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Abortion in Judaism

Daniel Schiff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

complex and comprehensive 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book's key points:

1. Judaism generally does not view a fetus as morally equivalent to its mother. Thus, there is a consensus that of course abortion is appropriate to save the life of the mother (unlike among certain Christians).

2. At the same time, Judaism generally regards abortion as generally wrong and prohibited. However, there is no consensus as to the source of this rule. Some commentators take a position not too different from that of conservative Christians, seeing the fetus as a life worth preserving or at least as a potential life. Others emphasize prohibitions on self-mutilation, the dangers of abortion surgery to the mother herself, or the requirement to "be fruitful and multiply."

Thus, Jewish law consistently repudiates the extremes of pro-life and pro-choice sentiment (though it certainly leans more towards the pro-life side). Beyond these extremes, the picture gets much murkier, because the issue has been so rarely discussed until recent centuries.

Abortion as such is not mentioned in the Bible or the Mishna. It is only mentioned briefly in the Talmud, which states that Rabbi Yishmael treats destruction of a fetus as a capital crime for non-Jews, based on a very broad reading of Genesis 9:6 (i.e. that the prohibition against shedding the blood of man somehow includes shedding the blood of "man in man"). However, the Talmud does not state whether Rabbi Yishmael's position is a consensus position, whether the prohibition applies for Jews, and what the limitations are in this prohibition (e.g. early in pregnancy vs. late in pregnancy, potentially defective children, dangers to the mother). But because the Talmud is otherwise silent, no commentator of importance has directly repudiated Rabbi Yishmael's position.

The next written text about abortion is 500 years later. In the 11th and 12th century, Rashi and Rambam (two leading Jewish scholars) write that if a women is undergoing labor, the fetus may be killed to save the mother. But their reasoning differs slightly about the reasons for this rule, and neither state what rule governs pre-labor abortions.

Later in the Middle Ages, a group of scholars called the Tosafot write that it is generally "not permitted" to cause the death of a fetus- but again, are silent as to the source of this prohibition.

Only in the past several centuries have leading rabbis began to discuss these issues in detail. Even within traditional Judaism (and more recently, Orthodox Judaism after the 19th-century division of Jews into denominations) authorities are split as to whether abortion is appropriate where:

*the fetus is a result of an adulterous relationship.
*the fetus is likely to develop Tay-Sachs disease if born.
*whether concerns about the mother's mental health ever justify abortion.
*whether a danger of serious but non-life-threatening physical harm (e.g. a risk of permanent deafness) justifies abortion.

And as to some of these issues, authorities are also divided as to whether to take a more lenient position if the fetus is relatively young and unformed.

In recent decades, the growing denominational polarization within Judaism has applied to abortion as well. The most traditional commentators within Orthodox Judaism tend to take a hard line on abortion, equating it with murder and prohibiting it except where the life of the mother is directly threatened. The strict view, however, is not the consensus view even within Orthodoxy. (The author thinks, however, that the Orthodox trend over the past several decades is towards strictness).

Conservative Judaism has reached a consensus similar to the more lenient views within Orthodoxy, holding that abortion is justifiable in order to prevent severe physical or mental harm to the mother, or if the fetus is likely to be severely defective. Reform Judaism seems divided between a view similar to that of Conservative Judaism and a more liberal view.

Editorial Review:

Abortion in Judaism presents a complete Jewish legal history of abortion from the earliest relevant biblical references through the end of the twentieth century. For the first time, almost every Jewish text relevant to the abortion issue is explored in detail. These texts are investigated in historical sequence, thereby elucidating the development inherent within the Jewish approach to abortion. The work considers the insights that this thematic history provides into Jewish ethical principles, as well as into the role of halakhah within Judaism.

Women and Jewish Divorce: The Rebellious Wife, the Agunah and the Right of Women to Initiate Divorce, in Jewish Law, a Halakhic Solution

Shlomo Riskin

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Crisis, Covenant and Creativity: Jewish Thoughts for a Complex World

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Insightful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

For all who have undergone or are undergoing
a religious quest for illumination.
This little compass(book) is an instrument
you will marvel at using.
It doesn't matter what your religious
history or background is, this treasured
booklet will lead you into an oasis
of thoughts to ponder and reflect on.
Come and drink from the wellspring.

Fascinating but not accessible to most potential readers 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Nathan Lopes Cardozo, who writes from a modern Orthodox perspective, expresses several fascinating and novel ideas about spirituality, contemporary life, and the Jewish tradition. Unfortunately, the book will not reach a broad audience. It assumes far too much detailed, even arcane, knowledge of Jewish texts and interpretations -- knowledge that many or most of Lopes Cardozo's intended readers will not have. There are artful ways of popularizing the Jewish religion without dumbing it down, but Lopes Cardozo does not try. As a result, thoughtful readers familiar with Western philosophy and literature but not with rabbinic views of Jewish tradition will not find the book useful.

