Rabbi Avraham Steinberg and team hosted by the president of Israel in honor of 70 years since the beginning of the creation of the Talmudic Encyclopedia

Rabbi Avraham Steinberg and team hosted by the president of Israel in honor of 70 years since the beginning of the creation of the Talmudic Encyclopedia
Rabbi Avraham Steinberg and team hosted by the president of Israel in honor of 70 years since the beginning of the creation of the Talmudic Encyclopedia

rabbisteinbergBy Toby Klein Greenwald

Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg will iy’H be the guest of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst this weekend, Parashat Noach, and will discuss timely topics connected to the parashah. He will give a short talk during davening on Friday evening, which will be an introduction to a comparison between Jewish and secular medical ethics; at the 8:30 a.m. minyan, a talk on abortion; and at the 9:00 a.m. minyan, a talk on determining the moment of death. He will give a talk on stem-cell research and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis–halachic considerations–at seudah shlishit. Sunday morning he will have a meeting with rabbanim that will be an open Q&A on medical halachic topics.

Rabbi Steinberg, a talmid chacham, physician, and renowned ethicist, is director of the medical-ethics unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, director of Yad Harav Herzog Institutes, head of the editorial board of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, and editor-in-chief of the Talmudic Micropedia. He is also co-chairman of the Israeli National Council on Bioethics. Professor Steinberg has published widely and has been the recipient of many prestigious awards.

The Five Towns Jewish Times published an article two years ago on the groundbreaking Talmudic Encyclopedia. In honor of his upcoming trip, I interviewed the rabbi again on some of the challenging topics he confronts as a Jewish medical ethicist.

Do you agree with the ruling of Magen David Adom that a medic must first treat the one who is the worst injured in a terror attack, even if it is the terrorist? Or should they first treat those who have been wounded by the terrorist?

Rabbi Steinberg: According to the halachah, the terrorist is seen as a rodef who may be killed if he is threatening to kill others, but if someone harmed him and “neutralized” him, and there is no possibility that he is still threatening and is a danger, and he is still alive, there is no heter to kill him. Having said that, in the case that there have been people who, as a result of his attack, are critically wounded, treating them takes precedence over treating the terrorist and they must be treated first. In contrast, if there is no one among the wounded whose life is in danger, and the terrorist is critically wounded, he must be treated first, and if they [the medics] succeeded in saving his life, he will stand trial.

What is your position on cloning? Do you believe that a human being can be cloned, and, if so, what about the neshamah (soul)?

Rabbi Steinberg: In my opinion, from ikar ha’din, there is no prohibition in cloning, because all the stages that are necessary to create a clone are composed of elements that are not prohibited. Also, it is reasonable to assume that from the technological-scientific perspective, it might be possible to achieve the creation of the clone of a person, as has been done with animals. And if one can imagine that scientists will succeed by implanting the fertilized egg in the method of cloning in the uterus of a woman, and a boy or girl will be born, his or her halachic status will be as a regular person, though there will be problems identifying the father and/or the mother in the course of these processes.

But from the medical-moral perspective, in my opinion, it is prohibited to participate in experiments regarding the creation of a cloned person, because we saw in the case of the cloned sheep Dolly that until she was created there were many disfigured animals that were created with terrible suffering to them, and it is prohibited to perform experiments that cause such terrible suffering to so many.

Is it important for everyone to leave a “living will”?

Rabbi Steinberg: Due to advanced technology and the possibility of the extension of life, and due to the differences of opinions between the Western medical-ethical systems and halachah, and, similarly, due to certain differences of opinions between poskim (halachic decisors) in the framework of halachah, it is preferable to prepare detailed medical instructions in advance, but it is mandatory to be sure to write them down according to the din and in consultation with serious poskim who are experts in end-of-life issues.

What if a family leaves a living will that is in contradiction to halachah?

Rabbi Steinberg: According to the halachah, a will made in contradiction to the halachah is not moila, not acceptable, and even if the person is standing before us and saying that he wishes for things to be done to him at his life’s end that are prohibited according to the halachah, one is not permitted to do as he says.

Is there a preference to treat a younger patient before an elderly patient; for example, if both need a transplant and there is only one organ available?

Rabbi Steinberg: Regarding the question of who is treated first in the case of insufficient supplies, funds, or manpower, it is not permitted to discriminate against the elder in favor of the younger; rather, one must behave according to their medical situations, and treat them according to who has the greater chance of the treatment’s succeeding.

Up until what month may a pregnant mother do fetal testing, and in which cases is it halachically acceptable to abort, for which reason?

Rabbi Steinberg: The issue of abortions has changed in recent years in contrast to the discussions that were held during the days of Chazal and until recently. During the entire previous era, the discussion was regarding the issue of danger to the mother, i.e., if the continuation of the pregnancy or the impending birth may kill the mother. In such a situation, the halachah was pronounced during the times of the Mishnah already–that the life of the mother takes precedence over the life of the fetus–and abortion is permitted at every stage until the head exits the body, in order to save the life of the mother.

In our day and age, such situations of danger to the mother’s life almost do not exist. On the other hand, the questions today that relate to fetal aborting are due to the fact that it is possible to discover the situation of the fetus through various tests–ultrasound, amniocentesis, etc.; it is possible to know in advance if a particular fetus will be disabled or sick to a certain degree or will not even be able to live at all. Regarding these issues, the poskim are divided regarding if it is at all permitted to abort the sick/disabled fetus, and, if so, in what situations. v

Toby Klein Greenwald is a contributing editor for the Five Towns Jewish Times, an award-winning educational theater director, and the editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com.

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