What kind of Rabbi would smoke cigarettes? ?

Question

My former Professor of Hebrew studies was smoking cigarettes on campus. I know he is very liberal and even at times suggest that G-d might be a woman. But I thought he was going too far by smoking cigarettes. I know there are several different groups of Jews as far as religious beliefs go. But I would have at least thought they were all following kosher laws (meaning they still would follow dietary laws and keep their bodies clean from toxins). Also he has battled with cancer before. What group of rabbis is he apart of that allows him to do this? I only took him for one semester because he was infringing on other people's beliefs. I found him very disrespectful at times.

Answer 1

Why does this bother you so much...?

I'm passionately ANTI smoking, believe me! But at the end of the day, I can only choose for myself not to smoke. I don't get to make that decision for any other person, much as I would like to!

In Judaism, we are not expected to be perfect. No human is. Indeed, only G-d can ever achieve 'perfection'.

Do I think smoking is wrong? YES.

Do I think the Rabbi is mad for smoking? YES!

But does that make him a 'bad' Rabbi? No.

You mention that he infringed on the rights of other people; do you mean because he actually smoked during a lecture?  If he did, then I agree, that is WRONG.

Answer 2

Deary me. Is your Rabbi a human being? 'Cause it certainly sounds like it.  

Answer 3

I don't know of any prohibition against smoking. My rabbi growing up was Orthodox (Even though the shul was Conservative), and he smoked cigars.  

Answer 4

Young miss, define what a Rabbi is. It always amazes me how puritanical the young are. Not very long ago smoking was a very acceptable vice for people.

Answer 5

A RABBI THAT IS WEAK.WOULD SMOKE CIGARETTES AND BREAK THE LAWS .

MY MY WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF SAMPSON?

He was brought up to be so Kosher and Yet DRANK AND  WAS WAS A REBEL ROUSER

NAZARITES.. ( KEPT FOOD RULES)

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/Dailylife/s...

The Spirit is WIlling but the Body is weak in BIBLE

Matthew 26:41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into

The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak." New American Standard Bible (©1995) ... The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak. Darby Bible Translation ...

bible.cc/matthew/26-41.htm

Answer 6

Krusty the Klown! Oh! Wait ...he isn't a Rabbi!

Answer 7

I am not jewish and i smoke it is very addictive.Yes those pesky atheists

are annoying.my question got deleted again rofl

Answer 8

Rather then take the time to write a detailed answer to everything you wrote, I shall try and be succinct.

Likely he isn't a true Rabbi.  He may be one of those false mail-order, or got has ordination online, or is just calling himself a Rabbi without any ordination - but not a true Rabbi in any of the usual correct senses of the term.

So 'What king of Rabbi?' - likely a false one, of course that's a general and nearly baseless answer considering I've never met this person and know nothing about him beyond what you've told me.

Oh, and yes, smoking is in clear violation of Jewish law  - at least it became clear once we found out the danger it has for people.  Judaism prohibits such things which puts one's life at risk, and smoking certainly fits the bill.

Answer 9

Is he a Rabbi?  Being a professor doesn't make one a Rabbi.

There is no specific prohibition against smoking in Torah.

The guy doesn't sound like a great person.  But all sorts of people exist.  Ignore him if you like, but he's not a part of a "groups of Rabbis".  There is no such thing.  Ask him about his smoking if you're curious.

===========

Based on your additions, he's not a Rabbi.  You are judging a single human being.  Stop it.  And you're generalizing to a whole group of people; guess what -- that's roaming into the world of bigotry.   But, this guy's being Jewish isn't what's bugging you; you don't like him.  Sounds justified, but get over it.  And stop attacking religious Jews for ONE person's behavior for goodness sake.

I just caught you're small sentence that he's a Rabbi.  Is that what HE told you to CALL him?  Really your prejudice is showing.  There's plenty of people I find odd or off putting based on their beliefs.  I don't develop that hate at them that you are trying to so hard to justify.  What religion are you?  Let's pick on that for a while :).

Answer 10

What kind of Rabbi?  Addicted, I suspect.  There are no prohibitions against smoking in the Torah or the Talmud.  It's a shame he is addicted, but I understand that smoking is a difficult habit to break, even if one is so inclined.

Edit:  I think you are being too hard on your professor (and Ambivalent makes a good point; a professor is not necc. a Rabbi unless they've gone through smicha - ordination).  I DO get your point, but you are putting Rabbis in the same category as perfectionists; there are none.  I would have issues if he smoked where there were non-smokers, but you ask about smoking and kashrut - there are no laws against smoking as many of us have stated.  If his smoking bothers you (and it would bother me, quite frankly), then his smoking bothers you.  Don't draw analogies between his smoking habit (and stupidity, since he's a cancer suvivor as well!) and his beliefs.

B'shalom

Answer 11

what kind?

a cool one!

Answer 12

R' Moshe Feinstein contends that smoking can be compared to many other unhealthy practices (such as a high cholesterol diet) that are inadvisable, but not strictly forbidden)

Answer 13

A human one.

Answer 14

Remind me not to have that third glass of wine around you...

Answer 15

A rabbi who smokes? Is this a trick question...?

Answer 16

kosher laws have nothing to do with toxins or anything else. we dont know why we were told to observe them and any such conjecture is pure speculation.

there are tons of rabbis and orthodox/ultra-orthodox jews  that smoke and there's no prohibition aginst it anywhere in the torah.  

Answer 17

There is no commandment against smoking.

Answer 18

I think it's very hard for someone young today to realise that it really isn't so long ago that smoking was regarded as a perfectly ordinary thing to do.  No-one would have seen it as in any way a failure to keep the body free of toxins.  People just didn't see it like that.  Now, it seems so obvious, as is the connection between tobacco smoking and cancer, but it really wasn't understood fully, or totally accepted, until the last 20 years.  If the professor/rabbi is old enough to have started smoking more than 20 years ago, he could well have become seriously addicted - and nicotine is actually a more difficult drug habit to break than heroin.  

I am Jewish, but I take very great exception to your comments about atheists not having standards.  It's a completely unfounded slur and one that does you no credit.  I am sorry, but I think you are demonstrating an intolerance both to the professor and to the atheists on here.

As for suggesting that G-d might be a woman - my understanding of the Jewish conception of G-d, by ALL branches of Judaism, is that to assign a gender is to misunderstand G-d.  Our language has traditionally used 'he' for anything that is meant to be encompassing of male and female, but given today's understandings of the way in which language is gendered, very many people choose to use neutral ways of referring to G-d that avoid gender or else use he and she alternately.  

Now, you may well think he's a fool to go on smoking when he has had cancer, and I would have some support for that position.  But I do also know that nicotine can be so strongly addictive that it is very hard to stop.  And it may be that he knows he has terminal cancer (he may not want to share this with everyone) and so feels he has nothing to lose by continuing to smoke.  You may disagree, but I don't think you can judge him from a specifically Jewish viewpoint.

EDIT:  Pornography is a completely different matter.  It breaks commandments in a direct way.  I'm sorry, but you seem to have got caught up in a very judgemental and intolerant way of seeing the world.  If he were to smoke in a room where there were other people, that's probably against the rules of the institution.  But smoking, per se, is just a bad habit.  Do you judge everyone who ever has one drink too many, ever eats junk food, etc?  And I repeat, you are failing to understand that smoking wasn't seen in this puritanical, can't-ever-be-tolerated sort of way 20 years ago.  In fact, many if not most people saw it as 'cool'.