DEUT88 (Continued from [[DEUT1633]] Deuteronomy 30:19 life BLOCH 241-2) Every effort must therefore be made to preserve and prolong it. The rabbis cited several biblical injunctions as the source of the obligation to safeguard one's health. The commands "Only take heed to thyself, and watch thy soul carefully" [this verse] and "You should be very careful of your souls" (Deuteronomy 4:15) were regarded as warnings against endangering one's life (Berachot 32b). Another source is [Genesis 2:7]: "And man became a living soul." "The Bible thereby implies, 'keep alive the soul which I gave you'" (Taanit 22b). Maimonides (12th-cent.) addressed a warning to those who allege that their state of health should be of no concern to other people. "There are many things which the rabbis have prohibited because they endanger of human life. He who says: 'I am only endangering myself, and no others have a right to interfere,' the rabbis may administer to them disciplinary flogging" (Hilchot Rotzeach 11:5). Man has a right to put himself to shame, if he is indifferent to public opinion, but no one may lawfully injure himself (Baba Kama 91b).

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DEUT92 See [[DEUT293]] Deuteronomy 6:16 try DUTIES 401-5

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DEUT93 See [[NUM180]] Numbers 15:39 follow SINAI3 275

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DEUT94 See [[LEV880]] Leviticus 21:17 defect AMEMEI 304-5

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DEUT95 The prophet has already warned us that we should be careful not to think that God has any form or likeness, saying: “Watch yourselves most carefully, since you saw no image” (Devarim 4:15); “But you saw no image--there was only a voice” (ibid. 4:12). “Watch yourselves... carefully” means: be careful -- in your thinking and imagination -- not to represent the Creator by any shape, nor to conceive of Him in any image or likeness, for your eyes beheld neither image nor form when He spoke to you, as it says: “To whom, then, will you liken the Almighty? What likeness will you compared to Him?” (Yeshayahu 40:18); “‘To whom then, will you liken Me, that I should compare to?’ says the Holy One” (ibid. 40:25); “For who in the skies can be compared to God? Who is like God among the heavenly beings?” (Tehillim 87:7); “There is none like you among the Gods, Hashem, nor are there works like Yours” (ibid. 86:8); and there are many similar passages.

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DEUT96 The Decalogue As Evidence Of The Centrality of Morality. It cannot be the case that the significance of the Decalogue lies simply in its being the revelation or even the very first revelation of God's will. The theophany at Sinai, which resulted in the Decalogue, is immediately followed by a series of detailed laws and commandments that seem to constitute the main legislation of the Torah (Exodus 21). For what reason, then, were these Ten Commandments (if there be ten; commentators differ as to the number of actual mitzvot contained in the Decalogue) or ten statements given separately as a unit before the others, given publicly to the people without intermediaries, and recorded in a different manner than the others? The Bible itself provides the answer. On several occasions the Decalogue is referred to as "the words of the covenant" or "the tablets of the covenant" [this verse, Exodus 34:28. See also I Kings 8:9 and 8:21]. That is to say, the Decalogue represented the conceptual expression of the covenanted-relationship that was now being entered into between God and a group of people who are now committing themselves to become a covenanted community called Israel. Once Israel has come into existence, the legislation follows through the mediation of the prophet. But the act that establishes the covenant is the giving by God and the accepting by Israel of the two tangible and permanent tablets of stone inscribed with the words which promulgate the unified common life which must now characterize Israel (M. Buber, Moses (Oxford: East & West Library), p. 130. "It is both legislation and promulgation.") It is in this sense that the Ten Commandments are "the words of the covenant," and the tablets, "the tablets of the covenant," and the ark where they were stored, "the ark of the covenant," a sense which does not apply to the other Commandments. Thus considered, recitation of the Decalogue can be seen as a "speech act" which reenacts the covenant at Sinai and constitutes a reaffirmation of its terms and conditions by the individual. This explains why the Decalogue was often associated with the Shema and with the tefilin as a Jewish affirmation of faith (Talmud, Berakhot 12a. It was discontinued out of fear that the Decalogue might tend to replace the other commandments).

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DEUT97 [In fifteenth-century philosopher Isaac Arama's work Akedat Yizhak, he proves] from Biblical narratives such as the Patriarchs' efforts to save themselves when in danger, and legislation such as the duty to construct parapets around roofs (Deuteronomy 22:8) for the prevention of accidents, that man must not rely on miracles or Providence alone, but must himself do whatever he can to maintain his life and health. Rabbi Hayyim Azulai, an 18th century commentator on Caro's code, writing under the pen name of Birkei Yosef, summarized Jewish thought and practice relating to our questions [on seeking medical attention]. His views are cited by Rabbi Jakobovits as follows: "Nowadays one must not rely on miracles, and a sick man is in duty bound to conduct himself in accordance with the natural order by calling on a physician to heal him. In fact, to depart from the general practice by claiming greater merit than the many saints (in previous) generations, who were cured by physicians, is almost sinful on account of both the implied arrogance and reliance on miracles when there is danger to life… hence, one should adopt the ways of all men and be healed by physicians…" One might arrive at the same conclusion if one were to literally interpret the Pentateuchal admonition "Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves" [this verse].

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DEUT98 See [[LEV214]] Leviticus 18:5 live ROSNER-BLEICH 379

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DEUT101 See [[DEUT89]] Deuteronomy 4:9 watch AMEMEI 57

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DEUT102 See [[DEUT90]] Deuteronomy 4:9 watch AMEMEI 62

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