Menachem M. Brayer

Dr. Brayer is Professor of Bible at Yeshiva Universitywhere he also serves as Consultant Psychologist.

LSD: A JEWISH VIEW

The use of mind-affecting drugs is not a new phenomenon.Throughout history, men have taken drugs to evade reality orto stimulate religious experience. American Indians used peyoteas part of their worship, and the Mexicans ate mushrooms. TheMoslems - hashish, the Zoroastrians - haoma, - the list isendless. The opium of the Orientals is already mentioned in theJerusalem Talmud and by Maimonides.

These drugs are not narcotics, tranquilizers or energizers. Theyare known as consciousness-expanding, altering perspective andperception in new dimensions of experience. By far, the mostcontroversial among them in terms of its effect on the individual'spsyche and personality is LSD.

Lysergic Acid Diethalamide was fist discovered by Dr. AlbertHoffman in 1938. Publicized recently by Timothy Leary as theutopian hope by which he wants "to turn on the whole world,"its use has spread from the breeding grounds of the avant-gardeto college campuses all over the country. Approximately 5 per-cent of the nation's college youth have taken LSD at least once;evidence shows that the age of its users is dropping.

Dr. Donald B. Louria, a Cornell medical professor and headof the infectious disease laboratory at Bellevue, reports that 130persons with LSD-induced psychoses have been admitted in thelast eighteen months.

He has attested to the fact that effects of the drug hallucina-tions may reappear weeks later under stress, and that a singledose is suffcient to cause permanent personality changes.1 Manyof those hospitalized suffered from strong terror and othersexhibited homicidal or suicidal tendencies. Its potency and thedangers of taking an overdose are dramatic: a single ounce isenough of a dosage for 300,000 people. The average dosage of

200 micrograms, synthesized easily by any chemistry student, is

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and Houston write that "LSD is exactly like atomic energy. Ithas enormous potential for good or eviL. Right now we are justseeing the mental Hiroshimas . . . the value of the drug is notthe drug itself but how the insights are implemented in one'sdaily lie."12

Granted, then, that LSD has potential in certain areas ofpsychological imbalance. However, the adolescent who takes itdoes so from a different motivation, for the "neurotic" in himis unrecognized by the subject. In actuality, the adolescent useroften develops into a Dostoevskian "underground man," whosevision of the future contains radically new relationships betweenthe individual and societyY

In a society as impersonal and tension-charged as ours, wherethe sense of identity is lacking, and belonging is replaced byemotional insecurity, man finds himself tragically lonely. Theadolescent student, more than others, is beset by a deep sense ofunbearable isolation.13a Escape mechanisms of all sorts are there-fore employed to defend one's ego from the devastating dangersto which he is so critically exposed. Instead of seeking his Ego-ideal in the real world, the olam-ha'asiah, the search is carried

on in distortion. The colorama viewer who claims he is under-going a voluntary psychoanalysis is deluding himself. His claimthat he has "found himself" is true only to the extent that he hasseen but a minute part of his potential, in unreal circumstances.

Says Dr. Louria, "Those who frequently use the drug almostinevitably withdraw from society and enter into a solipsistic,negativistic existence, in which LSD is not merely an experiencein the totality of living, but rather becomes synonomous withlife itself."14

THE "REAL" IN JUDAISM

An offense, even when committed without conscious knowl-edge, is considered by the Rabbis to be a "bad symptom."15 It isan indication of mental weakness and moral disequilibrium.Thus, the Rabbis said, "Sinful thoughts are more severe than thesinful act itself,"16 for the thoughts are indicative of a blemishedpersonality. This, too, is the impact of the Talmudic comment

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LSD: A Jewish View

that man sins only when possessed by a ruach shtut (spirit offolly) .

We know from clinical practice that neurotic demands areusually selfish desires. These cravings, outcroppings of the neu-rosis, are unconscious reactions. Our Rabbis envisioned sin muchas the psychoanalyst views the neurotic; both the sin and the

neurotic act are evidence of internal conflict.The hallucinatory state of mind, where one's actions lack con-

trol and conscious awareness, may be the same as the lapse intoneurotic or sinful behavior. Not only are the acts committedundcr drug influence mirrors of the user's subconscious, but tak-ing the drugs itself is a lapse into infantile, socially-unacceptablebehavior. The attempt to escape reality is in itself neurotic.

