Home > FJN News & Features > South Florida > Stem Cell Research Permitted According to Halacha

 

Stem Cell Research Permitted According to Halacha

Click here to recommend
this article to a friend
By Rick Adelman

Renowned Bioethics expert, Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler, speaks to capacity crowd in Boca Raton


Please support our advertisers

Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 500 at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, medical bioethics expert Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler of New York’s Yeshiva University emphatically stated that Jewish law permits embryonic stem cell research and that Jewish tradition clearly mandates the seeking of cures for diseases that cause great human suffering.

Citing Torah sources, the 80-year-old biology professor and Rosh Yeshiva of the university’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) explained that harvesting stem cells from an early-stage embryo on day five or day six does not violate Jewish law concerning when an embryo achieves legal status as a human being.

"That only occurs after 40 days when the embryo has already reached human form and developed all of its organ systems, including having a heartbeat," Tendler said.

In addition, Tendler explained that embryos in a laboratory in a Petri dish have no chance of becoming children without being implanted in a womb.

"Some Christian groups equate embryonic stem cell research with abortion, but that is not Judaism’s position," Tendler said. "Because the culling of stem cells by necessity results in the destruction of embryos, these groups oppose it."

During his first term in office, President George Bush announced the federal government would only fund research for existing stem cell lines developed by August 9, 2001 believing that opening new stem cell lines would encourage the destruction of human embryos.

"One of the great tragedies of the Bush administration has been the weakening of the wall between church and state, between the religious and the medical," said Tendler, adding that many of America’s leading stem cell scientists are now working in other countries where they have more freedom in research.

"We can be proud that Israel is a world leader in this regard and that many of the best brains in America have gone to do their research at the Weitzman Institute," Tendler said. "Weitzman is the only place so far that has developed stem cells not grown from mice cells."

Because of their regenerative properties, scientists believe that stem cells can be used to treat a variety of degenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and spinal cord injury.

"My stance can’t change the controversy," said Tendler, who also serves as rabbi of the Community Synagogue in Monsey, N.Y. "I can only resolve the controversy by saying that if the instruction of the Torah was followed, there would be no controversy. But people don’t follow the Torah."

The audience that packed Zinman Hall on the Federation’s west Boca Raton campus included many of Tendler’s friends and former students and colleagues at Yeshiva University. Rabbis representing the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches of Judaism also attended the program presented by the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

"With Florida being a retirement community, when you start talking about some of these diseases you’re obviously dealing with issues that people are very concerned about," said Tendler, whose father-in law, the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, was regarded as his generation’s leading expert on halacha (religious law).

The program also included remarks from attorney Bernard Siegel, executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute in Wellington. Considered one of the world’s foremost stem cell research advocates and policy experts, Siegel has appeared on numerous TV news programs and has been quoted extensively in major newspapers. He predicated that it is only a matter of time before funding restrictions are lifted.

"I am proud that so many came out to discuss this revolutionary topic," said JCRC Chair Steve Mendelsohn. "There appears to be a consensus that Jewish law and ethics supports stem cell research including embryonic cells. Hopefully, our voices can be heard in this national debate."



Posted by Rick Adelman on 01/19 at 01:00 AM • Hits: 765



Reader Comments

Next entry: FAU cafe to cater to kosher palates
Previous entry: Disabusing the abusers: A tightrope act

<< Back to main