Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has emailed MPs outlining his objections to legalising assisted suicide just days before Friday’s debate on the proposed legislation in the House of Commons.
In an email sent to MPs, Rabbi Mirvis said he felt a “moral obligation” to speak out about a proposal which would “impose a new and immeasurable pressure upon terminal patients who are already extremely vulnerable.”
Jewish News had revealed earlier this month how Mirvis was joining with other faith leaders who were voicing opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill, sponsored by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater.
But whilst Judaism has traditionally been against euthanasia, ahead of this week’s second reading of the bill, some rabbis and other leading Jewish figures, including doctors and politicians, have questioned the traditional stance.
A spokesperson for Progressive Judaism said there would be no official comment from the movement on the issue, apparently leaving the way open for individual rabbis to reach their own opinion on assisted dying.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis
In the week leading up to the debate, Chipping Barnet MP Dan Tomlinson revealed he had attended two town hall gatherings: one with constituents in favour and one with those against.
Hundreds attended one event at Finchley Reform Synagogue to hear speakers, including the Tory peer Lord Finkelstein, argue the case for assisted dying.
One of the organisers of the shul event, Andrew Jacobs, 70, told the BBC he would “be very disappointed” if Tomlinson did not vote in favour of the bill on Friday.
Jacobs said he backed assisted dying after seeing his mother’s struggle during her final days. “She told me, ‘my body is a burden to me. If I were a pet, you’d put me down’,” he said.”Seeing a loved one in distress, it’s really hard.”Tomlinson revealed later he remains undecided on what he says will be “the hardest decision of his political career”.
Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger unveils the newly restored drinking fountain
The Government has adopted a “neutral” position, with MPs and ministers given a free vote after Friday’s private members bill debate.
Supporters of the bill argue it has strict safeguards to prevent coercion and would give people a choice over how they die to avoid unnecessary suffering.
They claim it allows terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life.
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, the ex rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue, is the chair of Dignity in Dying, a campaign group lobbying for a change in the law.
In a series of interviews Romain explained he had changed his mind on the issue, mainly as a result of hospital visits in which seriously ill patients wished to end their lives.
Romain has been among those advising the MP Leadbetter over legislation, pointing out the need for strict safeguards.
“You will need two doctors to examine you and for you to be terminally ill,” explained the rabbi.
“This system has been going on in Oregon for 27 years. It has worked well, there hasn’t been a dramatic uptake. I thought we have to catch up with a system that’s been working successfully.
“Frankly, everywhere I go, whether synagogues or other places, I find I’m pushing at an open door. I expect to be heckled but I’m absolutely not.”
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, Pic: Twitter/X
The former senior rabbi of West London Synagogue Baroness Neuberger also said she had changed her mind on the issue “given the way healthcare has gone, and given that we are ageing longer.”
She added:”I think there are times when individuals find their suffering unbearable.
“I think it’s really important to keep healthcare professionals out of this but there are limited circumstances where it should be permitted.”
But Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, the executive director of Ematai, an organisation that helps members of the community with issues around death, has joined Rabbi Mirvis in voicing series objections to the assisted dying bill.
Writing for the JC, Brody took issue with the data used from those supporting the bill from Oregan over a 25 year period.”
A systematic review of twenty-five years of data from Oregon, cited by Romain and others as an example of a system that is ‘working successfully,’ in fact points to disturbing trends,” claimed Brody.
“The length of the doctor-patient relationship reduced over time, the review shows, falling from 18 weeks, on average, in 2010, to 5 weeks in 2022.
“The proportion referred for psychiatric evaluation prior to assisted suicide has dropped from 31.3% to 1.1%.
“This means that no one is truly examining their physical and mental health before providing them with means to take their lives.”
But one of the most interesting interventions in the debate over the bill has come from the Jewish MP Peter Prinsley, an NHS consultant surgeon himself, who said even with “the most skilful palliative care”, some terminally ill people can suffer from “intolerable” symptoms.
The Bury St Edmunds MP argued assisted dying should be viewed as “complementary” to palliative care, rather than as an “alternative” service.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I can tell you that there are people who, even with the most skilful palliative care, get into a situation where their symptoms become intolerable and where they have a complete loss of control and dignity.”
Dame Margaret Hodge, who stepped down as an MP at the election, but who remains an influential voice on many issues added:”I’m at an age where, sadly, I’ve seen too much death.
“And I’ve seen cases where palliative care, no matter how good, cannot ease the pain & suffering of someone dying.
“Kim Leadbeater’s strict bill gives people the choice to have a good death. We all deserve this choice.”
Jim Shannon (DUP), David Robinson (Board of Deputies), Laura Marks (Mitzvah Day), Dan Tomlinson (Labour), Peter Prinsley (Labour), Guy Dabby-Joory (JLC), Tom Morrison (Lib Dem
The Office of the Chief Rabbi has historically spelt out serious objections within Orthodox Judaism to acts that speed up the end of a person’s life.
In 2005, at a parliamentary selection committee the Chief Rabbi’s Office quoted Rabbi JD Bleich, an expert on Jewish law and ethics, who had written:”Any positive act designed to hasten the death of the patient is equated with murder in Jewish law, even if the death is hastened only by a matter of moments.”
Outlining his position on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill to the Jewish News earlier this month Rabbi Mirvis said:“The quest to bring peace to those who are suffering unimaginable pain is a noble one – undoubtedly rooted in compassion and empathy.“But this proposed law will have the unintended consequence of creating at least as much anguish as it alleviates.
“The burden it would place on our most vulnerable patients, on their families and on medical staff, as well as the profound effect on the conscience of those left behind, is surely too high a price to pay.
“The devastating evidence from other countries is clear: when we numb, or remove altogether, our reverence for the precious gift of life itself, we withdraw from a moral standard, to which we might never return.”
In his email to MPs Mirvis said said evidence from Oregon, upon which the legislation is modelled, suggested that almost half of those choosing to end their lives “cite the encumbrance upon their friends and family as one of their reasons”.
He said evidence from Oregon, upon which the legislation is modelled, suggested that almost half of those choosing to end their lives “cite the encumbrance upon their friends and family as one of their reasons”.
Warning of a ‘slippery slope’ Mirvis said that in Belgium and the Netherlands it ‘did not take long for ‘mental anguish’ to become a legal and legitimate cause for assisted dying’.
Sarah Sackman, left, Shabana Mahmood, centre, Richard Hermer, right
Some of the most senior members of government have expressed differing views, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting expressing opposition to legalising assisted dying on the grounds that the palliative care system in the UK was not good enough to offer patients a real choice.
Three former Tory prime ministers – Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Theresa May – have now added their voices to ex-Labour PM Gordon Brown in opposition to the plans.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously supported assisted dying but has not said how he will vote on Friday.
On Saturday, Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, wrote to her constituents to warn that MPs would be putting the country on a “slippery slope towards death on demand” if the Bill passed.
In response, Lord Falconer, the former Labour justice secretary, told Sky News that Mahmood, who is a Muslim, was “motivated by her religious beliefs” and that these “shouldn’t be imposed on everybody else”.
Falconer’s comments were condemned by some in the Jewish community.