We thus can see that, discounting the possible neurotic andpsychotic effects on the student user, the normal youthful motiva-tion is in itself contrary to Jewish thought. For Judaism the realis the world of creation in all its diversity, and man's role in itis to act as a partner in hallowing all of its aspects. If the stateof the world is depressing, "neither are you free to set yourselfapart from it." If social institutions such as marriage and familyhave disintegrated, the Jewish answer is not their abandonment.The salvation of man is dependent on his capabilty to raise uphis world, not on his abilty to raise himself out of it.

Some claim that the drug experience gives the user charactertraits that wil be useful upon his return to normal conscious-ness. The fact that one has increased sensitivity while underdrug influence would not justify their use unless this sensitivityextended into the olam ha'asiyah. (This eliminates from our

consideration all those who use LSD for aesthetic or hedonisticreasons alone. Regarding this claim, there is no evidence avail-able in current research.)

On the contrary, it has been pointed out that the Indians ofthe Southwest and Mexico who make extensive use of hal-lucinogens have passive, stagnant cultures. In an importantseries of experiments, the authors report that "These drugs attacksome of the deepest values of our culture - competition, ma-terial achievement, striving, . . . social responsibilty. . . ."17

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HALAKHIC CONSIDERATION

As mentioned above, the only recurrent traits in the drug seemto be their negative effects, as pointed out by Dr. Louria. Hisevidence of an adverse "pleasure-to-risk ratio" should be con-sidered halakhically, Self injury - hachovel be'atzmo - isclearly prohibited. This principle was codified by Maimonideswho states that "man is forbidden to infict injury upon himselfor upon others."18 If such is the case with physical injury - a

fortiori this applies to mental injury through psychedelic inges-tion, which affects both the psyche and the soma alike, withserious repercussions.

Inducing others to take psychedelic drugs or any harmfulmedicine "for kicks" as is the practice in the "pot session

groups," may be considered as hachovel bechaveiro - as in-

juring his fellow man - a damage which makes one liable forcompensation 19 in addition to the halakhic consideration of

chamira sekanta me'issura, involving not only individual butcollective injury,20

In fact, causing fright and emotional stress to others evenwithout concrete damage is an offense which, though exemptfrom the judgments of man, makes one liable bedinei Shamayim(judgment of God).21

It may also be stated that enticing one into the use of psy-chedelics entails also the issur of velifney iver 10 titein mich-

shof22 - placing a stumbling block before the inexperienced and

naive. Violation of such an ethical precept involves a largevariety of moral principles bordering on wrong counsel and iladvice, which are an expression of human callousness and dis-respect for our fellowmen. Maimonides in his Regimen Sanitatisreiterates "the deep concern of the Torah for the mental welfareof the Israelites, whether they be sinful or righteous." In manyof his medical works, he stresses "the importance of mental

health, the improvement of behavior which is the cure of themind and its faculties," stating repeatedly "how dangerous it isto indulge in medicine, tranquilizers, sedatives or stimulants andbecoming habituated to them."23

Many of the rabbinic regulations concerning the "better ad-

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LSD: A Jewish View

justment of society" point to the fact that damage or injury per-petrated on a rabbim, involving a group, is considereda more serious offense, hezeika derabbim, than any otherinjury concerning the individuaL. In this sense we can considerthe hallucinogenic craze as an hezeika derabbim, a hazardfor the entire community, and a direct threat to organized so-ciety.24 New bio-medical evidence points to the genetic damagecaused by LSD to the chromosomes, which, according to Dr,Maimon Cohen of the State University School of Medicine, couldlead to mental retardation and physical abnormalities in the off-springs of LSD users as shown in a number of maternity cases.

Traditionally viewed, then, taking psychedelic drugs and ex-posing oneself to a "bad trip" with all the possible psychotic re-percussions would be considered a transgression of the positivecommandment for man's welfare in the Torah, v~nishmartemmeod lenafshoteichem (taking protective measures to guardone's health), committing an act of chaballah beatzmo (self-damage) and hampering his homeostasis and mental balancefrom performing the Divine way of life properly.

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

Not a few "trippies" have reported on the similarity of theirexperiences to the reports of religious mystics and quite a fewpapers have discussed the drug's religious implications,

From our point of view we must address ourselves to severalquestions. Is the mystical experience in general a religious ex-perience, synonomous with Jewish religious experience, or is iteven a legitimate part of Jewish living?

