This one time someone told me a story about how her Shabbat guests sneaked off to smoke a joint. Of course, my mouth dropped. After all, there was a time when I thought Jews, maybe not just Orthodox Jews, were a holy people without blemish or imperfection. Okay, so I was just, perhaps, a tad bit naive.
But seeing as how I’m not only just a goody-two-shoes, I’m the kind that you probably would have smacked in school for turning you in for doing something “fun,” I won’t even comment on the above story. I will, however, link you to this hysterical post by a new blogger about smoking pot on Shabbat (and trust me, it’s not the smoking pot on Shabbat that I think is hysterical, after all, I am a Rebbetzin-in-training wheels!):
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 
Smoking pot on Shabbos? That's just wrong…however, Yom Tov is another matter entirely. 😉
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Everyone in manhattan gets their weed delivered. But pot on shabbos… i can't get down with that. of course here in NJ some of us are going to start getting our pot from a nice clean “pharmacy” now that medical marijuana is legal.
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Aliza – thanks a million for putting a link to my blog! You're a star 🙂
Yes, and ByTheBay, I've already had a few Americans comment about isn't that normal to get your weed delivered. But in England, you have to go to the dealer to get your weed!
I thought that was the norm until I got to NYC
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Another artifact of Modern Orthodox life in the Big Apple, I fear.
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Slave to My Bulldog is correct to note that there wouldn't be any issue on yom tov. However, one would need to make sure that one used a pre-existing flame.
There might also be a dina d'malchut dina issue if one is an area where pot is illegal.
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I am so naturally paranoid, the thought of smoking pot makes me even more paranoid 🙂
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Well of course that's not OK! You have to bake it into your “special” Shabbat brownies before sundown… 😉
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Reminds me of the joke in which a maid comments on the strange holidays of her Jewish employers:
– Shabbos when people smoke in the bathroom.
– Tisha B'Av when people eat in the bathroom.
– Yom Kippur when people both eat and smoke in the bathroom.
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What a shame, considering that this person is both violating Shabbos and endangering his health, which is another prohibition d'oraisa, as well as endangering the health of those around him. The joke that Debbie B posted here shows a sad reality- that people have a hard time modifying behaviors and submitting their physical desires to a higher purpose, so to speak. Not to mention some serious oral fixations, as well (I am Freudian, after all).
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R'Daniel:
I wouldn't read too much into a *joke*.
Also, it is not clear that the pot-smoking Frenchman was even Jewish. And if he was Jewish, he was clearly not observant.
You might like this Conservative responsum on smoking:
http://tinyurl.com/yajoscg
It concludes that Jewish ethics and laws would indicate that smoking should be avoided. A very interesting note is that the author claims to know heavy smokers who are able to refrain on Shabbat without difficulty.
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I know many people who can go without smoking on Shabbos and others who find it to be a hell trip. That is an interesting little supernatural occurrence.
The Orthodox RCA also has a teshuva banning smoking-http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100808.
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R' Daniel: thanks for the link to the RCA teshuva. It is much more thorough than the RA paper.
…Not that I ever had any desire to smoke. I find the habit extremely distasteful and second hand smoke provokes my asthma. It is a relief to me that smoking has been banned from more and more public places.
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