Hi Rabbi, I have recently diagnosed with cancer. The truth is that I may die. I have no family at all and my friends are wonderful but busy with their own personal lives. I do not want to die slowly, alone, in palliative care on a morphine drip. I would rather have doctor-assisted suicide in a country where it is legal when the time comes. Is this against Judaism? Surely, God must have mercy on suicides in terminally ill and peope in pain. What is the Jewish view on this? Thank-you.
In Judaism, life is not something that is measured according its quality in human terms. The Sages teach that every moment of life is an unparalleled opportunity to do another Mitzvah, another good deed and to build a portion in the World to Come that would have been lacking without that moment. If each passing moment is dedicated to helping others and to trying to become a better person it will elevate the soul. Judaism teaches that every moment of life has spiritual potential even if the person is incapacitated and cannot do anything physically, and will elevaite the to immeasurable heights in the World to Come - which is the world that we believe is eternal.
May God bless you with a complete recovery, a long life and the opportunity to help others for many, many more years to come.