On the first question, opinion seems to be divided. WalterPahnke, a psychologist and theologian, writes, ".., an mystical ex-perience is not necessarily religious. If one makes the concept ofa 'personal God' central to the definition of religion, many formsof mystical experience could not be considered religious. The

phenomena of mystical experience may occur outside the frame-work of any formal religion, , . , Whether or not mystical experi-ence is religious depends upon one's defiition of religion. . . ."25

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Gershom Scholem is of another opinion: ". . . there is nosuch thing as mysticism in the abstract . , , which has no partic-ular religious system. . . . But only in our days has the beliefgained ground that there is such a thing as an abstract mysticalreligion."26

If one keeps in mind that Scholem's analysis is chiefly his-torical, while Pahnke speaks from the results of expcrimentaldata, the contradiction may resolve itself. Historically, mysticswere people deeply concerned with their particular religionswho integrated the experience into their philosophy or theosophyof religion. Nonetheless, one can readily see certain psycholo-gical phenomena which are common to all religious mystics,which Scholem readily affrms. From Dr. Pahnke's evidence, itwould seem that LSD has the abilty to duplicate the psycholo-gical phenomena of unity, ego-transcendence and the noeticfeeling described by James, in a person who has no consciousreligious life. Hence, the severing of the mystical from the re-ligious. From the point of view of religion, it is a counterfeitexperience.

In Buber's criticism of Aldous Huxley's counsel to the use ofmescaline as a means to acquire mystical insight, he states: "Manmay master as he wil his situation . . . he may alter it, exchangeit for another, but the fugitive flight out of the claim of the situa-tion into situationless-ness is no legitimate affair of man. And thetrue name of all paradises which man creates for himself bychemical or other means is situationlessness . . . It is a flight fromthe authentic spokenness of speech in whose realm a responseis demanded, and response is responsibility."27

We spoke before of man's place in the world of reality. Mys-tical experience is no doubt a part of Judaism, and it may be thesummUm bonum of religious experience, but it must arise fromthe involvement of man in the real world and it must enable

him to return to it. It is thc final rung on a ladder whose legs areresting on the ground. One doesn't fly to the top; one climbs.

Religious experience in its true sense is from within. It is thefervor of the soul - the divine spark - to unite itself with theeternal flame. Such mystic fervor which one sees in the Has-sidic ecstasy arouscd by Tefilah (prayer) - a sound, healthy re-

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LSD: A Jewish View

velation is the encounter of the purified soul with the Holy - canhardly be compared to a drug experience. On the one hand, thcexperience is the climax of hirhur teshuvah (thinking of repent-ance) and chesbon hanefesh (self analysis). In the latter case, itis the experience of a person lacking discipline. In the former, it isthe result of a total orientation of the self toward accepting a cer-tain mode of life. In the hippie, it is the result of a haphazard at-tempt to escape the reality of a purposeless cxistence. Into whatframe of reference can the hippie channel this ambiguous feeling?

Contemporary youth is lacking in stability and orientation to-wards an ethico-religious code of values. They must be taughtthat religion wants man to play a role in society - hamakir etmekomo (knowing one's place), If there is a self-accepted disci-pline of a torat chayim, repression is never necessary. They

must also learn that healthy, interpersonal behavior, which

senses affection and acceptance, is another gcnuine expression ofone's real self.

A key word among the hippies is "love" - a deficiency theyseverely feeL. Hassidim tell of a father who complained to theBaal Shem that his son had forsaken God. "What, Rebbe, shallI do?" "Love him more than ever" was the Baal Shem's reply.28

Aside from showing then that love in all its forms is a corner-stone of Judaism, parents must actively provide love and securityto their children in this age-period of upheaval and adjustment.

We must not evade responsibilty and maturc growth, norfear reality and escape into a chemically-induced transcenden-

talism, but we must accept and master our olam hazeh - this

world. In his anguished cry for identity, purposefulness, and

self-discovery from the refrigerating alienation and de-personali-

zation, man must "turn on" his inner resources and redirectfrom subliminally towards a more affliative, symbiotic and so-ciable personality. By rechanneling his psychic "economy" to-wards self-improvement, better inter-personal relations, and asincere human understanding, man can rediscover his true Self.

