S. Jewish Law and Ethics: Biomedical Ethics

This course will meet from January 17, 2024 through February 28, 2024.

This course will attempt to analyze the ways in which Jewish jurists have met the challenge of the application of a traditional legal system to novel conditions and advancement in medical technology. We will uncover the underlying moral and ethical values which underpin the early and later debates in Jewish Law, and which can help us understand the frequent vehemence of contemporary political and ethical debate about these same issues within American society and law. The areas of study will be: abortion, artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood, autopsies, euthanasia, definition of death and organ transplants. In each area we will study primary texts of Jewish Law (in English translation) from the Biblical and Talmudic periods, as well as medieval and modern codes, commentaries and responses.