By the Grace of G-d

The Noahide Prohibition of Murder -

in Practical Terms

The following essay is a verbatim transcript of our weekly radio spot #8, broadcast on 31 March '05.

---

Greetings once again from the Director of AskNoah.org. In our past discussions, I've introduced the Seven Universal Commandments, which are the conditions for the eternal covenant which G-d made with Noah and with all mankind. Now I'd like to begin going through these commandments in detail, to explain how they should be applied in our modern lives.

Today I'll start with a subject which I'm sure has been on everyone's mind this week. The Universal commandment against murder was stated in Genesis, Chapter 9, verse 6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, among man, his blood shall be shed, for in the image of G-d He made man." Now let's look at some practical applications of this rule. If a person kills someone who is terminally ill, or is falling from the top of a cliff, or is certain to die momentarily for any other reason, he still transgresses this commandment. This places mercy killing or euthanasia squarely in the category of murder. Suicide and assisting suicide is forbidden by the same verse in Genesis.

In the past week, there has been a surge of interest in "Living Wills," and there are some valid reasons for this. One is so a person can protect his own life in the event that he becomes physically or mentally incapacitated, G-d forbid. Likewise, a "Living Will" can protect someone like a naïve nurse from committing murder, if she is told to remove a person's feeding tube. We have formulated a universal kosher Living Will that respects the prohibition of murder. You can find this on our web site AskNoah.org under the section on murder ["Respect Human Life"]. Your Living Will should direct your agent to consult with and follow the guidance of a named Orthodox Rabbi, and it can read as follows:

"It is my desire, and I hereby direct, that all health care decisions made for me be made pursuant to Jewish law as it pertains to Gentiles, as determined in accordance with strict Orthodox interpretation and tradition. It is thus my wish that Jewish law should dictate the course of my health care with respect to any particular course of medical treatment or other form of life-support maintenance, including tube-delivered nutrition and hydration; and the method and timing of determination of death [defined as irreversible cessation of the heartbeat]."

If someone pushes a person in front of a train which then kills him, or if one causes a person to starve to death, it is murder. However, a person is free to take any action in self-defense to save himself from an attacker. If someone has another person killed through an assassin, both the assassin and the one who planned with him are murderers. If people try to force a person on pain of death to kill someone else, he must not commit the murder regardless of the consequences. Finally, if there is no danger to a woman's life from her pregnancy, anyone who performs an abortion on her is a murderer according to Torah.

In summary, it is an awesome responsibility to be faced with a life or death decision, especially when society has been slipping away from the Seven Universal Laws. It's important for both Jews and Gentiles to seek guidance from an Orthodox Rabbi if any such questions arise.