When Life is Un-Baron-Able?

Table Talk from the desk of Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld
May 12, 2023 • 22 Iyar 5783 • Parshas BeHar (Lev 24-27) • The 37th Day of the Omer

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When Life is Un-Baron-Able?

Thank you for the tremendous response to last week's big news!

Dovetailing on that, this is a wild guess: I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that most people reading this (or listening to it read at their Shabbat table) value their health?

I''m pretty sure the previous sentence applies to everyone I know.

At least I used to be pretty sure.

This week, however, I learned that there exists a psychological condition in which the person desires to be unhealthy.

Specifically, they desire to have a handicap.

Analogous - some say - to someone with a gender identity challenge, or someone who wishes they were of a different race, Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) means that they really want to have their healthy leg amputated, or their spine severed so that they will be paraplegic, or their eyes blinded.

It sort of reminds one of Munchausen Syndrome (does anybody remember Baron Münchausen?), which involves faking a disease in order to garner sympathy.

But BIID is different - it's a sincere, earnest desire to live a handicapped lifestyle. (Maybe it's the parking benefit?)
 

This all leads to two questions for your table: 

Do people with BIID have a moral right to inflict permanent damage to their bodies?

If they do have such a right, do others (surgeons for example) have a moral duty to assist them?

Shabbat Shalom

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Where Do U Draw the Line?

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Where Do U Draw the Line?

One of the most disturbing stories of the year appeared last week then completely disappeared.

The New York Times did NOT cover it (except in a blog).

MSNBC did, as did the Huffington Post (don't read if you're squeamish) and of course the macabre-loving BBC.

Here's the headline:

Korea strengthens customs inspections to stop smuggling of 'human flesh capsules" (link)

Since last August, customs officials in South Korea say to have intercepted between 17,000 and 17,500 pills filled with some type of finely ground white powder. The powder is said to be a stamina enhancer and medical panacea in parts of Asia.

The Korea Customs Service said it had found almost 17,500 of the capsules being smuggled into the country from China since August 2011.


Let's put all cultural issues aside. You and I cringe, but maybe that's merely our cultural bias?

After all, no American dog-lover is up and arms about the consumption of dog meat in some Asian countries and by some US presidents....

So aside from our cultural aversion, is anything wrong with this fetus-pill practice?

According to the South Koreans, the pills are objectionable on the grounds that "such pills could pose serious health hazards".

I hear that. Unregulated ground-up-aborted-baby-flesh could be full of nasty "super bacteria", which was the BBC's angle on the story.

In other words, this is a public health story, which is why it only generated a few brief headlines.

Question for your table: Is there anything else objectionable here? Is the health issue the only ethical red-line? Or are all non-health-and-safety red-lines just cultural bias?

And if there is something wrong here that transcends culture, where is tha red line?


Shabbat Shalom


 

Say It Again, Sam

Last week I did something unusual - I asked an open-ended question, and promised a book for the best answer(s). Some people wrote in that the answer is to be a more giving, forgiving person etc.

I would say that self-transformation is a vision for avoiding the rut in the first place.

But it can take years to change one's disposition.

What about when a relationship is in a rut of negativity - how do you get out of the rut?

Here is the answer you've been waiting for....

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'll keep saying it until you actually go and do it:

Lock yourself in the bathroom.

Look in the mirror.

Practice uttering the two hardest phrases in the English language:

"I'm so wrong."
"I'm really sorry."

Let's try that again:

"My bad."
"Sorry!"

Practice makes perfect:

"That was dumb of me!"
"Please forgive me."

Here's something to do at your table that will get everyone laughing and out of their ego-shell at the same time: See if you can come up with 10 different ways to say I'm wrong and I'm sorry.

Everyone who sends in 10+10 answers wins... yes, a free copy of the new Art of Amazement! 1 entry per family!

(Congratulations to last week's winners, I won't name them in public but they'll be getting a book.)


Shabbat Shalom



PS - what do you think of this?

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” - Churchill