Experiences in self-discipline, which correct the baseness oforgiastic passions and represent impulses, fortify the mind withenlightened and useful knowledge and bring in their wake innerserenity and hopeful existence. Knowing that fellow men wil

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comprehend afiction because an omniscient God understands

human frailties and suffering, moves Man to heights of spiritualelevation and closer encounter with his Maker. In this way, mancan become a co-worker with God, and achieve integration andspiritual redemption,

NOTES

1. Donald B. Lauria, in "Therapeutic Noh,"," Parke, Davis & Co.

2. Donald B. Lauria, "The Abuse of LSD," LSD, Man & Society, ed. DeBold and Leaf (Wesleyan U. Press: 1967), p. 3ff.

3. R. .E L. Masters and Jean Houston, The Varieties of Psychedelic Ex-perience (New York: Holt, Rinehart and V"inston, 1966).

4. Walter N. Pahnke and W. A. Richards, "Implications of LSD and Experi-mental Mysticism," journal of Religion and Health, V, no. 3 (1966). Also

R. C. Zaehner, Mysticism: Sacred and Profane (New York: Galaxie Books,

1961).5. Earl H. Bell and Sir John Sirjamaki, Social Foundations of Human

Behavior (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), p. 272.6. Mishna Avot 3:13. Compare Malachi 3:16 and Sukkah 49b, Bamidbar

Rabbah II, Sifre Zutta Nasa 22; in Latin, Vox populi vox Dei. Yalkut ShimoniNaso 711.

7. "By Reb A. J. Heschel of Apt," from Ms. on Rijn and Sadagora, in thefamily archives of the Boyaner Rebbe, (M. S. Friedman).

8. Freud, Anna, "Adolescence," Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, Vol. XIII.New York, International Cniversity Press, (1958).

9. Sandor Lorand and Henry Schneer, eds., Adolescents, Psychoanalytic Ap-proach to Problems and Therapy, (New York, P. B. Hoeber, Inc. 1961).

10. Frank Barron, in LSD, Man and Society, p. 12.11. Ibid.

12. Varieties.13. Barron, p. 14.

Ba. Kurt-Lewin, A Dynamic Theory of Personality, 1935, also Bringing Upthe Jewish Child, The Menorah journal, vol. 28 (1940).

14. "The Abuse of LSD," p. 41.15. Chagigah, sa. Compare Bava Metzia 33b, Chulin 15a (kansinan shogeg atu

mezid), Bava Kama 32b.16. Sotah 3a.17. John C. Pollard, L. Uhr, and B. Stern, Drugs and Fantasy (Boston:

Little, Brown and Co., 1965), p. 203.18. Mishnah, Bava Kama, VII, 8, :\faimonides, Code, Hilkhot Chovel uMazik,

5: 1; Ibid. Hilkhot Shavuot, 5:17; SeMag, LaiiÍn 70, 238.19. Bava Kama 83b; Mishnah Bava Kama 8: 1, Tosefta Bava Kama 9, 29. See

also Yalkout Shimeoni, Vayera 91, and Beshalach 257. Compare also Ketuvot32b. where Hachovel bechaveiro requires also mechilah by the inducer.

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LSD,' A Jewish View

20. Chulin ioa, Sukah 14b. Maimonides warns sternly against experimentingwith drugs, see Pirkei Mosheh, Chapters 17 and 21. Compare Kohelet Rabba 3and Shulchan Arukh, Orakh Chayim, 328: 10.

21. See Bava Kama 56a, Maimonides, Code, Hilkhat Chavel uMazik 5:9 andinfer a fortiori far nizkei nefesh.

22. Leviticus 10: 13. See SeMag, Lavin 168 based on Sifra, ad lac., Pessachim22b. and Zahar Kedoshim 85a. Compare Deuteronomy 27: 18 Rasbi ad lac.

23. Maimonides, Pirkei Mosheh, 8; see also Eight Chapters, 1.24. Bava Batra 2b and 59b, Kidushin 39b. Compare Moed Katan 13a, Sanhed.

rin na, Chulin 142a, where man is always considered "muad" even "beshogeg."

See also Zahar Bereshit 111a.

25. Walter N. Pahnke, "LSD and Religious Experience," LSD, Man & Societ).,ciety, p. 68.

26. Gershom G. Seholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (New York:Schocken Books, 1946), pp. 5-6.

27. Martin Buber, The Knowledge of Man (New York, Harper and Row,1966).

28. S;yach Sarfei Kodesh (Lodz: 1929), III, p. 147.

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