Essays: RELIGIOUS MEDICAL ETHICS: A Study of the Rulings of Rabbi Waldenberg

This article seeks to examine how religious ideas that are not the focus of a particular halakhic question become the crux of the ruling, thereby molding it and dictating its bias. We will attempt to demonstrate this through a study of Jewish medical ethics, based on some of the rulings of one of the greatest halakhic decisors of the previous generation: Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (1915–2006). Rabbi Waldenberg molds his rulings on the basis of a religious principle asserting that the legitimacy of any medical procedure is qualified and limited. Rabbi Waldenberg rejects certain accepted medical practices, including plastic surgery, in vitro fertilization, and organ transplants. Even if these procedures are regarded by other halakhic decisors as being legitimate, for Rabbi Waldenberg they are ethically and religiously improper, and therefore they are halakhically forbidden.     

On the Symbiosis of Science and Religion: A Jewish Perspective

Three theses are explored, the first two historical and the third philosophical-theological: (1) throughout most of the history ofWestern civilization, science and religion have been closely connected with each other, and each has benefited from the connection; (2) the belief that science and religion have always been in conflict is not based on the actual history of either set of institutions; and (3) structurally a relationship between the two institutions is in the interest of both. By religion here I mean specifically, but not exclusively, Judaism.     

A qualitative analysis of contemporary ultra-orthodox rabbinical perspectives on scrupulosity

Scrupulosity is a religiously themed sub-type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Religious individuals with scrupulosity tend to first turn to clergy for assistance rather than to mental health professionals. This is particularly relevant for Ultra-Orthodox Jewish patients, whose rabbis arbitrate a wide variety of life issues. In the current qualitative study, 15 Ultra-Orthodox rabbis were interviewed regarding their views on scrupulosity and their responses were analysed via grounded theory and thematic networks theory. All rabbis were familiar with scrupulosity and distinguished it from normative behaviors. Their conceptualizations regarding etiology were mostly psychological in nature, as opposed to religious or spiritual. Rabbis were generally supportive of psychology as a professional field and open to collaborating with therapists, although some controversies were raised. Given their isolated lifestyle, these findings are somewhat surprising and encouraging. Results suggest collaboration with Ultra-Orthodox rabbis can be fruitful and at times essential when dealing with scrupulosity.