[Avodah] Brain Death

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 10:48:32AM -0500, 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 above, I think this is incorrect. They are stating at what point does
a person's medical system lose whatever propert(ies) are necessary to
have a chalos sheim "chai".

...
> We can't actually observe cessation of brain activity, we can only  
> define "brain death" using complex machinery.  Are there any examples in  
> Hazal of hazakot which can be established only through machinery?

Nor halachic status. Do you check your food for microscopic mites?

It could well be that the chalos sheim "chai" is only lost if the body
makes a transition that cannot be naturally reversed (techiyas hameisim
aside -- that's "techiyah" for a reason). Then one needs a chazaqah
to determine when you can assume the transition won't be reversed.
But I don't think that's the central issue. IMHO, the question is
whether halakhah's definition of "chai" resembles the definition of
"alive" as defined by the law (and medical umbrella organizations)
in most Western countries.

For all we know, the soul hangs around a body incapable of supporting
sentience for some reason, and therefore the body is still chai regardless
of losing the capacity. Or not. (I'm not suggesting a position, just
showing why the questions aren't necessarily correlated.)

> Incidentally, to support RYGB's main point, see chapter 6 of Sa'adyah's  
> commentary on Sefer Yetzirah (R. Kafih's edition; the one printed in the  
> standard edition is a different book, apparently by someone else).

As above, he is clear his main point isn't that RNS's description of
chazal's position is wrong. That's RYGB's example of how the methodology
is flawed. The problem RYGB raises is with the methodology.

To quote
http://rygb.blogspot.com/2011/01/chazal-brain-death-and-rabbi-natan.html
    This past Thursday, my friend Rabbi Natan Slifkin posted on his blog
    (http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/01/summary-of-lifedeath-issue.html),
    a "Summary of the Life/Death Issue."

    Rabbi Slifkin's post is an important one, as it goes to the heart
    of what many of us find unacceptable with our colleague's approach.
    ...
    When Rabbi Moshe D. Tendler proposed that "brain stem death" be the
    criterion by which halachic death be established, he staked out a
    controversial position (see the details of the current re-opening
    of the controversy at
    http://torahmusings.com/2010/12/brain-death-in-the-news/).
    Nevertheless, his position was at no time and under no circumstances
    predicated on an assumption that Chazal's views and rulings on
    life and death were fundamentally related both to the mistaken
    beliefs of the era about physiology as well as the limited medical
    possibilities. Rabbi Tendler based his argument on a Mishnah in
    Ohalos and other sources...
    ...
    Rabbi Slifkin is quite bold in his assertions. He purports to know --
    and to tell us -- when an aggadic legend intended to be understood
    metaphorically. And he informs us categorically that these prooftexts
    are (notwithstanding their Midrashic sourcing!) not metaphorical.

    But who designated my friend the arbiter of these matters? ...

[Source texts that historically "kelayos valeiv" was taken as a metaphor
deleted.]

The point is that if you start by assumign you can 2nd-guess the mesorah,
what you're doing isn't pesaq. It's one thing when dealing with an
8th month baby and you're cornered into pasqening differently than did
Chazal. Then you come up with uqimtos to distinguish the two cases. It's
another when you're so sure of your 2nd-guessing what what Chazal said and
why that you can comfortably say "Chazal were mistaken in this regard.
That should be self-evident." Halakhah can't be made by people who that
easily declare Chazal wrong.

IIUC, *THAT* is RYGB's central thesis. And if not, it's mine.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Mussar is like oil put in water,
micha at aishdas.org        eventually it will rise to the top.
http://www.aishdas.org                    - Rav Yisrael Salanter
Fax: (270) 514-1507