[Avodah] Brain Death

[Yitzchak Schaffer]

On 2011-01-18 10:48, David Riceman wrote:
> I want to quibble a little. Hazal were not defining the moment of death;
> they were clarifying that lack of a heart beat establishes a hazakah of
> death. As proof I'll point out that no one permits murdering people who
> have had heart transplants.
>

I have been following this debate, and this was the first time this 
point penetrated my mind. It seems compelling to me. If we're going to 
establish new chazakos, however, we now have a need to know what death 
is per se. What is death, that which we are establishing a chazakah on?

-- 
Yitzchak Schaffer