162 Alan Sokobin
blood. Rabbi Meir used to cite an example of a flickering light. As soon as a person touches it, it goes out. So too, whoever closes the eyes of the dying it is as if he has taken his soul.”*”
The prohibition against hastening one’s death is reiterated and emphasized in another Talmudic tractate. The Mishnah states,“one may not close the eyes of a corpse on the Sabbath , nor on weekdays when he is about to die, and he who closes the eyes[of a dying person] at the point of departure of the soul is a shedder of blood(i.e. a murderer because he hastens death.)”3® The Gemara continues the inquiry,“Our Rabbis taught: He who closes[the eyes of a dying man] at the point of death is a murderer. This may be compared to a lamp that is going out. If a man places his finger upon it, it is immediately extinguished.”*"" There is a minority dissenting opinion from Rabbi Simeon Ben Gamliel, which is analogous to termination of treatment.“If one desires that a dead man’s eyes should close, let him blow wine into his nostrils and apply oil between his two eyelids... then they close of their own accord.”
Maimonides insisted that a dying person must be regarded as a living being in every respect.“It is not permitted to bind his jaws, to stop the organs of the lower extremities, or to place metallic or cooling vessels upon his navel in order to prevent swelling.... One should wait awhile, perhaps he is only in a swoon.” The respected legal codification of the fourteenth century, the Arba’ah Turim, ** prohibits any hastening of death.“Any act performed in relation to death should not be carried out until the soul has departed.”**As there is disagreement concerning whether one can sanction or facilitate the hastening of death, there is also no agreement that there is no religious obligation to hinder the end of life. The Talmud clearly states that if a person is in the throes of death, and is thus in the legal state of a goses, one should stop praying for recovery that the sufferer might know the serenity of death.*®® An often-cited example is that of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi , Judah the Prince . He was in agony on his deathbed. The Talmud , reflecting a belief in the possible immediate efficacy of prayer, approvingly tells the tale of his final moments. His soul was prevented from leaving his body because of the ardent and fervent prayers of his students.>” Rabbi Judah 's maidservant, not obsessed with theological considerations nor restrained by legal credentials, abruptly threw an earthen vessel to the ground. The crashing sound distracted the praying rabbis