Jewish Law Responds to American Law 183

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262.

271. 272. 273. 274.

275. 276. 277. 278. 279. 280. 281. 282.

50. . 80 F.3d 716(2d Cir. 1996). . David J. Garrow ,“The Justices’ Life-or Death Choices,” N.Y. Times, April 7,

. Ibid., 724(referencing Yale Kamisar , Are Laws against Assisted Suicide Uncon­

stitutional?, 23 Hastings CTR. Rep. 32[1993]).

. Ibid., 726. . Ibid., 731( . Ibid., 738( . Ibid., 739( (

Calabresi, J. , concurring). Calabresi, J. , concurring). Calabresi, J. , concurring). 79 E3d 790(9th Cir. 1996).

1996, E6. Ibid.

. Ibid. 264. 265. 266. 267. 268. 269. 270.

117 S. Ct. 2258(1997)

Ibid., 261(alteration in original).

80 F.3d at 731(Calabresi, J. , concurring).

Glucksberg, 117 S. Ct. 2258, 2293(Souter , J. , concurring).

117 S. Ct. 2293(1997).

Ibid., 2296.

Washington v. Glucksberg, 117 S. Ct. 2302, 2303(1997)(O'Connor, J. , concurring).

Ibid., 2311(Breyer, J. , concurring).

Cruzan v. Dir., Mo . Dep't of Health, 497 U.S. 261(1990).

Ibid.

I Samuel 31:4. Saul begged his armor-bearer to kill him but was rebuffed and fell upon his own sword. Id. The most famous act of suicide and assisted suicide in Jewish history was the mass self-immolation of the gar­rison of Masada in 73 C.E. as reported by Josephus. The husband/ father in each family group first killed his family and was then assisted in suicide by a companion. Flavious Josephus,“The Works of Josephus,”(William Whis­ ton trans.), 1987,. 8. 769.

Leviticus 19:16.

The phrase““of Israel ’ is absent in some texts.” Sant 37a.

San 37a.

Exodus 15:26.

Exodus 21:18.

Exodus 21: 19(a literal translation.)

Baba Kamma 85a.

There is a distinction in Jewish law between willful suicide and one induced by mental illness. Only when there is clear and unequivicable evidence of intent is the suicide considered to have been of sound mind. The Talmud states the principle with clarity.“Who is a suicide of sound mind? It is not so regarded if a man climbed a tree or a roof and fell to his death, but only where he states,‘I am climbing the roof or the tree and[ am going to throw myself to my death,” and one sees him acting accordingly... aman found strangled or hanging from a tree or cast upon a sword is regarded as a sui­cide of unsound mind.” Tractate Semachot, in TALMUD , supra note 20, at 2:2-3. Semachot(joys) is named with ironic humor. It is the classic rabbinic text on death and mourning. It is appended to the Babylonian Talmud . The four­teen-chapter text begins with the legal status of a dying person and asserts