Chicago Center for Jewish Genetics Disorders - Resources for Rabbis

Articles & Resources for Rabbis

This section contains professional and educational materials for Rabbis concerned about the physical health and well being of individuals and families in the Jewish community. Included are articles written both by and for Rabbis, which explore genetic issues from a traditional Jewish perspective.

Don't forget to visit our pages on bioethics!

Articles
    Center Articles
    Online Articles
    Other Articles
Other Resources
    Links
    Books

Articles:

Center Articles:

"An Overview of Halachic Issues Pertaining to Jewish Genetic Disorders"
by Rabbi James Gordon, JD, September 2002.

Online Articles:

"Judaism, Genetic Screening, and Genetic Therapy"
by Fred Rosner, MD, Medical Ethics from the Jewish Virtual Library: A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/genetic.html

"Genetic Screening for Breast Cancer"
transcripts from a conference panel discussion, National Institute for Judaism and Medicine, 1996. The session is moderated and introduced by Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D., and features presentations by Harvey Stern, M.D., and Rabbi Moshe Tendler, Ph.D.
http://www.nijm.org/oldnijm/NIJMBreastCancer.html

"Medical Informed Consent in Jewish Law - from the Patient's Side"
by Daniel Eisenberg, MD, Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society reprinted online by Jewish Law.com, The Center for Halacha and American Law, The Aleph Institute.
http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/MedConsent.html

Other features on Jewish Law (http://www.jlaw.com) are:

"How A Rabbi Decides A Medical Halacha Issue" by Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz

"The Preembryo in Halacha" by Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz

Jews & the Human Genome Project
http://jlaw.com/Commentary/genome.html

"Genome Jitters"
by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, originally published in the Forward July 2000,
Project Next Step, Simon Weisenthal Center
http://www.projectnextstep.org/adlerstein-articles/genome-jitters.htm

Other Articles:

"Screening Jews and genes: A consideration of ethics of genetic screening within the Jewish community," by M. Levin Genetic Testing (3)2, 207-213, 1999

"Genetic screening: Survey of recent Halakhic periodical literature," J. David Bleich, Tradition. 2000 Spring; 34(1):63-87.

"Genetic screening for breast cancer susceptibility: A Torah perspective," A. Mosenkis, J Halacha Contemporary Society. 1997 Fall; No. 34:5-26.

Other Resources:

Links:

Darche Noam: Medical Ethics and Halakha
http://www.darchenoam.org/ethics/medical/med_home.htm

Jerusalem Center for Research Medicine and Halacha
http://www.j-c-r.org/

Jewish Law.com: Examining Halacha, Jewish Issues, and Secular Law
http://www.jlaw.com/

Medical Ethics from the Jewish Virtual Library
A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/medtoc.html

National Institute of Judaism and Medicine
http://www.nijm.org/

Weizmann Institute of Science
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/
The Weizmann Institute of Science Crown Human Genome Center
http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il/genome_center/

Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem: Schlesinger Institute for Medical-Halachic Research
http://www.szmc.org.il/index.asp?id=94&top=1
or http://www.szmc.org.il/

UAHC Bioethics (Union of American Hebrew Congregations)
The UAHC Department of Jewish Family Concerns provides congregations and clergy with a Reform Jewish perspective on these issues, so that they can more effectively counsel, guide and support their congregants.
http://uahc.org/jfc/bioethics.shtml

Books:

Duty and Healing: Foundations of a Jewish Bioethic
Benjamin Freedman / Paperback / Routledge / June 1999
http://www.thebody.com/iapac/freedman.html

The Max M. and Marjorie B. Kampelman Collection of Jewish Ethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/kampelman/index.htm