"Many [smokers] began smoking cigarettes on Purim under the
guise of simchah but afterwards they were unable to
quit," reads a notice to parents that the Bnei Brak
Municipality posted around the city as part of a major
campaign to prevent smoking among youth.
City Secretary and Spokesman Rabbi Avrohom Tannenbaum said
that the campaign was planned for Adar since many young
people take the liberty of smoking their first cigarette on
or around Purim, not realizing that a single cigarette can
lead to addiction.
"Gedolei Yisroel are Against Smoking," reads the
headline of the posters, citing a number of quotes from
gedolei Yisroel both past and present. According to
the Chofetz Chaim, smoking cigarettes harms the body as well
as the soul through bitul Torah, causing damage to
one's health, finances and mitzvas, and smokers harm
themselves and transgress venishmartem
lenafshoseichem.
The Chazon Ish determined that smoking tobacco harms one's
breathing and clogs the lungs and therefore should be
abandoned. HaRav Ben-Tzion Abba Shaul urged young men to
avoid smoking and said according to physicians smoking poses
a health hazard and ruled that smokers must leave the room if
people who are sensitive to cigarette smoke are present.
A notice signed by Maran HaRav Eliashiv, HaRav Shteinman,
HaRav Lefkowitz, HaRav Moshe Shmuel Shapira, HaRav Nissim
Karelitz and HaRav Shmuel Auerbach urges young men, "Please
do not harm yourself and your surroundings and do not
accustom yourself to this, for our holy Torah is a book of
life — vechai bohem — and Hashem wants
everyone to preserve his health so we can serve Him.
Therefore he who can prevent himself and others from smoking
must do so and he who is already accustomed to [smoking] must
try hard to quit, and definitely must refrain from smoking in
places where others are present."
Citing the Rambam (Hilchos Rotzei'ach Ushmiras
Hanefesh) and the Chasam Sofer, HaRav Shmuel Halevi
Wosner rules that it is clearly forbidden to start smoking at
a young age and parents and educators are obligated to
prevent youths from starting. Those who are already addicted,
says HaRav Wosner, should try to quit gradually and
definitely should not smoke in public. Therefore anyone who
can refrain from helping smokers is obligated to do so.
