DEUT1420 Unlike some religions, Judaism does not view pain as something that is generally positive or "part of the religious experience." The Talmud describes three kinds of people whose life is not really a life, and one of them is a person who feels pain all over his or her body at all times (Beitza 32b). It is therefore legitimate in Jewish thought to actively try to eliminate one's pain. Each day in the daily silent prayer, traditional Jews ask God to remove sorrow (caused by physical pain) and groaning (caused by psychological pain) (Twelfth blessing of the Shemoneh Esreh). In addition to this petition that is recited three times each day, Jews also ask God to remove their enemies, plague, the sword (set out against them), famine, and sorrow (from pain) during the evening prayer ("Hashkiveinu" prayer after Shema in the evening service). A Jew is permitted to ask a non-Jew to desecrate some Shabbat laws in order to help ameliorate a (mildly) sick person's pain. However, there are limits as to what a Jew is permitted to do in order to eliminate his or her pain (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 328:17). If a Jew is in very great pain or will even die as a result of sickness, and the doctors declare that the only way to remove the pain and save his life is for him to commit adultery with a particular married woman to whom he is attracted, the Talmud says that he is forbidden to do so even if he will die, since it violates one of the three cardinal sins of Judaism (Sanhedrin 75a). Maimonides codifies this concept into Jewish law, but also says that violating any other Torah commandments besides this one is certainly permitted if it will save the persons life (Maimonides, Hilchot Yesodai HaTorah 5:6). It is clearly forbidden for a Jew to cause someone else pain by physically striking another him or her. Shulchan Aruch derives this law from a criminal who sinned, and whose punishment by the court is lashes (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 420:1). The Torah says that if this criminal receives even one more lash than is due him, the Jewish court's representative who strikes him violates a Torah law of causing someone unnecessary pain [this verse; Maimonides, Hilchot Sanhedrin 16:12). If this is true for a sinner who was already found guilty of a crime and receives corporal punishment, how much more is it a sin to cause anyone else unnecessary pain? The prohibition of causing any unnecessary pain is taken so seriously in Judaism that a twentieth-century authority in Jewish law ruled that doctors who are first-year residents may not give patients any injections or put any needles into the bodies of their patients. Since they are not yet expert in these procedures, they will inevitably cause these patients more pain than is necessary since the shots given by veteran hospital workers will naturally be less painful, and it is therefore forbidden in Jewish law (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 14:35). Similarly, Rabbi Dovid ben Zimra, who lived in the sixteenth-century, rules that if the Jews sees someone suffering while carrying a heavy physical load, that Jew is obligated to help the person by lightening the load and alleviating that person's pain. He who hesitates and does not help relieve that person's pain is guilty of several sins (Responsa Radvaz 728). Rabbi Judah Chasid writes that anyone who causes any unnecessary pain to another human being will be punished. And even causing unnecessary pain to an animal by putting a load on it that is too large or heavy or by striking it is forbidden, and that person is punished. If humans treat others with compassion, God will treat them with compassion (Sefer Chasidim 666).