Smoking is a worldwide problem. Research in recent years has shown us that smoking and second hand smoking can cause many diseases1. As a result of the understanding of the results of smoking, the house of legislator ...Smoking is a worldwide problem. Research in recent years has shown us that smoking and second hand smoking can cause many diseases1. As a result of the understanding of the results of smoking, the house of legislator in Israel decided to legislate a law that people under the age of 18 cannot smoke and, a couple of years later, it decided to ban smoking in public places. The problem begins when the law is affecting the person＇s autonomy and the person＇s culture. More than four decades ago when the smoking habit began in Israel, no one knew what the influence would be. Now, although that information is available, the orthodox community in Israel is not exposed to the knowledge. Smoking in this community begins from Purima or from the Bar-Mitzvah3 and from the will of the young orthodox to rebel. This law raises a question： Is it ethical to deprive the young orthodox of the right to smoke？ Alternatively, is there a better way to stop the orthodox from smoking than only the regulation？ In this paper, the author will try to show that regulation alone will not help in the orthodox community, and we need to think on more options to make the orthodox more informed to smoking problems. The author thinks that the best way will be to educate the orthodox community from young age.展开更多
文摘Smoking is a worldwide problem. Research in recent years has shown us that smoking and second hand smoking can cause many diseases1. As a result of the understanding of the results of smoking, the house of legislator in Israel decided to legislate a law that people under the age of 18 cannot smoke and, a couple of years later, it decided to ban smoking in public places. The problem begins when the law is affecting the person＇s autonomy and the person＇s culture. More than four decades ago when the smoking habit began in Israel, no one knew what the influence would be. Now, although that information is available, the orthodox community in Israel is not exposed to the knowledge. Smoking in this community begins from Purima or from the Bar-Mitzvah3 and from the will of the young orthodox to rebel. This law raises a question： Is it ethical to deprive the young orthodox of the right to smoke？ Alternatively, is there a better way to stop the orthodox from smoking than only the regulation？ In this paper, the author will try to show that regulation alone will not help in the orthodox community, and we need to think on more options to make the orthodox more informed to smoking problems. The author thinks that the best way will be to educate the orthodox community from young age.
