NEW - Jewish Medical Ethics Vol. VI, no1
27.03.08
From the Editor's Desk
I am pleased to present to our readers a timely, interesting and relevant selection of topics in this current issue.
With the ever increasing use of in vitro fertilization and other technological interventions in the formerly natural birth process the issue of paternal identity has become a subject of intense interest and some controversy. Societal attitudes and approaches vary from country to country and have shown dramatic changes over the years. Mordechai Halperin surveys the topic in detail and demonstrates how the newer societal, personal and ethical demands are moving closer to the traditional halakhic approach whereby parental identity is critical.
The major advances in reproductive endocrinology have been of great assistance to observant couples in planning their wedding dates to avoid the stressful occurrence of chuppat niddah. Deena Rachel Zimmerman brings to the discussion personal experience as a physician dealing with this issue on a regular basis as well as knowledge of the appropriate halakhic considerations.
The next two articles deal with very current issues which have affected the performance of brit milah. There has been an increasing demand on the part of parents for the use of some anesthesia during circumcision, and some parents have turned the procedure over to physicians instead of mohalim in order to obtain anesthesia. Avraham Steinberg brings to bear his halakhic knowledge and experience as a pediatric neurologist to survey all aspects of anesthesia in circumcision.
The several widely publicized incidents of babies who have contracted herpes virus infections shortly after being circumcised using metzitzah b'peh have reawakened the controversy about the procedure. David Shabtai uses this controversy to elaborate on the entire concept of risk taking in halakhah, not merely in the circumcision arena, but in a variety of situations.
At the other end of life the subject of organ transplantation remains as acute as ever with hundreds of Israelis on waiting lists for organs and with the percentage of Israelis willing to donate organs among the lowest in the Western world, in part because of halakhic considerations involving the determination of the moment of death. Some important poskim do not accept brain death as valid. Rav Yitschak Shilat reviews the halakhic controversy, and comes down firmly on the side of the psak of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, supporting the validity of brain death.
Finally, syphilis, which seems to have made a significant comeback clinically in the past decade, is reviewed from its medical, halakhic and ethical aspects by Abraham Ofir Shemesh.
I hope you find this issue interesting and stimulating. I encourage you to write us with your comments and to send us your manuscripts.
Prof. Shimon Glick, M.D.
Editor-in-Chief
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