“The smoker is violating open halachos about “Venishmartem me’od lenafshosaichem””
How did this pasuk get co-opted as the source to stay away from danger. The pasuk is talking about avodah zarah, and the various midrashim and Torah commentators speak about it in that context. I have not seen anywhere in Chazal or Rishonim where this pasuk is the source for this issur. The closest thing that I have seen would be the Gemara in Berachos 32b and Tosafos in Shavuos 36a. The Maharsha in fact points this out in the Gemara in Berachos. The earliest sources that I have seen use this pasuk as the source are the Rashbash in siman 1 and the Sefer Charedim. Then suddenly when we get to the late Acharonim, I have seen this pasuk being used by many of them as such a source. Anyone have any idea how this happened, or know of an earlier source that uses this pasuk?