According to the Midrash, the commandment prohibiting the murder of another human being includes the instruction not to cause one’s own death: suicide. Moreover, the prohibition of taking unnecessary risks that may result in death is included under this heading. Israel Gilat makes the excellent observation that, by committing murder, the person double-offends. On the one hand, he violates the “thou shalt not kill” and, on the other hand, because of his disobedience he will receive the death penalty; that is, for the serious fault he has committed caused the death of the victim and his own death: punishment for the crime.
We start from the premise that the body does not belong to the individual, that is, the person cannot exercise his free will with reference to his survival. It is limited. He or she has the obligation to go to a doctor when sick and should not inflict any laceration or injury as a demonstration of independence and total freedom. However, the Bible testifies to several personalities who opted for suicide when facing pressing situations. King Saul threw himself on a sword stuck in the ground, so as not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy.
The subject of suicide is pertinent because it is related to the most famous judge Shimshon, Samson, the most famous nazir (person who promises to abstain from wine and any grape derivative, not to cut his hair, and not to have contact with a corpse) of the Tanakh. And the state of Nezirut is one of the central themes of these chapters. In the final stage of his life, having lost his sight during a celebration of the Philistines, Shimshon requested to be placed between the two columns that sustained the pagan temple. With supreme effort, he displaced the columns and thus caused the death of the Philistines in the vicinity and, sadly, his own death.
Several explanations are offered. Perhaps suicide is allowed when death is inevitable. It can be argued that these episodes refer to exceptional situations of a historical moment and, therefore, should not serve as a guideline for the future. In both situations, the consequences could include the death of many because, especially in the first case, the Hebrews would have tried to rescue King Saul after he fell into the hands of his enemies. As for Shimshon, he managed to eliminate a large number of enemies of the Jewish people who might otherwise have caused many deaths.
A shameful and tragic event for humanity from the time of the Holocaust testifies to the mass suicide of a group of young Jewish women who opted for death rather than undergo the rape of their bodies and their subsequent murder at the hands of the Nazis. The decision of these young women was a demonstration of courage sustained by their unwavering faith.
It is pertinent to mention the case of the inhabitants of Masada, who opted for suicide when they were besieged by the enemy who began to climb towards the summit, announcing the inescapable end of the defense of the fortress and the death of its inhabitants. In this sense, one can cite the famous opinion of the Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomoh Goren, who considered this suicide not only permissible but perhaps obligatory, due to the probability that, when imprisoned by the enemy, the inhabitants of Masada would have been forced to violate the ordinances (commit incest, publicly deny the existence of God), and to avoid this transgression, the person must choose death. Many scholars challenged Goren’sopinion.
MITSVAH: TORAH ORDINANCE IN THIS PARASHAH
CONTAINS 7 POSITIVE MITZVOT AND 11 BANS
- Numbers 5:2 Send the ritually impure individual out of the field of Divine Presence
- Numbers 5:3 The ritually impure individual is not to enter the Temple
- Numbers 5:6 Confess sin
- Numbers 5:15 Abide by the laws of Sotah (wife suspected of committing infidelity)
- Numbers 5:15 Do not include oil in the offering of the Sotah
- Numbers 5:15 Do not include species in the offering of the Sotah
- Numbers 6:3 The Nazir should not drink wine or other strong drink derived from grapes.
- Numbers 6:3 The Nazir should not consume fresh grapes
- Numbers 6:3 The Nazir should not consume raisins
- Numbers 6:4 The Nazir must not consume the seed of the grape
- Numbers 6:4 The Nazir should not consume the bark of the grape
- Numbers 6:5 The Nazir should not shave his hair
- Numbers 6:5 Allow the Nazir’s hair to grow long
- Numbers 6:6 The Nazir must not enter the enclosure where a corpse lies
- Numbers 6:7 The Nazir must not acquire ritual impurity through a corpse or any other source of ritual impurity.
- Numbers 6:13 Shave the Nazir’s hair and bring his offering (at the end of the period of his promise as a Nazir, or if it acquires ritual impurity.
- Numbers 6:23 Recite the blessing of the Kohanim
- Numbers 7:9 The tribe of Levi must carry the Aron HaKodesh, Sacred Ark on their shoulders
