Matters of Life and Death

Rating:
Summary: A Jewish anchor to issues at the beginning and end of life
Review: Rabbi Elliot Dorff has lectured widely on medical and bioethics facing moderns: artificial insemination, abortion, adoption, prolonging life artificially, organ donation, and more. In this book, he compiles his years of research into a cogent and accessible discussion of Jewish law to provide a profoundly human approach to some of the most difficult aspects of life any of us will ever face.

Beginning with a discussion of the fundamental beliefs underlying Jewish medical ethics (The body belongs to God, Human worth stems from being created in God's Image, Jews have a mandate and duty to heal), he proceeds to first deal with moral issues at the beginning of life. Topics include having children with one's own genetic materials, using donated genetic materials, the social context for generating life (including a discussion on homosexuality). The second major part of the book deals with the matters at the end of life: the process of dying, after death issues (such as organ donation). He concludes with a section on "The Communal Context of Medical Care" (preventing illness, our duty to preserve health and visit the sick.)

For this non-scholar, this was a wonderful book that deepend my appreciation for the value and dignity that Jewish law has for life and for the logical and scholarly wisdom of Rabbi Dorff.

Rating:
Summary: A Jewish anchor to issues at the beginning and end of life
Review: Rabbi Elliot Dorff has lectured widely on medical and bioethics facing moderns: artificial insemination, abortion, adoption, prolonging life artificially, organ donation, and more. In this book, he compiles his years of research into a cogent and accessible discussion of Jewish law to provide a profoundly human approach to some of the most difficult aspects of life any of us will ever face.

Beginning with a discussion of the fundamental beliefs underlying Jewish medical ethics (The body belongs to God, Human worth stems from being created in God's Image, Jews have a mandate and duty to heal), he proceeds to first deal with moral issues at the beginning of life. Topics include having children with one's own genetic materials, using donated genetic materials, the social context for generating life (including a discussion on homosexuality). The second major part of the book deals with the matters at the end of life: the process of dying, after death issues (such as organ donation). He concludes with a section on "The Communal Context of Medical Care" (preventing illness, our duty to preserve health and visit the sick.)

For this non-scholar, this was a wonderful book that deepend my appreciation for the value and dignity that Jewish law has for life and for the logical and scholarly wisdom of Rabbi Dorff.