Customer Reviews

Matters of Life and Death

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Rabbi Elliot Dorff has lectured widely on medical and bioethics facing moderns: artificial insemination, abortion, adoption, prolonging life artificially, organ donation, and more. In this book, he compiles his years of research into a cogent and accessible discussion of Jewish law to provide a profoundly human approach to some of the most difficult aspects of life any of us will ever face.

Beginning with a discussion of the fundamental beliefs underlying Jewish medical ethics (The body belongs to God, Human worth stems from being created in God's Image, Jews have a mandate and duty to heal), he proceeds to first deal with moral issues at the beginning of life. Topics include having children with one's own genetic materials, using donated genetic materials, the social context for generating life (including a discussion on homosexuality). The second major part of the book deals with the matters at the end of life: the process of dying, after death issues (such as organ donation). He concludes with a section on "The Communal Context of Medical Care" (preventing illness, our duty to preserve health and visit the sick.)

For this non-scholar, this was a wonderful book that deepend my appreciation for the value and dignity that Jewish law has for life and for the logical and scholarly wisdom of Rabbi Dorff.

This book addresses a wide variety of issues relating to the human body -not just issues commonly thought of as "bioethics" issues (such as cloning, euthanasia and abortion) but also issues such as homosexuality and even tattoos. What I most liked is that (with some exceptions) Dorff generally makes a reasonable effort to discuss contrasting views and divisions of authority, rather than focusing solely on his own perspective.

Dorff also emphasizes (at least in some areas) the commonalities between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews. For example:

*He suggests that classical Judaism opposes premarital sex because such a situation "is rife with the potential for miscommunication, misunderstood intentions, and deeply hurt feelings."

*His emphasis on the proposition that Jewish law generally forbids abortion, except when a woman's mental or physical health is threatened by pregnancy. He points out that the major difference between the most traditional rabbis and more liberal-minded ones is how broadly to define the "health exception."

*He emphasizes the importance of fertility for Jews, noting that traditional Jewish law requires males to have at least a couple of children, and suggesting that low birth rates are eviscerating the American Jewish population.

In matters less relevant to Jewish law as such, such as matters of public policy and of good manners, this book is a bit weaker. For example, he is generally supportive of public support for the poor, but doesn't really discuss to what extent a secular state's rules should mirror those of Jewish law (which tends to favor a generous welfare system).

Elliot Dorff is a scholar in this area and his book is modern, realistic, comprehensive and readable by the layperson. Highly recommended!