From: faigin@aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Pierced Ears
Date: 16 Nov 92 07:59:00
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: soldan.aero.org
In-reply-to: tichauer@valpso.hanse.de's message of Thu, 12 Nov 92 17:03:47 +0100

On Thu, 12 Nov 92 17:03:47 +0100, tichauer@valpso.hanse.de (Manfredo Tichauer) said:

>   If so: Is plastic surgery for aesthetics reasons forbidden for a Jew ? 

(from American Reform Responsa, pg 544)

			    172. COSMETIC SURGERY
			(Vol. LXXVI, 1976, pp. 94-96)

	 QUESTION: A young,  unmarried Orthodox girl  wants a plastic
	 surgery on her nose  and her face  lifted. She realizes that
	 according to Halacha she must not inflict unnecessary injury
	 to  herself. Should she have  a facial  plastic surgery (Dr.
         Abraham Bernstein, San Francisco, CA)

ANSWER: In traditional law there is ground for debate whether any operation
which cuts the human body can be freely consented to. Of course, if it is a
question of saving an endangered person's life, then no prohibition among the
commandments is allowed to stand in the way of the necessary operation. All
commandments are waived in cases of Pikuach Nefesh (danger to life). But
suppose the operation is not one for saving a person from real danger, but is
for a relatively minor purpose, such as improving the shape of the nose. Are
such operations permitted by Jewish Law?

In order to answer that question, we must first look into the question of a
person's giving consent to an operation. The law is fairly clear that just as
a person may not wound another (Chovel, "wounds or injures"), so he may not
wound himself (or arrange for someone else to wound him; in this case, the
surgeon). This law is stated clearly by Maimonides in his Code in Hilchot
Chovel V.1. However, where the law is stated in the Shulchan Aruch, Choshen
Mishpat 420.31, it is not states as positively as in Maimonides. The Shulchan
Aruch says, "He who injures himself is free [from punishment], although it is
not permitted to do so." The reason for this ambiguous statement of the law in
the Shulchan Aruch (which seems to say you may and you may not injure
yourself) is that Rabbi Akiva, who is the chief authority for this law
himself, seems to have two diverse opinions. In the Mishna Bava Kama 8.6, he
states the law just as the Shulchan Aruch quotes it, namely, "You should not
injure yourself, but if you do so, you are free from punishment." But in a
baraita quoted in the Talmud (in Bava Kama 91a, at the bottom), Akiva says
flatly that a man is free to injure himself. Clearly this vagueness in the law
of self-injury leaves room for discussion of the question asked here and of
many analogous questions.

An interesting recent discussion was given by Moshe Feinstein, the prime
contemporary Orthodox authority (in his Igerot Mosheh, Choshen Mishpat #103).
The specific question with which he was dealing was the following: May a man
give his blood to the blood bank for pay? On the face of it this should be
prohibited because the man is arranging for his self-injury. After a minute
analysis of the two semi-contradictory statements of Rabbi Akiva, Moses
Feinstein comes to the conclusion that it is permitted--first, because they
used to do bloodletting in Talmudic times; secondly, the injury is slight and
painless; and thirdly, the man may, of course, need the money.

On the basis of the law, the line of our inquiry must be as follows. First:
How dangerous is the cosmetic surgery as a procedure? What risks does the
patient incur? Secondly, How important a benefit is the beautification of the
woman? Is it important enough to justify whatever danger there is in the
surgery?

It may be assumed that cosmetic surgery deals mostly with the outer parts of
the body and does not generally involved disturbing the vital organs. As for
the benefit derived by whatever risk this surgery entails, this question has a
remarkable place in Jewish traditional literature. The Bible and the Talmud
pay a surprising amount of attention to cosmetic matters. First of all, the
various spices and lotions used in women's beautification are mentioned many
times in Scripture. In Song of Songs 3:6 and 4:10 and in Esther 2:12, various
spices are mentioned. Also, in the Talmud (Bava Kama 82a) we are told that
when Ezra brought the people back from Babylonian captivity, among his special
ordinances was one permitting peddlers of cosmetics to travel freely
throughout the country so that these ointments, etc. would be readily
available.

The law permits a woman to go through extensive beauty treatment on the
half-holidays (see Orach Chayim 346.5). The husband must provide means for his
wife's beauty material (see B. Ketubot 64b). One of the most touching
narratives in the Mishna (Nedarim 9.10) concerns Rabbi Ishmael. A man had made
a vow that he would not marry a certain woman on the ground that she was
homely. Rabbi Ishmael then took the girl into his house and beautified her.
Then he presented her to the young man who had made the vow and said to the
young man, "Is this the girl you vowed you would not marry because you said
she was homely?" The young man looked at this beautiful girl and said, "No, I
would gladly marry her." Then follows the saying "The daughters of Israel are
beautiful. It is their poverty which makes them homely." Then we are told that
when Rabbi Ishmael died, all the daughters of Israel sang a dirge for him.

It is clear from Jewish tradition that the right of a woman to beautify
herself is one that is honored in Scripture and in Talmud. It is not at all to
be considered a trivial matter. It is clearly the spirit of the tradition that
a woman has the right to strive for beauty.

Since, therefore, the cosmetic purpose is an honored one and an important one,
and since the operation is not likely to be a dangerous one, then the
ambiguous law of Chovel against self-injury does not apply here, and this
woman is not prohibited by Jewish law to undergo cosmetic surgery.

Solomon B. Freehof.
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