MONDAY MESSAGE FROM RABBI ROB: Last Saturday, Brittany - TopicsExpress



          

MONDAY MESSAGE FROM RABBI ROB: Last Saturday, Brittany Maynard ended her own life. she was twenty-nine years old. Ms. Maynard was suffering from inoperable brain cancer, and had she not died she certainly would have devolved into the most extreme pain imaginable. In the last weeks before her death she was increasingly in pain, a pain which would have only become worse. Its the worst possible situation, one in which there were no good alternatives regardless. Its a tough situation. Of course, no one would want anybody to suffer ion the ways she most certainly would have done. On the other hand, suicide is regarded as abhorrent by most societies. In Jewish tradition, suicide is a forbidden act. My problem is that I still dont know where I personally come down on the issue of suicide in cases like this. I have seen people in the last days of cancer, and its a horrible thing to watch. There is part of me that says that in some extreme cases suicide might be acceptable, and there is that part of me, especially the rabbi part, that has difficulty accepting that there is justification for suicide. I suppose that one day Ill be pushed to rake a side, one way or another, on this issue. Now, frankly, I have no idea which way Id jump. The best I can say that this point is that I am glad Ms. Maynard is no longer in pain and at her final peace. I do not judge her, because I have no right to do so. Her pain was her alone, and not mine. To her friends and family I say, May your memories of her be the same as blessings.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 00:00:23 +0000

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