avi@pegasus.UUCP (Avi E. Gross) (02/26/84)
Steve Kramer (axiom!smk): The reason Jews are Jews if their mothers are Jews is simply (and this is true) -- you know who your mother it -- you can't always be sure of the father. Me: Steve is right. Alas, modern medicine does not cooperate very well with the reasons for Jewish Law. Due to recent advances, it is very possible that a woman can deliver a baby -- without even knowing who the biological parents of her child (sic) are. It is even possible to have a "virgin birth"!!!! (Well, at least until the hymen is broken during birth (unless done by Caesarian section -- which leaves a scar) :-) The implantation procedure can be done without leaving a scar or other traces. Currently, paternity tests can only prove that you are NOT the father. They can never prove that you ARE the father, unless it is proven that you do not have an identical twin somewhere, and you test the entire male population of the world!!! Maternity tests would suffer from the same limitations. I don't even want to talk about cloning, which would raise an entirely new set of issues. How would this affect hallacha? Should we lock up a woman for several months before and after conception -- to keep any doctors away from her womb? Is it really fair to Jewish men to not allow their children to be considered Jewish if they claim that the child is their own? I know that this issue has driven wedges between the Orthodox Jews and some elements of the more liberal Reform Jews. I accept the fact that Orthodoxy can probably never change this rule for themselves. As long as I am on the issue, what are the religious views on other reproductive issues in various flavors of Judaism? Remembering that, as Andy said, the only form of Judaism that is truly related to classical Judaism is the Orthodox variety, please qualify your remarks by stating which branch of the faith, as well as which authority, allows you to make your statement in their behalf. The specific issues I am curious about include, but are not limited to: + Allowable birth control methods. + (I shudder to raise the issue again) Abortion. I don't want to start a (de)moralizing debate about this issue. I just want to know if your local congregation/group feels it is never/always/sometimes allowed. + Is artificial insemination allowed? If so, any restrictions on who the donor can be? + Is voluntary sterilization allowed? I know many of the answers for some groups, but I am willing to bet there is a wide divergence of Jewish opinion on this topic -- particularly among the large number of Jews that are not affiliated with an organized religion. For the record, my fiance'e is Jewish, although past girlfriends have been non-Jewish, or converts, or had only a Jewish father. Had I married anyone else, my parents would not consider their grandchildren Jewish. Amazingly, some people rationalize these things away once the children are born, especially if the mother and/or the children "convert". P.S. I would like to ask those of you who post articles asking about things of "local" interest, like "knishes in NJ" to consider using the DISTRIBUTION feature of postnews to limit it to a local geographic area -- if your version of the news software allows it. -- -=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241 suggested paths: [ihnp4, allegra, cbosg, hogpc, ...]!pegasus!avi