agony and even disturbed Rabbi 's disciples in their prayers so they ceased praying for a moment and the soul of Rabbi 's soul departed to its eternal rest(Ketubot 104a).
R. Nissim b. Reuben Gerondi(Spain , d. 1380) commented on this:"There are times when one should ask for mercy for the ill that he may die; such as in the case where he is suffering greatly and there is no hope that he may recover and live just as in the case of rabbi and his maidservant”(Nedarim 40a).
We may see that this prayerful euthanasia was taken seriously by those who believed in the efficacy of prayer. Another example is the Midrash about a very old lady who wished to depart from this world. R. Yossi recommended that she refrain from going to the synagogue for three consecutive days, and as a result she became ill and died(Yalkut Shemoni, Proverbs , 943).
The Talmud and rabbinic codes state that a goses, a dying patient whose demise is imminent, is regarded as a living person in all respects. Nothing may be done to hasten his death. It is forbidden to wash the patient, remove the pillow from underneath him, to place him on the ground. It is also forbidden to close his eyes"for whoever closes the eyes with the onset of death is a shedder of blood." Furthermore, the keys of the synagogue may not be put under his head so that he may depart(Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah, 339:1).
Each of these acts is forbidden because the slightest movement of the patient may hasten death. As the Babylonian Talmud put it:"This action may be compared to a flickering flame; as soon as one touches it, the light is extinguished." This is called hariga bayadayim, literally "killing with one’s hands or in modern parlance, active euthanasia.
These prohibitions apply even in the case where the dying person might be deprived of only a few minutes of life: hayei shaah. The Talmud teaches us: If a wall falls on a person on Shabbat , the victim
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