March, 2023
One of the incidental advantages of receiving shailos is that provides a unique perch from which new trends can be tracked. Even simply learning shailos v’teshuvos grants one a window to history, where one will discover even the most trivial cultural changes, such as which ingredients were used for cholent/hamin in different eras!
On this note, and leaving aside one’s personal views, it is no secret that vaping nicotine has become very popular in the last decade. It goes without saying that only when such products are used to quit a more dangers dependency – such as smoking – can it be deemed in a positive light.
The upsurge of this habit among the frum is much larger than most are aware, as I see from the sheer number of shailos I receive on this one subject. It started slowly several years ago. My vaad would produce one of the ingredients that goes into these products, so I was quickly made aware of their growing popularity, receiving calls from literally all over the world.
Once they had my number, I would then receive calls about other aspects of these products. Years earlier, I had done research on nicotine gum as well, speaking to Rav Dovid Feinstein and others about various concerns. Slowly, I was becoming the ‘Nicotinner’ rebbe!
Do vape flavors need a hashgacha? Is this considered eating? These are not even to mention a myriad of issues relating to Pesach.
Years ago, I wrote a feature in Ami on titled ‘Smoking in Halacha’, and shared the following:
“The Pri Chodash warns not to light a cigarette from a candle made from cheilev (forbidden fats)… It would seem from this (see shu”t Yechaveh Daas 2:17 at length) that according to him smoking may fall under the rubric of halachic eating/drinking!
“However, the Shaar HaMelech (hilchos meacholos assuros, ch. 13) discusses cigarettes flavored with non-kosher wine and is more lenient (still recommending being strict). Rav Ovodia Yosef (ibid.) deduces that he argues on the the Pri Chodash, positing that while a bodily pleasure, it does not fall under the banner of eating. For this reason, shu”t Mateh Yehudah (#210) explains why there isn’t a birchas hanehenin (blessings before one has pleasure/food) before this act. A similar line of reasoning is given why there is no beracha achrona on it (Cf. Magen Avraham and Chazon Ish, oh’c 25 relating to birchas harayach; see also Chayay Adam 127:3).”
Many achronim discuss chametz flavoring and other problematic additives in inhaled products and if forbidden to ‘ingest’ on Pesach (see, e.g. Mishneh Berrura 467:33 with Dirshu ed. sources #38, and siman 442:21).
Keeping the above severities in mind, and the reader’s subjective distaste for such habits, I received a fascinating phone call a few weeks before yom tov. This person explained that he had boruch Hashem quit smoking cigarettes well-over ten years ago. He accomplished this, he explained, through vaping. He then shared that he wished to now quit this habit too. Before allowing him to get to his shailah, I interrupted and asked, “But why quit during this stressful time? Maybe wait till after yom tov.”
His response was telling. “There are two reasons why I wish to stop now. For one, if I can quit during this strenuous period then kal v’chomer I would stay away even after”.
Smart, I guess.
“But there is a second reason, and, in fact, this is the main reason I wish to stop dafka now. You see, every Shabbos, by the time we get to shalosh seudas, I am anxious for Shabbos to end so I can return to my habit. Worse, I am now dreading the upcoming three-day yom tov without my vape. How can a yid anticipate Shabbos’ ending? How can a yid despair an impending three days of kedushah?!”
He then shared his shailah: “Many studies have shown how difficult it is to quit this product. Unlike cigarettes, this can be always be done, and almost anywhere. There is no lasting smell, no need to get up, put on a jacket and go outside, etc.
“I’ve done my research, and my friends who have successfully quit used a hypnotist. Is there any shailah with using such a method?”
As stated, a fascinating shailah! In fact, when Rav Moshe Feinstein was first asked about this (in 1964), he first spoke with Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin (d.1973) -arguably the posek hador, certainly in America, before Rav Moshe – before issuing his psak.
The skeptical reader should be aware that we are not talking about party tricks, i.e. the ‘hypnotist’ hired for camps and the like. While he will use some real methods, such acts’ perceived effectiveness is often due to a mixture of social pressure, suggestion, and manipulation. However, medical hypnosis is a scientific method (although, admittedly, a still hotly debated one). Charles Krauthammer, the famed political pundit, was also a doctor. He shared that as a medical resident in Boston he saw hypnosis work on patients who could not have general anesthesia! (See, Hypnosis and Clinical Pain, Psychological Bulletin, Vol 129(4), July 2003, inter alia).
Before sharing what Rav Moshe writes, we should point out that there are a host of halachic issues that this subject may touch upon. Rav Moshe only focuses on the few central ones. The interested reader is urged to see shu”t Ham’aor (ed. Rav Meir Amsel, d.2007). There one will find a lengthy teshuvah by Rav Yehoshua Baruch Landau (d. 1989; he was a rav in Europe and then Newark, N.J.), where he examines all matters of psychotherapy from a halachic perspective. From the title one sees its breadth (translation): “A Halachic Discussion, In Specificity, Regarding Cholei HaRuach (mental health) and the New Methods of Healing; (as well as) Relating to Geirushin (divorce) and Other Matters” (ibid. 377-385). For the English reader, see R’ Moshe Halevi Spero’s ‘Handbook of Psychotherapy & Jewish Ethics’ (Feldheim, 1986), in the chapter titled ‘Toward a Halachic Perspective on Radical Forms of Psychological Manipulation and Behavioral Control’ (p.90-116).
For our purposes, we will on quote from Rav Moshe Feinstein (shu”t Igros Moshe, yoreh deah, 3:44).
“After speaking to people who have some knowledge (of this practice), and Rav Henkin, we do not see any forbidden matter here. Since this is a natural ability, it does not fall under the prohibition of kishuf (magic), and can help those depressed and the like…”
Rav Moshe does however warn one to only go to a trustworthy hypnotist, preferably a frum person. This is because he feared what type of suggestion would be placed in the patient. Rav Moshe proves from a Yerushalmi (see Tosphos to Bava Kama 4a s.v. kivan) that although one is not responsible for action beyond his control, this is only true if he didn’t put himself initially into such a scenario (e.g. if one goes to sleep surrounded by fragile glass then he may be responsible for the damage caused by his thrashing during his sleep).
He then writes something very interesting. He states that giving ones conscience over to another is a zilzul to one self. It reminded me of Rav Yaakov Kamanetzky once stating that he once drank on Simchas Torah as a young bachor, and the feeling of losing part of self, one’s faculties is an experience he would never repeat!
However, Rav Moshe then states that for health, one may lower themselves (see Sanhedrin 26b). This would be true even if there is no danger to life.
While I was initially going to spend the next few weeks on this one subject, and alternative treatment in general, I will end it here.
The reader is likely wondering what happened to the shoel. Well, after yom tov I called him up. His hypnotist is well-respected and came recommended from frum specialists.
“Did it work?” I asked.
He paused and the said, “Well…I was concerned that I was too anxious and too cynical. I really tried. When I got back to my car after the procedure, I saw my habitual paraphernalia and still wanted to use it. However, I then remembered how much I just spent on hypnosis and couldn’t bring myself to!”
Well, whatever works!
Shul Chronicles 
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