Simone Weil

We're far from being scholars of Judaism here (nor do we pretend to be), but we're pretty sure that Jewish law, Halakha, prohibits self-starvation. You know, the old-age question if you're allowed to eat pork on a desert island. Yes! It's better than dying!

We're definitely not scholars of any kind of Christianity (other than our recent venture into the absurdity of Christian apocrypha, talking dogs et al), but we think there is nothing explicit there that prohibits self-starvation? Let us know if we are wrong, goyishe readers.

So let's talk about French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil, one-time communist (and friend of Leon Trotsky), one-time anarchist, and one-time Jew. Weil converted to Christianity... and then decided to starve herself.

It's a little more complex, to be fair. Weil, who was part of the French Resistance, wanted to show solidarity with prisoners of concentration camps. She lowered her food intake to their levels, which didn't exactly end well. She starved herself to death.

We're not here to judge someone whose intentions seem to be so pure... But we're pretty sure she wouldn't be so recklessly idealistic if she stayed a Jew.

Alright, we judged.