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Judaism: Matters of Life and Death

Jewish attitudes to euthanasia

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide, the goses, removing what prolongs dying, Judges 9:51–57, Reform and Orthodox differences, pain relief for the dying, hospice care, and Humanist arguments.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

How does voluntary euthanasia differ from assisted suicide?

Key term

What is the difference between active and passive euthanasia?

Key term

Why do Orthodox Jews forbid active euthanasia?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is the difference between active and passive euthanasia?

    Model answer

    Active euthanasia is deliberately ending a life, for example by a lethal injection. Passive euthanasia is withdrawing or withholding treatment so that a person dies naturally.

  2. 2

    How does voluntary euthanasia differ from assisted suicide?

    Model answer

    Voluntary euthanasia is ending a life at the person's own request. Assisted suicide is helping someone to end their own life. The Suicide Act 1961 made assisting suicide a crime in England and Wales.

  3. 3

    Why do Orthodox Jews forbid active euthanasia?

    Model answer

    Orthodox Jews see active euthanasia as murder, because only God may end a life. Even a few moments of life are precious.

  4. 4

    What is a goses in Jewish law?

    Model answer

    A goses is a person in the last days of dying. Jewish law forbids hastening a goses's death, comparing the dying person to a flickering flame.

  5. 5

    When may Jewish law allow the removal of something that prolongs dying?

    Model answer

    Jewish law allows removing something that only holds back an inevitable death. A classic example is stopping a noise, like a woodchopper's, that keeps a dying person from passing.

  6. 6

    What happens in Judges 9:51–57?

    Model answer

    Abimelech is fatally wounded when a woman drops a millstone on his head at Thebez. Abimelech asks his armour-bearer to kill him, and the young man runs him through.

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