By Mark D. Zimmerman
MELVILLE, New York — The Orthodox Union has given kosher certification to a medical marijuana product produced by Verio Health of New York. In regard to this, Rabbi David Bleich, a Yeshiva University professor and authority on Jewish medical ethics, did NOT make which of the following statements?
A. He said that medicinal marijuana is “a perfectly acceptable use of a plant that grows in God’s garden.”
B. He said that he “can’t tell you the 614th mitzvah is thou shalt not smoke pot.”
C. He said that “once it [marijuana] is in a cookie, it is no different from any other cookie and a cookie needs certification.”
D. He said that recreational use of marijuana is “pleasure for pleasure’s sake,” and “certainly not that to which a Jew should aspire.”
E. He said that use of medical marijuana on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur would be “a double mitzvah, as these days are known as the High Holidays.”
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