GEN688 This [this verse’s] earliest and most detailed Biblical prohibition against homicide contains one phrase which is an apparent redundancy. Since the phrase “from the hand of man” pronounces man culpable for the murder of his fellow-man, to what point is it necessary for Scripture to reiterate “from the hand of a person’s’ brother will I require the life of man?” Fratricide is certainly no less heinous a crime than ordinary homicide.  R. Jacob Zevi Mecklenburg, in his commentary on the Pentateuch, Ha-Ketav ve-ha-Kabbalah, astutely comments that while murder is the antithesis of brotherly love, in some circumstances the taking of the life of one’s fellow man may be perceived as indeed being an act of love par excellence. Euthanasia, designed to put an end to unbearable suffering, is born not of hatred or anger, but of concern and compassion. It is precisely the taking of life even under circumstances in which it is manifestly obvious that the perpetrator is motivated by feelings of love and brotherly compassion which the Torah finds necessary to brand as murder, pure and simple. Despite the noble intent which prompts such an action, mercy killing is proscribed as an unwarranted intervention in an area which must be governed only by God Himself. The life of man may be reclaimed only by the Author of life. As long as man is yet endowed with a spark of life – as defined by God’s eternal Law – man dare not presume to hasten death, no matter how hopeless or meaningless continued existence may appear to be in the eyes of a mortal perceiver. ROSNER 303