Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Nedarim 40: לֹא נִכְנְסוּ חֲכָמִים לְבַקְּרוֹ

jyungar December 4, 2022

For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 40

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Continuing on the previous daf’s topic of visiting the sick we learn that although  one is forbidden to actively hasten the death of a dying person, 

it is nevertheless permissible to pray that he should die and be released from his suffering. The RAN takes this even further.

Thus writes Rabbenu Nissim:

"it is sometimes necessary to pray that a sick person should die, for example, where the sick person suffers greatly from his disease, and it is impossible that he will live,

( as we say in chapter Ha-Nose (Ketubot 104a) that when Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi's maidservant saw that he was going many times to the bathroom, donning tefilin, and experiencing distress, she said: May it be His will that the heavenly forces compel the mundane, that is to say, that Rabbi Yehuda Ha-Nasi should die. Ran, Nedarim 40a, s.v. ein)

We explore the notion of Goses and terminal life support and what are the limits of aggressive medical care vs supportive nutritional and palliative strategies.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​