A sharp debate has erupted within Toronto’s Jewish community after the city’s Orthodox rabbinical council announced that its rabbis will not officiate at funerals for Jews who choose medically assisted death and will not permit their burial in cemetery sections affiliated with their synagogues.
The Orthodox Vaad Harabanim of Toronto recently adopted the policy in response to the growing use of Medical Assistance in Dying, known as MAID, in Canada, according to a report by The Canadian Jewish News. The rabbis said the measure is intended to draw a clear religious line against assisted death and discourage its increasing acceptance within the Jewish community.
The decision comes as MAID accounts for a growing percentage of deaths in Canada. According to Canadian government figures cited in the report, approximately 5,000 Ontario residents ended their lives through medically assisted death in 2023. Since the practice was legalized a decade ago, more than 75,000 Canadians have chosen MAID, which now accounts for more than 5% of all deaths in the country.
The Vaad described the practice as “euthanasia by doctors” and said its new policy was adopted amid concern that acceptance of assisted death is beginning to penetrate the Jewish community. Rabbi Yosef Oziel, a spokesman for the Vaad, said the letter announcing the policy was formulated after hours of discussion as the rabbis sought to accurately present the halachic position while maintaining sensitivity and compassion.
The Toronto Board of Rabbis, an organization representing 56 rabbis from different Jewish denominations, responded by announcing a markedly different approach. It characterized the Orthodox Vaad’s policy as “surprising” and “harsh” and said that although its members do not endorse assisted death, they will continue providing religious and pastoral support to patients and their families, including officiating at funerals and participating in shivah visits.
“We will treat them as sick people and be there for the families,” the organization said.
The Toronto Board of Rabbis argued that an inflexible policy could inflict additional pain on grieving relatives who may have played no role in the patient’s decision to pursue medically assisted death.
Opposition to the sweeping policy has also emerged from within the Orthodox community. Rabbi Reuben Poupko of Montreal stressed that while halacha regards assisted death as murder and unequivocally prohibits it, he opposes imposing a blanket policy that could punish surviving family members.
Rabbi Poupko said patients who choose medically assisted death are often acting while experiencing severe medical distress and pressure and should therefore not be stigmatized, nor should their relatives be penalized after their death. He suggested that Toronto’s Orthodox rabbis were attempting to establish a strong public deterrent against MAID, while maintaining that individual cases and their families should instead be handled on a case-by-case basis with considerable sensitivity.
{Matzav.com}
