Glad, Sad, Mad
When I see an Arab smoking, I'm glad - I'd rather fight a weak enemy than a strong one.
When I see a "friendly" Gentile smoking, I'm sad. America is no stronger than Americans are, and in today's world Americans can't afford to be anything but strong.
When I see a Jew smoking, I'm mad. How can we be so irresponsible, so uncaring about our own health, the collective health of our people, and that of our chidren? Yes, I've seen rebbeim (I assume that's what they are) with groups of children in tow, chomping on cigarettes. Imagine the example such a teacher sets for his charges, and the toxins those children are inhaling. Many of those children have asthma and similar ailments that are aggravated by the smoke blown in their faces by teachers and parents who are thinking only of themselves. We like to call ourselves hakhamim sheba'umot - the wisest of nations. Nonsense. By tolerating smoking among ostensibly frum Jews we show ourselves to be stupid idiots. It is well known that a Jew is forbidden to harm his health. We have known since the 1960s that smoking is injurious to the smoker's health, and since the 1980s that it is poisonous to nonsmokers breathing the stuff, yet it took until 2006 for the Rabbinical Council of America to rule that smoking is assur.
For heaven's sake, Hitler killed enough of us. Stop piling hurt upon hurt.
When I see a "friendly" Gentile smoking, I'm sad. America is no stronger than Americans are, and in today's world Americans can't afford to be anything but strong.
When I see a Jew smoking, I'm mad. How can we be so irresponsible, so uncaring about our own health, the collective health of our people, and that of our chidren? Yes, I've seen rebbeim (I assume that's what they are) with groups of children in tow, chomping on cigarettes. Imagine the example such a teacher sets for his charges, and the toxins those children are inhaling. Many of those children have asthma and similar ailments that are aggravated by the smoke blown in their faces by teachers and parents who are thinking only of themselves. We like to call ourselves hakhamim sheba'umot - the wisest of nations. Nonsense. By tolerating smoking among ostensibly frum Jews we show ourselves to be stupid idiots. It is well known that a Jew is forbidden to harm his health. We have known since the 1960s that smoking is injurious to the smoker's health, and since the 1980s that it is poisonous to nonsmokers breathing the stuff, yet it took until 2006 for the Rabbinical Council of America to rule that smoking is assur.
For heaven's sake, Hitler killed enough of us. Stop piling hurt upon hurt.
posted by Zev Stern at 9:24 PM
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