Discussions in Jewish Bioethics

Bioethics Group of the Society of Jewish Ethics

Program Co-Chairs:

Jonathan Cohen, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati

Michal Raucher, Northwestern University, Chicago

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Thursday afternoon at Hilton Chicago

January 3, 2013, starting at 1:20pm

Open to SJE Annual Meeting registrants and to all others interested in the subject

Thursday, January 3, 2013                                                        Willford C

1:20-3:00pm   Bioethics Session 1

1:25-1:30pm    Convener and Discussion Leader: Michal Raucher, NorthwesternUniversity, Chicago

1:30-2:00pm    Presenter: Alyssa Henning, Northwestern University

                           Title: Jewish Bioethics: Tracing its Past, Mapping its Present, and Shaping its Future

                           Abstract:

Jewish bioethics has more to offer bioethics discourse than ever before as scholars incorporate new methods and sources into their work.  But Jewish bioethics’ richness remains hidden when new methods are not always clearly articulated or new sources’ full implications only tentatively developed.  I arrange American Jewish bioethics into three phases: (I) defining Jewish bioethics as a subset of halakhah (Jewish law); (II) uncovering liberal alternatives within orthodoxy; and (III) looking beyond the Talmud.  Analyzing emerging Phase III trends and exploring lessons that earlier phases offer current scholarship, I consider how to maximize Jewish bioethics’ relevance to bioethics discourse.

2:00-2:15pm    Respondents:

                           1. Elliot Dorff, American Jewish University, Los Angeles  

                           2. Louis Newman, Carleton College

2:15-3:00pm    Discussion

3:00-3:02pm    Greetings from Jewish Bioethics Group: Sander Mendelson, Medstar Washington Hospital Center

3:02-3:15pm   BREAK

3:15-4:45pm   Bioethics Session 2

3:15-3:35pm    Convener and Discussion Leader: Jonathan Crane, Emory University

                            Presenter: Yaniv Ron-El, The University of Chicago

                            Title: Prenatal Sex Selection: Between Margins of Life and Margins of Liberal Politics

                            Abstract:

Novel technology enabling sex selection prior to birth and to conception has sparked fierce ethical debates among religious thinkers, bio-ethicists and policy-makers alike. The question is whether individuals should be allowed to use the technology for non-medical reasons. I will present some recent answers from the Jewish (orthodox) perspective and the official Israeli Ministry of Health guidelines, emphasizing their religious aspects, some of which are rather surprising. In addition, I will discuss my original ethical approach that sees political intervention in the question of sex selection as compatible with liberal philosophy. This approach relies heavily on the unique interpretations by Hanna Arendt and David Heyd to the Genesis creation myth.

3:35-3:40pm    Respondent: Len Sharzer, Jewish Theological Seminary

3:40-4:00pm    Discussion

4:00-4:20pm  Convener and Discussion Leader: Lila Kagedan, Harvard University & Yeshiva Maharat

                          Presenter: Rebecca Levi, University of Virginia

                          Title: Community, Authority and Autonomy: Jewish Responses to the Vaccine Wars

                          Abstract:

What can the Jewish tradition contribute to the current public debate about vaccination? Much of the rhetoric surrounding vaccine refusal appeals to concepts of individual autonomy and fears of political and intellectual authority, claiming that the individual is the best expert on their own health and actively denying accepted medical consensus. Unlike many other health decisions, vaccine refusal has direct and measurable consequences for one’s community. The Jewish tradition’s emphasis on community and the well-being of the collective, as well as its tradition of respect for intellectual authority, can be a critical support to the medical community in encouraging widespread vaccination.

4:20-4:25pm    Respondent: Paul Wolpe, Emory University

4:25-4:45pm    Discussion

4:45-5:00pm   BREAK

5:00-5:45pm   Bioethics Session 3

5:00-5:20pm    Convener and Discussion Leader: Cristina Traina, Northwestern University

           Presenter: Mara Benjamin, St. Olaf College

           Title: Bringing Maternity in from the Margins

                           Abstract:

In recent decades, feminist theologians and ethicists have argued that maternal obligation and childrearing offers a lens through which claims about ethical obligation can and should be refracted.  This paper evaluates how these investigations – largely undertaken within a Christian context – may be used to advance normative Jewish thought.  I argue that Jewish feminists have given short shrift to the significant role obligation has traditionally played in Jewish conceptions of human life and propose how a Jewish feminist examination of commandedness and obligation could benefit from theological and ethical considerations of maternal activity.

5:20-5:25pm    Respondent: TBA

5:25-5:45pm    Discussion

5:45-7:00pm   Bioethics Keynote Session

5:45-5:50pm    Convener and Discussion Leader: Jonathan Cohen, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of 

                            Religion, Cincinnati

5:50-6:35pm    Speaker: Laurie Zoloth, Northwestern University

            Topic: Interdisciplinarity in Jewish Bioethics

6:35-7:00pm    Discussion

6:58-7:00pm    Closing and thank you:Sander Mendelson, Medstar Washington Hospital Center

7:15-10:00pm      SJE Board meeting

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