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From: hfavr@mtuxo.UUCP (a.reed)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.jewish
Subject: Jewish concept of "nefesh"
Message-ID: <1305@mtuxo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Feb-86 22:41:22 EST
Article-I.D.: mtuxo.1305
Posted: Wed Feb 12 22:41:22 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 21:12:48 EST
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Xref: lsuc net.religion:709 net.religion.jewish:1834

This is a reply to a note received by mail. I am posting it because it
may be of general interest.

> > From: Adam Reed <ihnp4!mtuxo!hfavr>
> > The Holocaust has to do with the murder of a living
> > Jewish *soul or mind (nefesh)*. In the Jewish tradition, a newborn is
> > not considered a nefesh until he or she has lived the prescribed number
> > of days on earth.

> From: "Steve Munson" <allegra!purdue!sbm>
>      I am intrigued; how many days are prescribed?  I have never seen
> mention of this in the Bible.  The human embryo develops a brain three
> weeks after conception.  On the other hand, my understanding is that
> nefesh has nothing to do with mind or soul as most people think of it.
> Dr. H. M. Orlinsky of Hebrew Union College has said, "the Bible does
> not say we have a soul.  'Nefesh' is the person himself, his need for
> food, the very blood in his veins, his being."  This would seem to mean
> that a person is a nefesh right from birth, if not from conception.

1. The Oral Tradition prescribes 30 days from birth before a newborn is
	considered a nefesh. A newborn who dies without having lived on
	earth for 30 days is not mourned.
2. Nefesh is indeed what one is, and not something one has. This is
	because in the Jewish tradition, the mind is the soul is the person.
	Biological functions necessary to support the mind are indeed a
	component of nefesh, but the mind is indispensable: no mind
	means no soul means no person.
3. The fact that the human embryo develops a brain three weeks after
	conception is not relevant to the question of nefesh: animals
	have brains, but they do not have minds and are not persons.
4. Waiting only 30 days from birth, before a newborn is considered a
	nefesh, is a "fence" to make sure that every actual nefesh is
	considered one, since signs of actually having a mind do not
	appear until considerably later.
					Adam Reed (ihnp4!npois!adam)