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From: hfavr@mtuxo.UUCP (a.reed)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Jewish concept of "nefesh"
Message-ID: <1363@mtuxo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Mar-86 13:34:26 EST
Article-I.D.: mtuxo.1363
Posted: Tue Mar  4 13:34:26 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Mar-86 19:19:18 EST
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> > 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.
> > 					Adam Reed (ihnp4!npois!adam)
> 
> Would you post your references for these statements, particularly for
> the 30 days and the "nefesh"=mind concept?  Thanks.
> 
> Does this tradition attempt to account for why *circumcision*
> (a physical sign of a living being's covenant relation to his God)
> is prescribed by the Scripture for the 8th, and not the 30th day?
> 
> 					Kim Cary (uclachem\!ksc@ucla-cs)

Within the Jewish tradition ontological questions, such as when one
becomes a person, can only be answered from halachot that apply -
in this case, to any (Jewish) person qua person. Now most halachot
apply only in specific contexts that are not necessarily encountered by
every person. Some apply only to Jews of a specific gender (male/female)
or caste (cohen/levi/israel). Most of the rest can be overridden for
medical, economic, and other reasons. The only halachot that clearly
apply to every Jewish nefesh without exception are those of death and
mourning. The fact that these halachot do not apply unless the deceased
has lived at least 30 days after birth implies, at least to me, that
one is not considered a full-fledged Nefesh until that point.

As for milah, it is an obligation on the father, and not on the infant.
The mohel acts as an agent of the father, not of the baby. This makes it
necessary for milah to take place BEFORE the infant is considered a
person in his own right, to make sure that the milah is valid without
requiring the infant's own intention or consent.

					Adam Reed (ihnp4!npois!adam)