Maranan verabonon the gedolei Yisroel warn
everyone to take the mitzvah of safeguarding one's health
seriously, especially in respect to cigarette smoking which
has been unequivocally proven to have devastating effects on
health. Maranan verabonon state that whoever can
prevent himself and others from smoking, or can break the
habit is obligated to do so. They add that one must
absolutely abstain from smoking in public places.
The strong letter is signed by the pillar of halachic
authority, HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, as well as by HaRav
Aharon Leib Steinman, HaRav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, HaRav
Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz, HaRav Nissim Karelitz, and HaRav
Shmuel Auerbach.
In an additional letter, HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner writes:
"We must admonish the public about the tremendous dangers of
cigarette smoking, since research has proven beyond a doubt
that hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely because
of cigarette smoking which, as is known, causes terrible
disease in the lungs and heart." These findings are
corroborated by doctors and experts throughout the world.
HaRav Wosner also warns against beginning to smoke in one's
teens, and says: "According to the Torah, parents, teachers
and educators are obligated to prevent their children from
smoking. However, one who has already grown accustomed to
this bad habit should make great efforts, for the sake of his
future, to gradually stop smoking."
At the end of his letter, the av beis din of Zichron
Meir speaks about the damage smoking causes to those in the
smoker's vicinity: "It is forbidden to smoke in public places
since doctors have discovered that the smoke is harmful. Many
studies have recently appeared concerning the dangers of
smoking. The most prominent doctors in Israel and the entire
word have unequivocally determined that smoking impairs one's
health and causes irrevocable damage to one's inner organs --
namely the heart and lungs -- and as a result, smoking is
considered the number one cause of terrible diseases which
are liable to be life-threatening. Medical statistics prove
that smokers not only cause irrevocable damage to themselves,
but also to those in their vicinity."
Doctors say that most smokers who come to them with serious
illnesses say that they began smoking in their teens. Later,
they were unable to stop, although they saw that it impaired
their health, damaged their bodies and seriously harmed the
health of their families and those in their nearby
surroundings. As a result, it is vital to persuade teenagers
not to begin smoking and to break the habit as soon as
possible in order not to harm others too, as maranan
the gedolei Yisroel exhort.
