In those religions that prescribe restrictions on diet are there waivers available in times of crisis? I.e. if you have nothing else to eat and you’re starving, can you eat non-Kosher, non-Halal etc. food?
Yes, for both kosher and halal, if the choice is death or eating non-kosher/non-halal then breaking the dietary laws is permitted (some might even say required if it is necessary to preserve life)
What Broomstick said.
Similarly - topical since we’re in Ramadan - a Muslim may break his or her fast if ill, and a Muslim woman not only may eat but must do so if she is menstruating, pregnant, or breast-feeding.
Since the Kosher rules are actually stricter than the Halal ones, a Muslim may eat Kosher food if no Halal food is available - but not the other way around (at least, this is what a Muslim friend told me).
There’s no question; you are required to preserve your own life. Life overrides all dietary laws in Judaism.
It’s certainly the case re. Lent and other fast times in Catholicism. This extends also to people who have other dietary restrictions: for example, a diabetic will be asked to give up something else, as his dietary habits are actually a form of medication.
Those guys who resorted to canibalism after their plane crashed in the Andes are the most extreme current-ish case, human flesh being about if not the only “edible” thing that’s specifically forbidden at all times (I don’t have the Catechism here, ok)
What about those passages in Maccabees?
Cite, if that is necessary.
Is that different from starvation?
Regards,
Shodan
Yes, it is. Preservation of life overrides all laws except the prohibition on murder, adultery, and idolatry in all but one case: when someone is trying to stamp out Judaism by forcing Jews to break the Jewish laws. You’re allowed to become a martyr by practicing those laws in that case.
Note: the passage says they were put to death, not that they starved. That looks to me like someone trying to wipe out Judaism, in which case it’s permissible to keep the laws even though doing so will result in your death. It’s even clearer in the context of the passage that they are talking about being put to death by a ruler who wanted to wipe out Judaism, not starving to death.
Incidentally, even though you’re not allowed to commit murder if doing so would save your life, Judaism doesn’t count killing in self-defense as murder. You’re allowed to kill someone who is threatening to kill you. We also don’t read the commandment in the Ten Commandments as “you shall not kill”, unlike a lot of Christians, in Hebrew it’s “you shall not murder”. But if Person A says to you “I will kill you unless you kill Person B” (where B is an innocent third party), then you’re not allowed to kill B. You are allowed to kill A, if you can.
Indeed, the commandment to preserve your own life is in place here, too: ‘If he rise up to kill you, kill him first’ is the paraphrase I’ve heard.
It’s also true that the sick or infirm are not supposed to fast on Yom Kippur, for similar reasons.
The purpose of these rules is honor, not fanaticism.
And you’re not supposed to keep fasting to the point that you faint, either- if you really think you’re going to faint, you should break your fast. Some people do push themselves too hard (a lot of synagogues have ambulances waiting outside during Yom Kippur, just in case, though I’ve never actually seen someone faint during services), but that’s not really what you’re supposed to do.
I’ve seen it happen a few times if it’s been unseasonably hot, and the synagogue’s air conditioning system was not up to handling that degree (heh) of heat.
Thanks for your response. You are correct that it was an attack on Judaism. See also 2 Maccabees with a description of the hideous tortures used to try to get the Jews in question to eat pork.
Regards,
Shodan
If I recall, at the time the Pope specifically stated that the boys were right to eat their fellow passengers as some people were terribly squicked out by the whole thing. The Pope also specified that while it was OK to eat human flesh to preserve your life it was most emphatically NOT OK to kill someone to get it - the young men in question were eating folks who had die of injury or exposure, they weren’t, um, hastening death in any way.
Bear in mind that the Book of Maccabees is not exactly canonical.
Indeed. Kosher food is Halal, but Halal food need not be Kosher (eg a beefburger made with Kosher meat but topped off with a slice of cheese is Halal, but not Kosher). And as in Judaism and Catholicism, those who are ill (and travellers too IIRC), should not keep the fast. You are required to keep the spirit of the fast though, just not the physical denial of food.
Any Jewish law must be broken in a life-and-death situation; i.e. if someone has a heart attack on the Sabbath, it’s okay to use a phone and an ambulance to get them to the hospital.
Also, if A is pursuing B with clearly murderous intent, you’re allowed to kill A to preserve B’s life.
Judaism has pretty much the same rule. Cannibalism isn’t one of the things that is prohibited if you will die if you don’t do it. The only things in that category are murder of an innocent person, adultery, and idolatry. But if you killed someone so you could eat them, that would be murder, and therefore forbidden even if you would die if you didn’t do it.
That’s what I thought, as well, but I know a lot of Muslims locally who don’t think kosher commerical yogurt (yes, yogurt!) is halal - something about the gelatin. Googling didn’t help in the slightest. Have any light to shed?
This page describes the differences between kosher and halal from a Muslim perspective, and it mentions gelatin:
Note that people breaking the fast for any reason (and plenty break it just because they are hungry) will be expected to make up for it at some point later in the year. This is kind of a bummer (especially for women, who usually can’t get around it) because then they end up fasting alone without the community support and special rhythm of life that keeps people going during Ramadan.
The good part is you can break up your make-up days, and just fast a day now and then until you are good. Or at least, that’s how they do it in Northern Cameroon.