[Avodah] assisted suicide

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

Regarding the city of Luz, RnTK wrote:
> I agree that it didn't actually exist, but nevertheless,
> taking the story  on its own terms -- when people left
> the city, were they doing something wrong by leaving?

I recall hearing that they did not die immediately upon leaving the city gates, but that they simply became subject to natural death, so that they would die at some unknown future point. If so, then perhaps leaving would not be an act of suicide, but merely a case of "removing an impediment", sanctioned by the Rama YD 339:1.

(OTOH, leaving a safe city to enter a deadly outside world could easily be considered an actual maaseh, much more serious than merely "removing an impediment". This could be good source material for defining what other cases do/don't meet that criterion.)

Akiva Miller
_____________________________________________________________
Click to help a good cause and make a difference
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2121/fc/Ioyw6i3ngVu57jrdpRDrtTG10Ki1GIAgNyb0eAaJoMyhGG65kP0Ul0/