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7 Nissan 5763 - April 9, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Poskim Rule that One Should not Smoke on Yom Tov
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

" . . . [Regarding the question of smoking on Yom Tov] I heard from Maran Posek Hador HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv that although in previous generations we saw the custom was to follow a lenient practice and to allow smoking, relying on the lenient opinions even on Yom Tov Rishon, nevertheless now that there is universal agreement and it has become widely known that smoking harms one's health and there are educational campaigns to prevent children from smoking starting at the age of chinuch and smokers remain in the minority, smoking should be prohibited midinoh on Yom Tov."

-- HaRav Moshe Mordechai Karp (Mevakshei Torah, Hilchos Yom Tov)

"Rabbenu Nissim Karelitz shlita, av beis din of Ramat Aharon, has issued directives in this matter saying that now that physicians hold unequivocally that cigarette smoking poses a health hazard, the main reason for permitting smoking on Yom Tov has fallen by the wayside."

-- HaRav Yehuda Aryeh Dunner (Booklet entitled Mekadesh Yisroel Vehazmanim)

" . . . And today, since physicians hold that this causes damage to health and therefore many people are very careful to abstain from smoking, there is good reason to heed the stringent opinions on this matter. Signed in the name of Maran HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner, shlita."

-- HaRav Moshe Shaul Klein (Mekadesh Yisroel Vehazmanim, second edition)

"Maran HaRav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt'l is of the opinion that smoking is not a food and therefore it must be suitable for all [shoveh lekol nefesh]. Since physicians hold it is harmful and most people are very careful [to abstain] from smoking, it is not considered suitable for all. And thus his opinion is to prohibit smoking on Yom Tov today since it is not suitable for all, since physicians hold it is harmful and indeed most people heed them and consider it a harmful practice and thus it is not suitable for all."

-- HaRav Moshe Mordechai Karp (Mekadesh Yisroel Vehazmanim)

"Now that smoking is [known to be] a health hazard and most people find it repulsive, it is an unequivocal issur to smoke on Yom Tov."

-- HaRav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg (In a letter)

"In my opinion many of the leading Acharonim who permitted smoking on Yom Tov did not intend to include today's smoking, which physicians hold to be hazardous. People rely on physicians in all matters involving prohibitions, so in this case -- just in order to pursue [personal] desires -- why should we not rely on them and thereby enter into a chashash issur deOraisa?

-- HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, Segan Nossi of the Eida HaChareidis (Teshuvos Vehanhogos, II, 316)

"Nowadays, when the reason most people do not smoke is because it causes harm, it is not suitable for all [shoveh lekol nefesh] and is prohibited mideOraisa on Yom Tov."

-- HaRav Binyomin Yehoshua Zilber, author of Oz Nidberu (Mekadesh Yisroel Vehazmanim)

 

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