Is It Permitted to Smoke Cigarettes?

Greetings.

In the responsa Yechaveh Da'at, Part 5, Siman 30, it is summarized that fundamentally it is good and pleasant to avoid smoking cigarettes altogether throughout the year, after it has been publicly reported that according to the opinions of the greatest medical and scientific authorities of our time, smoking is very harmful and dangerous, and can lead to terrible diseases and jeopardize a person's health. One who guards their soul should distance themselves from it. The Torah has already warned, "And you shall guard yourselves very well for your lives." The Mishnah Berurah, in his book Likuttei Amarim (Chapter 13), wrote that one who becomes accustomed to smoking cigarettes transgresses the commandment "And you shall guard yourselves very well for your lives" and will have to give account, because doctors have stated that smoking weakens a person's powers and sometimes affects their soul as well, etc. It follows that especially in our time, it has been clarified by doctors that there is danger in smoking cigarettes. Therefore, it was ruled in the responsa Shevet HaLevi, Part 3 (page 134b), to prohibit smoking entirely. It should be emphasized that there is certainly a need for caution regarding this matter. We must also warn adults about minors, especially supervisors in yeshivas, guardians of the sanctity, they must keep a watchful eye on the students of the yeshivas to ensure they do not become accustomed to this, just as Maimonides wrote (in the beginning of Chapter 4 of the Laws of Healthy Living): since the health of the body is a path of the service of Hashem, for it is impossible to understand or know anything in the knowledge of the Creator when one is sick, thus a person should distance themselves from things that destroy and harm the body and conduct themselves with things that are healing and beneficial. End quote. Furthermore, in the responsa Igrot Moshe, Volume 5 (Yoreh De'ah, Siman 49), it is written that even though it is difficult to say that it is forbidden to smoke cigarettes because many do so, and it is said that Hashem protects fools (Shabbat 129a), nonetheless, since there is a concern for serious illnesses among smokers, it is certainly appropriate to be cautious about this. End quote. Please take note.

Blessings,

Binyamin Shmueli