https://baishavaad.org/the-foreseeable-future-may-we-try-to-find-out-what-lies-ahead/
One brief but important attempt at a delineation of the contours of the injunction of tamim tihyeh is by R’ Moshe Feinstein, in the context of the propriety of screening for the gene that causes Tay-Sachs:
According to this understanding of R’ Moshe, preventive MRIs would presumably not violate tamim tihyeh, because they, too, do not predict the future, but rather reveal what already exists. While this does not seem to be the straightforward understanding of R’ Moshe’s intent, we shall iy”H see in the follow-up article that some do indeed posit such a distinction with respect to the applicability of the mitzvah of tamim tihyeh.
Astrology, Netziv, neviim
ReplyDeleteRemember that one?
Oh, but since we have no neviim the issur doesn't apply.
Put it another way.
There's a sakanah or safek sakanah.
Each medical test can reveal data _ it might be a diagnosis or prognosis.
Prognosis can be subjective but a risk does seem to exist.
So even the issue of Tay sachs is not generalisable.
There's also a shift in medicine.
Today screening is the norm, disease is detectable.
Living's one life doing whatever one wants without thinking about preparing for the future to ensure a good and healthy life seems wrong.
ReplyDeleteRambam doesn't seem to have a problem with trying to prevent illness.
Deleteא
הוֹאִיל וֶהֱיוֹת הַגּוּף בָּרִיא וְשָׁלֵם מִדַּרְכֵי הַשֵּׁם הוּא. שֶׁהֲרֵי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיָּבִין אוֹ יֵדַע דָּבָר מִידִיעַת הַבּוֹרֵא וְהוּא חוֹלֶה. לְפִיכָךְ צָרִיךְ לְהַרְחִיק אָדָם עַצְמוֹ מִדְּבָרִים הַמְאַבְּדִין אֶת הַגּוּף. וּלְהַנְהִיג עַצְמוֹ בִּדְבָרִים הַמַּבְרִין וְהַמַּחֲלִימִים. וְאֵלּוּ הֵן
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/910344/jewish/Deot-Chapter-Four.htm
In other words you don't accept the view of Rav Moshe
DeleteIt might not even be a halachic issue.
DeleteIt seems it's an innovation to use tamim in this context.
Again, there's a balance between Tamim and V'Nishmartem.
DeleteIf memory serves, Rav Moshe, zt"l, had a pacemaker. That's about as V'Nishmartem as you can get, because Tamim would say "Nah, I'll trust in God to keep my heart ticking"
Same old thing. Hareidi leaders make their living bashing anything modern: science, biology, university, professions, earning a living.
DeleteThen , like true dictators, they have their own private doctors to help them with their conditions, and give them special honors too.
Or as they used to say in the alte heim, what matters if the chasidim are starving since the Rebbe's fat.
DeleteYou view it as a balance. Rav Moshe seems to treat them as independent factors. A pacemaker is not governed by temimos especially if the heart is currently not functioning properly
DeleteThere is a balance in all things. No independent factors.
DeleteThe idea of balance is not in Rav Moshe, it is your psak
DeleteAre you talking in general or in this specific psak?
DeleteIs Rav Moshe going by the dominant halachic precedent?
Is it in fact halacha or advice, or decision making?
Okay, the balance is between the teshuva and common sense, then,
Delete