Woodchopper Revisited 59
outcome), while the Nachmanides theory refers to medical treatment that promises only“to extend his illness and lengthen his suffering.” The latter sort of treatment is permissible but not obligatory.
83. Barukh Rabinovitz, Comments in a Symposium on Determining the Moment of Death, Sefer Asya 1(Jerusalem : Rubin Mass, 1979), pp. 190-198. The quotation is at pp. 197-198.
84.Ya’akov Levy,“Davar hame’akev yetzi’at hanefesh,” Noam 16(1973), pp. 5363. The cited passage is at p. 61.
85. On p. 57 of his article(see preceding note), Levy chastises those who would draw conclusions on the basis of these classic halakhic texts in cases where, presumably,“there is no chance of improving the patient’s condition.”“W hat selfconfidence! Any experienced physician knows how often he has erred in diagnosis and all the more so in prognosis.” It is impossible to maintain such self-confidence in the case of a comatose patient who could live on“for weeks or even months.”
86. Aristotle , On Rhetoric , translated by W. Rhys Roberts(New York : Modern Library, 1954), Book I , Chapter 2, 1356a:“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker...”.
87. One example of his reputation is the book compiled by Dr. Avraham Steinberg , Hilkhot rof’im urefu’ah: al pi shut tzitz eliezer lehagra i waldenberg(Jerusalem : Mosad Harav Kook, 1978)/ Avraham Steinberg , Jewish Medical Law: Compiled and Edited from the Tzitz Eliezer. Translated by David B. Simons(Jerusalem : Gefen, 1980). One of Waldenberg’s positions was that of rabbi of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem . Steinberg was the first director of the Schlesinger Institute for Medico-Halakhic Research at Shaare Zedek (http://www.medethics.org.il) and the founder and first editor of the quarterly 4sya devoted to issues in medicine and halakhah.
88. Resp. Tzitz Eliezer 13:89. 89. See at notes 79-81, above. 90. Resp. Tzitz Eliezer 13:89, sec. 8. The following citation is at sec. 11.
91. Bereishit Rabah 96:3 and elsewhere.