ABSTRACT
By the mid twentieth century, countless tests in America, Britain, and elsewhere had proven that smoking is a major health hazard. Halakhically, smoking is in the category of a life-threatening act, pikuach nefesh: every cigarette shortens the smoker’s life. As a faith embracing every facet of daily life, Judaism requires that except where idolatry, incest or bloodshed are involved, pikuach nefesh must push all other considerations aside, including mitzvot such as Sabbath observance, dietary laws and fasting on Yom Kippur. Smoking may be regarded as a form of slow self-murder. In rabbinic law and tradition suicide is as serious a crime as murder. The fact that smoking is widespread is irrelevant from a halakhic viewpoint, in which dangerous forms of behavior are prohibited.
