Judaism and Catholicism Unite For Life

Where there is life, there is unity. Where there is unity, there is life. Jewish Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe reacts to the murder of Terri Schiavo.

Judaism teaches that we don’t own our own lives and that our body is not our property, but is entrusted to us by God, and therefore we cannot destroy it, he said.

The Talmud forbids hastening death. “You are not even to close the person’s eyes before they have drawn their last breath,” he said.

“At the same time, you are not obliged to impede the dying process,” where there is “no chance of some semblance of functionality or relief of pain or suffering,” by, for example. placing the person on a respirator or trying experimental surgery.

That, however, does not extend to nourishment, which traditional Judaism views as providing the basic necessity of life.

“The fact that there was no tube-feeding in biblical times is irrelevant. We are obliged to feed those who are respirating autonomously,” Rabbi Yaffe said.

“We are obliged to provide nutrition. It’s an absolute right, and to remove it is extraordinarily problematic, just as removing a respirator is. You are literally taking life away.”

That remains true even if the person is in a persistent vegetative state, or brain dead, the rabbi said.

The only exception are those cases where feeding would “poison the system,” and then feeding must be stopped because it would only extend suffering, he added.

More on Schiavo death was ‘murder,’ rabbi says By Janice Arnold