Halakha and modern bioethics

The advances of modern medicine have led rabbinical authorities to rule on numerous bioethical questions, drawing on the principles of halakha. These rulings touch on abortion, organ transplantation, the definition of death, medically assisted reproduction, end-of-life care, and the use of genetic data. The responsa seek to reconcile fundamental principles—such as the supreme value of human life and the obligation to heal—with the realities of new techniques. Decisors from various movements, in Israel and in the diaspora, have produced an important body of work on these subjects, at times in debate with one another. This religious bioethics frequently enters into dialogue, and sometimes into tension, with national legislation and secular ethics.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Sefaria ↗