Tue Use oF ToBACCO
Solomon B. Freehof
QUESTION: Should not the use of tobacco be prohibited by Jew ish law on the basis of the growing consensus of physicians that it is injurious to health? Also, what are the chief responsa which deal with the question of the use of tobacco?(Dr. S.Z. Hulman, Leeds , England)
ANSWER: Tobacco was introduced into Europe in the sixteenth century(in England, in 1565). The use of it in various forms spread immediately all over Europe . Both church and state expressed strong opposition to its use. At times the church threatened excommunication, and the state imposed fines, imprisonment, and even capital punishment.
Naturally the Jewish legal authorities, likewise, reacted to the sudden spread of this new habit. But the attitude of Jewish law was not entirely prohibitive. It could more properly be described as deprecatory and, to some extent, restrictive. The first full discussion of the use of tobacco was by Chaim Benvenisti of Constantinople (1603B1673) in his long supercommentary to the Tur, K'nesset Hagdolah(in the supplementary volume, Shiurei K'nesset Hagdolah 567, sec. 3). He gives a description of how smokers have become so deeply addicted that they cannot wait for the Sabbath to end. They watch eagerly for the stars to appear so that they can begin to smoke. He tells how smokers crowd the street corners, puffing clouds of smoke. Specifically, he deals with the legal question of whether tobacco may be smoked on fast days(on personal fast days, on semi-strict fast days, such