Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Taking Medicine on Shabbat-Part I by Rabbi Chaim Jachter

 https://www.koltorah.org/halachah/taking-medicine-on-shabbat-part-i-by-rabbi-chaim-jachter

People commonly ask why this rabbinical prohibition still applies if its reason is no longer relevant. The answer is that rabbinical prohibitions remain even if their reasons no longer apply. The Gemara (Beitzah 5a) articulates the rule that כל דבר שבמנין צריך מנין אחר להתירו, “once the rabbis issue a decree only a rabbinical assemblage of equivalent stature can overturn it.” The Gemara cites a biblical precedent for this rule. Today there is no rabbinical assemblage of equivalent stature to the rabbis of the Gemara. Hence, Chazal’s decrees still apply even if their reasons are no longer relevant.

Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Nefesh Harav p.173) specifically invoked this principle when he ruled that even today we are prohibited from taking medicine on Shabbat. Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (Teshuvot Tzitz Eliezer 8:15:15:4) adds that the reason for this decree is still relevant, as even today many people grind medicines when preparing home remedies.

8 comments:

  1. " Does not Rav Akiva Eiger posit (in his commentary to Orach Chaim
    307:5) that rabbinical decrees do not apply in cases of suffering?"
    Wonderful comment, again, it is the most enlightening of all the other rationales given, from my "subjective" point of view.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the 2nd part of this essay also has some interesting gems, eg:










    "Rav Shlomo Zalman (cited in Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 34:note


    52) rules that there is room to be lenient when there is concern of


    preserving human dignity, כבוד הבריות, such as when one has a severe


    “runny nose.” Chazal waive rabbinical prohibitions to preserve human


    dignity (Berachot 19b)"








    https://www.koltorah.org/halachah/taking-medicine-on-shabbat-part-ii-by-rabbi-howard-jachter





    Yes, more cherry picking I suppose!

    ReplyDelete
  3. “Taking Medicine on Shabbat” Thanks for this post. This is Torah.
    Torah thought this week’s parsha Chukkas זאת חקת התורה
    “This is the law זאת התורה: When a person dies אדם כי ימות in a tent, whoever enters the tent and everything in the tent וכל אשר באהל shall be unclean seven days יטמא שבעת ימים.” (Numbers 19:14).
    במדבר פרשת חקת פרק יט פסוק יד
    זֹאת הַתּוֹרָה אָדָם כִּי יָמוּת בְּאֹהֶל כָּל הַבָּא אֶל הָאֹהֶל וְכָל אֲשֶׁר בָּאֹהֶל יִטְמָא שִׁבְעַת יָמִים:
    מדרש אגדה (בובר) במדבר פרשת חקת פרק יט פסוק יד
    זאת התורה וגו'. אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה:
    Berachoth 63b
    “Another explanation of Attend [hasket] and hear, Israel. Cut yourselves to pieces [kattetu] for words of Torah, as was said by Resh Lakish. For Resh Lakish said: Whence do we learn that words of Torah are firmly held by one who kills himself for it? Because it says, This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent [ Num. XIX, 14. Tent is taken to mean a place of study]. Another explanation of Attend and hear, O Israel: Be silent [has] and then analyze [katteth] [i.e., first listen to the teacher, and then discuss what he has said], as stated by Raba; for Raba said: A man should always first learn Torah and then scrutinize it.”

    Beautiful.

    Allow me to explain why everyone should be interested in NYS Court of Appeals Motion 460-2022 June 27, 2022. On February 17, 1993, a Rabbinical Court in the State of Israel issued a divorce decree Aranoff v Aranoff. From 2/17/1993 on NYS courts have no jurisdiction over alimony and child payments and asset distribution except for what was in the Israeli divorce degree. Follow KA, IR, and Garnel?

    ReplyDelete
  4. And why should anyone be interested at your picks - especially when it goes against accepted halacha?

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  5. So all previous seforim should be burned, in case anyone derives pleasure from them?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The problem with this article is that it does not explain the original gezeira very deeply, and only brings Acharonim who debate the parameters and applicabilty in modern times. it also does not argue clearly why the gezeiro is valid in cases where the medicine is not ground. The gezeiro was against medicine , apparently becasue in those days we ground leaves etc to produce it. Today, medicines - drug delivery - are largely in tablets, capsules, syrup, injection form. So the question of whether Chazal intended these forms when they passed the geziero is not addressed. There are other issurim , eg playing an instrument on shabbat, in case we tune it. OK, what about instruments that are not tunable? Would this violate the gezeira?

    ReplyDelete
  7. “Taking Medicine on Shabbat” Thanks for this post. This is Torah.
    Torah thought this week’s parsha Chukkas זאת חקת התורה
    “This is the law זאת התורה: When a person dies אדם כי ימות in a tent, whoever enters the tent and everything in the tent וכל אשר באהל shall be unclean seven days יטמא שבעת ימים.” (Numbers 19:14).
    במדבר פרשת חקת פרק יט פסוק יד
    זֹאת הַתּוֹרָה אָדָם כִּי יָמוּת בְּאֹהֶל כָּל הַבָּא אֶל הָאֹהֶל וְכָל אֲשֶׁר בָּאֹהֶל יִטְמָא שִׁבְעַת יָמִים:
    מדרש אגדה (בובר) במדבר פרשת חקת פרק יט פסוק יד
    זאת התורה וגו'. אין התורה מתקיימת אלא במי שממית עצמו עליה:
    Berachoth 63b
    “Another explanation of Attend [hasket] and hear, Israel. Cut yourselves to pieces [kattetu] for words of Torah, as was said by Resh Lakish. For Resh Lakish said: Whence do we learn that words of Torah are firmly held by one who kills himself for it? Because it says, This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent [ Num. XIX, 14. Tent is taken to mean a place of study]. Another explanation of Attend and hear, O Israel: Be silent [has] and then analyze [katteth] [i.e., first listen to the teacher, and then discuss what he has said], as stated by Raba; for Raba said: A man should always first learn Torah and then scrutinize it.”

    Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you Gerald


    were there orignally Gemaras on all Mesechtos of the Talmud, and some are simply lost or never made it to print?

    ReplyDelete

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