve the other person’s pain. Jewish law and civil law in most jurisdictions prohibit this as well and even declare such acts “murder,” despite the difference in the victim’s will.
3) Physician-assisted suicide. As will be discussed below, some jurisdictions (e.g., Canada) permit physicians but nobody else to engage in active euthanasia.
4) Aid in dying (what I called “Assisted Suicide” in my 1997 responsum) is helping a person bring about his or her own death. It differs from active euthanasia in that ultimately it is not someone else but rather the patient him/herself who causes his/her death, albeit with assistance from someone else who provides the means to do so.
5) Withholding or withdrawing life-support mechanisms (sometimes called “passive euthanasia, but not truly passive).
Both rabbis agreed that machines and medications
may be withheld or withdrawn if that is in the best interests of the patient
6) Natural death. This is death that happens on its own, whether within or outside of a medical setting, and despite any attempts to keep the patient alive.
https://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/teshuvot/1741055063.pdf?id=56342%20
use
Why Refer to it as Aid in Dying
- “aid in dying” rather than “assisted suicide” – namely, that most people seeking aid in dying have striven mightily for years to live, even with pain, and are thus not suicidal in intention; theyare just now facing their inevitable demise, despite multiple attempts to fight it, and they want todo that with as little pain as possible.
"I’m not committing suicide, and I don’t want to die. I was upset by media reports that I intend to ‘kill’ myself. I’m not killing myself; bone cancer is taking care of that. I may take the option of shortening the agony of my final hours."
—JACK NEWBOLD
"All I am asking for is to have some choice over how I die. Portraying me as suicidal is disrespectful and hurtful to me and my loved ones. It adds insult to injury bydismissing all that I have already endured; the failed attempts for a cure, theprogressive decline of my physical state and the anguish that has involved exhaustive reflection and contemplation, leading me to this very personal and intimate decision about my own life and how I would like it to end." —LOUISE SCHAEFER
P'sak Halahhah
1. Jewish law prohibits murder; active euthanasia (“mercy killing”), whether by a physician or a family member; suicide; and assisting a suicide.
2. Machines and medications may be withheld or withdrawn from patients who do not benefit from them, as indicated by the patient’s own expressed evaluation personally now, through his or her advance directive, or through a proxy appointed in his or her advance directive for health care. Nutrition and hydration may also be withheld or withdrawn.
3. Those confronted with a request for aid in dying by being provided drugs that the patient him/herself will administer in those civil jurisdictions that permit this should first determine that:
a. The patient has a terminal, incurable disease, which, despite available treatments, will, in the opinion of at least two independent physicians, bring about the person’s death within six
months or shortly thereafter (depending on the statute in the jurisdiction) and that involves pain or suffering that cannot be quelled.
b. Monetary pressure is not the motivation for the request.
