[Avodah] assisted suicide

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, January 26, 2008 10:27 pm, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: Wasn't there some story (someone please tell me where) about the city
: of Luz, a kind of Shangri-la where no one ever died, but when they got
: very old and tired of living, they would just leave the city?  Was that
: allowed?

I would assert that Luz as described didn't exist. Not only does it
fail the Rambam's test, but Luz is given in the Chumash as the
original name of Beis-El (Bereishis 28:19). Aside from Luz being the
"Home of G-d" in that sense, it's the bone that rests at the base of
the skull, the connection between brain and body. Luz (chestnut?) is
also the wood from which Yaaqov avinu made his spotted sticks. It is
the name of a bone that never decays, and is associated with techiyas
hameisim. And the name of a city never taken by Sancheirev or
Nevuchadnetzar.

And a city where no one lies.

The moral message is blatant. No lying, no death, Yaaqov's financial
success, the place where earth and heaven meet.

See <http://tinyurl.com/ysd4aj> for the above explained and elaborated
at more length in Aspaqlaria (my blog).

In either case, if Luz did exist, it would probably refer to
pre-Yaaqov Beis-El, and the people leaving it to die weren't
necessarily Jewish.

This raises a difference between here and Cantor Wolberg's derashah
about the ramp on the mizbeiach and accessibility -- despite the fact
that no person who would have needed a ramp would have been permitted
on the mizbeiach anyway. For a derashah to work, it has to fit
altogether. Chazal didn't repeat stories from which people can draw
false conclusions, or in which sins are invented and attributed to
pious people.

Thus, we can ask about the permissibility of leaving Luz without
addressing the historicity of the story.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv