Incredible! I see people move aside their protective masks so that they can smoke a cigarette. Smoking is FAAAAR more dangerous than Corona. Read on....
Rabbi Yehoshua Alt - "Fascinating Insights" פרשת וארא
Many gedolim—including R’ Chaim Kanievsky, R’ Elyashiv, R’ Moshe Sternbuch, R’ Aharon Kotler, R’ Yaakov Kamenetzky, the Be’er Moshe, the Tzitz Eliezer—have already expressed their opinion that it is forbidden to smoke cigarettes. Some gedolim even referred to smoking as suicidal. Some claim that smoking cigarettes is ochel nefesh making it permissible to smoke on Yom Tov. R’ Ovadia Yosef commented it’s not ochel nefesh rather it is ochel es nefesh since it can kill a person. When R’ Chaim Kanievsky was asked if smoking is prohibited on Yom Tov, he responded, “It is biblically prohibited on Yom Tov as well as on any other day of the year for a Jew to smoke.” The Chafetz Chaim (1839-1933) writes, isn’t it said that one is not permitted to harm himself because of v’nishmartem l’nafshoseichem. Additionally, the world belongs to Hashem… and He gave everyone strength according to his needs. So how can one do to himself as he pleases…? And if because of his smoking his strength is weakened, he will assuredly pay the ultimate price at the time of judgment since he did this of his own free will and not because he was compelled. The Chafetz Chaim also writes there that smoking costs money. How much does one spend on cigarettes yearly? So in the end, smoking causes a loss in health, money, and mitzvos (This is besides the waste of time it causes. If one smokes a half-hour daily, this comes out to be close to 200 hours annually. Imagine how many mitzvos one can do with this time!). When one contemplates the damage it causes, it can strengthen him not to accustom himself in this. If he is already accustomed in this, then he should minimize smoking a little each day until he eventually stops completely.
When R’ Avigdor Miller (1908-2001) was asked whether smoking was forbidden by the Torah, he cited the Alter of Slobodka who, responding to a query to name the primary mitzva of the Torah, replied that the principle mitzva is, “Don’t be a fool.” R’ Miller explained: “The first command is to use your head. God gave us brains—we should use them… Anyone who picks up a pack of cigarettes and reads (the notice on the package) of the danger of smoking and disregards it, is a shoteh gamur, an absolute fool. R’ Asher Wiess said that in his eyes smoking cigarettes is like eating nevailos u’teraifos. R’ Menashe Klein (1924-2011) concludes a teshuva that there is no reason to make a decree to forbid smoking since kvar mushba v’omaid mai’har sinai we stand under oath from the time of the revelation at Har Sinai to fulfill all the mitzvos, as the Torah already tells us v’nishmartem meod l’nafshoseichem, adding that he would never give a cigarette or even “a light” to anyone, not to transgress lifnei ivair lo sitein michshol. In Shu”t Asei Lecha Rav, R’ Chaim Dovid HaLevi (1924-1998) prohibits purchasing cigarettes for others, even parents! R’ Gershon Edelstein, current Rosh Yeshiva of Ponovitch, remarked that a Rebbi or Maggid Shiur who smokes cannot set a proper example for his students and shouldn’t be teaching.
It is related that one famous dayan, who permitted smoking year-round (including Yom Tov), at the end of his life, when he was dying of lung cancer and the doctor said he has about a month to live, gathered ten men together to publicize in his name that smoking is truly unequivocally forbidden. R’ Shach (1899-2001) who was a heavy smoker stopped smoking immediately when informed by a physician that the practice was dangerous. Similarly, it is also said R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky (1891-1986) as well as R’ Leib Bakst (1915-2003) quit “cold turkey” after doctors personally explained to them the health risks of smoking.
The Steipler was a heavy smoker until the news came out that it was unhealthy and dangerous whereby he quit smoking. To help him quit, he accepted upon himself, similar to a vow, to first learn two blatt of Mesachta Nedarim whenever he had an urge to smoke. He would say, “people think I’m a masmid but they don’t realize I want to smoke.” R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910-1995) also stopped smoking when he learned that tobacco causes the infamous sickness. R’ Shlomo Zalman called on smokers to stop and for those who continued not to do so in public where others could inhale the smoke. R’ Shlomo Zalman’s proclamation was signed by R’ Elyashiv, R’ Aharon Leib Shteinman, R’ Nissim Karelitz and others. According to a recent study, smoking kills two-thirds of smokers. Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States alone—including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about 1,300 deaths every day. Research has shown that each cigarette makes the smoker die 11 minutes earlier. Smokers lose an average of 13-14.5 years of life. People who consistently smoked an average of less than one cigarette per day over their lifetime had a 64% higher risk of earlier death than never-smokers. Those who smoked between one and ten cigarettes a day had an 87% higher risk of earlier death than never-smokers. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tobacco caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century.