c. If the patient is depressed, medications are employed rather than aid in dying
d. Medication has first been used to decrease pain
e. While still conscious, the patient asks for aid in dying of his or her own free will, during a private conversation
f. The patient is mentally competent to ask for aid in dying
Conclusion
In very specific situations, an individual can request aid for dying. A person who chooses aid in dying under the circumstances detailed above may be buried in a Jewish cemetery without prejudice because they are not committing suicide in the
usual sense
(א)דיני הגוסס (ואמירת צידוק הדין) ומה הם הסימנים היפים [מהסימנים נשמטו בשו"ע ונמצאו בטור יו"ד ע"ש]. ובו ה"ס:
(1) One in a dying condition is considered a living being in all respects.3He is considered a living being with respect to granting a divorce (provided he is able to speak, according to one opinion in E.H. § 121, 7) ; to giving gifts, and as to a Kohen entering the house of a person in a dying condition, some permit and others forbid. infra § 370. We may not tie up his jaws,4So that he does not open his mouth. nor may we annoint him with oil, nor wash him,5In order to remove filth. nor stop off his organs of the extremities,6This was done in order that the corpse should not swell on account of the air which enters through his open organs. nor may we remove the pillow from under him, nor may we place him on sand, clay-ground or earth, nor may we place on his stomach a dish, a shovel, a flask of water or a globule of salt,7These were ancient practices. nor may we summon the towns on his behalf, nor may we hire pipers and lamenting women, nor may we close his eyes8For all these hasten his death — TaZ. On closing the eyes, cf. Gen. XLVI, 4, ‘And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.’ before his soul departs.9Tur citing T.H. who derives this from Sem. Cur. edd., however, do not contain all the items enumerated. W.G. a.l. and Sem(H). p. 233; also supra § 337, n. 2. Cf. further Shab. 151a-b, Mishna. And whosoever closes [the dying person's] eyes before death10Lit. ‘with the departure of the soul.’ is regarded as one who sheds blood.11One must make sure that he is dead, for it is quite possible that the patient has only fainted — Maim. The Talmud (ibid.) and Sem. (l.c.) compare this to a lamp that is going out. If one places his finger upon it, it is immediately extinguished — ShaK. One may not rend garments, nor bare the shoulder in mourning, nor make a lamentation for him, nor bring a coffin into the house in his presence before he dies,12A healthy person is, however, permitted to prepare shrouds for himself — T.H. according to Men. 41a. nor may we begin the recital of Ẓidduk Haddin1 Glos. before his soul departs.13T.H. Cf. W.G. a.l.Gloss: Some say that we may not dig out a grave for him. although it is not [done] in his presence, [i.e.,] in the house, — before he dies.14RIBaSh, Resp. 114. But if this is not done in the presence of the dying person and he would therefore not become aware of it, it is permissible — B.Yos. and BaḤ. However, on the eve of the Sabbath one must be very careful not to open a grave unless there would be sufficient time to bury the corpse. Cf. O.Ḥ. § 547, 9; BaḤ a.l. Mish. Le-Melek, Yad, Ebel IV, 5.It is [likewise] forbidden to dig out any grave to be [left] open until the next day, in which the corpse will not be buried the same day, and there is danger in this.15R. Yeruḥam on the authority of R. Yehudah the Ḥasid — G.It is likewise forbidden to cause [aught] to hasten the death of one who is in a dying condition, e.g., one who has been in a dying condition for a long time, and could not depart, — [the law is that] we may not remove the pillow or the mattress from under him [just] because some say that there are feathers from some fowl which cause this [prolongation of death].16Where there exists a possibility that if a certain cure or medicine is administered the patient may live or it may have the opposite effect of hastening his death, the law is that it is permissible to give the medicine or the like after consultation with medical experts — Resp. Binyan Ẓion. One may offer prayers that the suffering person die — RaN (Ned. 40a).He may likewise not be moved from his place. It is also forbidden to place the Synagogue keys under his head in order that he may depart.17These are all forbidden on account of moving the patient which may hasten his death — TaZ and ShaK.supra n. 7.However, if there is aught which causes a hindrance to the departure of the soul, e.g., [if] near that house there is a knocking sound, viz., a wood-cutter, or there is salt on his tongue, and these hinder the departure of the soul, it is permitted to remove it therefrom, for there is no [direct] act [involved] in this, since he merely removes the hindrance.18Hag. Alfasi (295b) to M.K. III — G.TaZ contra ShaK. forbids removing salt from his tongue, since in this case too, the patient has to be moved. A.H. agrees with ShaK.
Rabbi Yoḥanan says: And both Rabbis, i.e., the first tanna and Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira, interpreted the same verse in drawing their halakhic conclusion. The verse states: “And a man who strikes any soul mortally, he shall be put to death” (Leviticus 24:17). The Rabbis hold that “any soul” means that one is liable for murder only when there is an entire soul, i.e., when the murderer alone is responsible for taking the entire life of the victim. And Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira holds that “any soul” means that one is liable for murder for taking any soul, even if the victim had already been beaten and was close to death.