Bernard S. Jackson has rightly warned that while it is tempting to analyze Jewish law in terms of secular theories of jurisprudence, the success of such a project is not guaranteed. For while there are correspondences between Jewish law and positivism, Jewish law and natural law theory, Jewish law and social contract theory – there is no systematic correspondence and indeed, there are points of...

Jewish bioethics in the contemporary era emerges from the traditional practice of applying principles of Jewish law (Halacha) to ethical dilemmas. The Bible (written law) and the Talmud (oral law) are the foundational texts on which such deliberations are based. Interpretation of passages in these texts attempts to identify the duties of physicians, patients and families faced with difficult he...

The relationship between modern technology, biomedical ethics and Jewish law has been well developed over the last fifty years. As has been noted in a variety of sources and in diverse contexts, Jewish law insists that new technologies — and particularly new reproductive technologies — are neither definitionally prohibited nor definitionally permissible in the eyes of Jewish law, but rather sub...

islamic jurisprudence is one of the most important issues in the field of islamic studies. islamic jurisprudence has been studied by numerous western scholars. some of them assumed that islamic system of law adopted jewish or roman system of law and in many cases based on them.the origin of islamic urisprudence is also one of the controversial issues in this respect. some western scholars, in a...

This Article attempts to untangle Jewish law regarding assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), namely artificial insemination with husband’s sperm, artificial insemination with donor sperm, and in vitro fertilization. The author examines teachings by prominent Jewish law scholars and clarifies basic schools of thought regarding each method. He explores Jewish law prohibitions on incest and a...

Over the years, a number of Jewish legal classics have become available to the English reading public. The Mishna, 1 the Babylonian Talmud 2 and the Abbreviated Code 3 have been the object of translation, and presently the Code of Maimonides is acquiring an English garb.4 However, the Mishna provides but the outline of Jewish law; the Talmud demands skills that can be commanded only after years...

In 1975, writing about the immorality of a strike by resident physicians (housestaff) in New York City,1 I pointed out that "for a physician to strike, for whatever reason, is unconscionable and totally contrary to every standard. of medical ethics and morality." Although sympathetic to the demands of the housestaff, I argued that to leave patients without direct medical assistance and attendan...

Background Placebos have been used in one form or another for at least two centuries.1 Researchers in the late eighteenth century, in an attempt to establish science as a sound discipline separate from unorthodox and unconventional fi elds of treatment and therapy, recognized the idea of confounding environmental and psychological factors and attempted to mitigate them as best possible. For mos...