This is too bad because Lopes Cardozo delivers fascinating insights into such matters as the significance of Sabbath observance, the importance of dialogue with Conservative and Reform Jews, and modern man and woman's need for ritual. This book reads like a set of transcribed sermons and should have gone through a painstaking editing process.

Editorial Review:

Crisis, Covenant and Creativity deals with some of the most widely discussed issues in contemporary Jewish religious life. How do religious people deal with tolerance of different beliefs? How can devout living lead to a greater awareness of the mystery and beauty of life? What is the meaning of Jewish authenticity and identity in light of anti-Semitism?

Crime and Punishment in Jewish Law: Essays and Responsa (Studies in Progressive Halakhah, V. 6)

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Recommended for Judaic Studies and Law/Justice collections. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Walter Jacob and Moshe Zemer collaborate to assemble anoutstanding series of essays and responses by esteemed andknowledgeable contributors in Crime And Punishment In Jewish Law. The subject matter covered include the concept of crime, assessing guilt, capital punishment, religious violence, criminal insanity, rabbinical malpractice, electronic eavesdropping, and a great deal more. Crime And Punishment In Jewish Law is an impressive and unique contribution to Judaic studies.

Jewish Law : History, Sources, Principles (4 volume set)

Menachem Elon

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A Magnum Opus in English on Jewish Law 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Menachem Elon's work on Jewish Law is exceptional. The work provides the most comprehensive discussion of Jewish law in English that I have ever seen. This work was recommended by a law school professor many years ago. I never cease going back to it. The discussions regarding each of the major legal sources along with their relevant commentaries is invaluable for learning what one should "know" to be conversant in this topic. The footnotes are also excellent and provide quick references to relevant passages in the original sources. This is not light reading and needs to approached when one is fresh. Given that, if one has a desire to get an overview of the history and inner workings of Jewish law, there is no better source of which I can think to recommend.

Evolving Halakhah: A Progressive Approach to Traditional Jewish Law

Moshe Zemer

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Editorial Review:

Innovative and provocative, Evolving Halakhah affirms the system of traditional Jewish law, halakhah, as a developing and moral structure, flexible enough to accommodate the changing realities of each generation. In this accessible analysis of halakhah, Moshe Zemer issues a clarion call to follow the ancient and modern principles of evolving halakhah, which demands ethical deeds, the discovery of holiness in the Commandments, a critical approach to the Tradition, and responsibility of the entire Community of Israel. These principles are viewed as the framework in which the other commandments are applied. To Jews who sometimes see no choices but those of fundamentalist rigidity on the one hand, or total rejection of tradition on the other, Zemer argues instead for awareness of the inherent flexibility of the halakhic system. Halakhah, he argues, has had many voices, and has changed to meet every generation's needs. Equipped with this view, liberal Jews can reclaim their tradition from a conservative rabbinic establishment that all too often--especially in Israel--has seen the voice of strictness as more authentic than the voice of lovingkindness.

The product of Zemer's thirty-five years of work in the Israel Movement of Progressive Judaism, Evolving Halakhah includes chapters on matters ranging from personal status, especially marriage and conversion, through the "political" halakhah of a response to the intifada. It shows that the traditional framework for understanding the Torah's commandments can be the living heart of Jewish life for all Jews--including Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox. An essential reference work for any thinking student of religion.

Contemporary Halakhic Problems (Library of Jewish Law and Ethics)

David Bleich

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The Law of Jealousy: The Anthropology of Sotah

Adriana Destro

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The Biblical and Historical Background of Jewish Customs and Ceremonies

Abraham P. Bloch

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The Written and Oral Torah: A Comprehensive Introduction

Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo

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Permeated by Torah 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Rabbi Cardozo has become one of the most significant teaches of Torah we have today .In this early work he provides an introductory explanation of Torah study. His work is divided into the following major units" 1)The Written Torah 2) The Mitzvot 3)The Orally Transmitted Torah 4) The Categories of the Orally Transmitted Torah 5)The Rules of Interpretation 6)The Aggadah .
Among the ideas transmitted in the work are the idea that freedom is to live in accordance with divinely ordanied axioms. And that each generation was given the freedom to reproduce its own exegisis. There is the Kabbalistic idea that the entire Torah is the Name of G-d. And the idea certainly illustrated by Rabbi Cardozo's life and work, that when a person becomes permeated by Torah they then become able to transmit it.

Editorial Review:

In The Written and Oral Torah: A Comprehensive Introduction, Rabbi Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo offers those interested in Jewish tradition an explanation of and basic insight into Judaism's classical sources. Containing a diverse selection of material culled from the Talmud and from the writings of many of Judaism's most gifted sages, this extensive volume will be a valuable resource for novice students as well as for those with some background in Torah study.