The Value of Life in the Jewish Tradition

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The value of life in the Jewish tradition:

Towards understanding Jewish bioethics articolo

Michael Barilan

דובכ) Introduction: four perspectives on life as a value sense of dignity and self-respect .4(תוירבה he task ahead involves a translation In Judaism, the expression “the sanctity of means the sanctification (םייחה תשודק) ”from one culture to another; from life TJudaism to the academic discipline of life by means of pure and holy lifestyles. of bioethics. Whereas typical translation in- There is no unifying and comprehensive volves the articulation of a symbol from the term addressing the moral status of human original language in the target language, life and its inviolability5. Put in philosophi- talking about the value of life requires a sort cal terms, in Judaism, “the sanctity of life” of “reverse engineering”, that is to say, the entails an “appraisal respect”, whereas no Department of Medical explication of a symbol, or a set of symbols specific legal or theological concept en- Education, Sackler which are taken from the target language compasses ‘recognition respect’ for life as Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel and reconstructing it in the original one. I such6. In the Western traditions, “respect” is will try to do this with caution, being sen- associated with awe from power7. The fun- sitive to all level of meaning found in reli- damental message of Judaism is that authen- gion – from spiritual ideas, through morals, tic power is never within this world, but all the way to specific laws and opinions. beyond it – in God’s hands, and in the hands Such endeavor will require multidisciplinary of His delegates – judges and parents. The effort, drawing on jurisprudence, social his- word “respect” (Kavod) is not found in the tory, moral theory and hermeneutics. Torah in relation to life or any other worldly One may wonder whether the concept of entity8. “the Jewish tradition” is coherent enough. In Judaism, the value of life may be ap- In this article, I draw mainly on rabbinic lit- proached from four different perspectives. erature, ignoring new movements (e.g. Re- The first perspective on life is protective. It form Judaism) and oral traditions and is an attitude of love, or at least compassion practices. that does not allow us to harm life and destroy it. Hence, God admonishes the prophet .1(םייח ץע) ”The Torah is called a “tree of life To follow the word of God is “a choice of Jonah, «You have had pity on the gourd -for which you have not labored, nei ,(ןויקיק) .life” for oneself and for one’s offspring2 Such life is the basis and the telos of every- ther made it grow, which came up in night, thing. Because it is said, «he shall live in and perished in a night, and should not I them [the laws of the Torah]», there is a duty spare Nineveh that great city, wherein are to violate almost all the prohibitions in the more than six score thousand persons that Torah for the sake of saving life.The Torah cannot discern their right hand from left desires that people live, before it requires hand, and also much cattle»9. them to fulfill their lives3. Sometimes, Jew- Jonah had no genuine respect for the gourd. ish law prefers omission of good deeds, and He simply needed its shadow. But God ex- even minor evils in order to protect people’s pects man to care for the fate of human and Studia Bioethica - vol. 2 (2009) n. 3 , pp. 11-21

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non-human life, regardless of its utility. The fourth perspective on the value of life The second perspective is about applying in Judaism is the most subtle and most re- the value of life to real life situations – when sistant to conceptual analysis. Apparently it is it is permitted at all to harm or destroy life, not normative at all. It is about those things to refrain from saving life and why. In West- that are valuable within worldly life, even ern ethics, this perspective is referred to as though they do not transcend beyond it, and part of practical reason. even though they do not embody any reli- Ironically, the first prohibition on bloodshed gious or moral value, other than apprecia- is articulated in terms of the death penalty. tion of life itself. “Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the Image of God made he man”.10 The Torah does not tell us Recognition respect for life: its protection directly, “do not kill” the way God pro- scribed eating from the tree of knowledge. Respect for life in the sense of non-harm- From the story on Cain and Abel we learn ing is the essence of Jewish virtue ethics.The that this knowledge is self-evident; every medieval book “Sefer Hahinnukh” (the person must recognize it naturally. Less clear book of formation) writes on the prohibi- is the fate of murderers, tion on futile destruction:16 «The precept is known to be [ תיחשת לב «because they are persons [«Do not destroy In Judaism, the value of endowed with inviolable rooted in teaching our souls to love and ad- life may be approached life who personally vio- here to that which is good and beneficial. If from four different per- lated the inviolable. If the we do so, goodness will cling to us and we spectives first lesson on the value of will avoid all evil things and anything con- human life is the self-ev- cerning destruction. And this is the way of ident character of its non- virtuous people (hassidim). . . they will not violability, the second let even a mustard seed be lost in the world, lesson is that, paradoxically, the unique re- and they will grieve for any loss or destruc- spect accorded to human life, sometimes en- tion that they see, and if they can save, they tails the taking of life. will save everything from the destroyer, with However, the rabbis have always maintained all their might. This is not true of the evil a very strong presumption against deliber- ones…., who rejoice in the destruction of ate killing. Over and above being a unique the world, and they are the destroyers». moral offense against the Image of God in It follows that the prohibition «Do not de- humans, homicide unravels the very fabrics stroy» is not just one precept among many, of society. Maimonides refers to murderers but a behavior pattern which distinguishes a and worse than good person from a depraved one, a person ,(רמג עשר) ”as “complete evil worshipers of idols and other sinners and who desires good from one who is indiffer- malefactors 1. ent to good or even desires evil. The third perspective relates to the inherent In Jewish moral theology, being a Hassid is value of creating new life. The blessing “be the most sublime virtue on the scale of rab- fertile and increase”1 has been read by the binic virtues17. According to “Sefer hahin- rabbis as fulfillment of the Image of God in cuh”, the chief characteristic of Hassid is man13. The only Jewish benediction invok- respect for life, even in its simplest manifes- ing the creation in the Image of God is said tation (a mustard seed is a synonym in the during the celebration of matrimony. More- Talmud for the most minuscule unit)18. Awe over, the Talmudic sages wrote that celibacy or respect for life is not mentioned, but love «diminishes the icon of God in the world»14. and adherence19. Such words are not to be found in rabbinic The apparent Talmudic source for the com- literature with regard to people who neg- parison of the virtuous (Hassid) with the lect their intellectual or spiritual faculties15. wicked is a passage expounding of scrupu-

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lousness not to induce miscarriage20:«Three world23. Although in Jewish law the offense things have been said of nail-parings: he of murder includes ipso facto an offense who buries them is virtuous (hassid); he against the percept of neighborly love, the who burns them is righteous (tzaddik); he prohibition on murder (the sixth com- who throws them away is evil (rasha). Why mandment) is not derived from the neigh- is this? Lest a pregnant woman pass over borly love.24 This underscores a special and them and miscarry». independent regard to life.This independ- Though in several places, the Jewish sages ence is a key reason why one does not find compare a “righteous person” to an “evil a logical systematization of the value of life person,”21 this passage is the only source that relative to other values in Jewish law and juxtaposes the three key terms, “virtuous,” ethics. -thus The Talmud infers the principle of the pri (עשרו קידצ ,דיסח) ”,righteous” and “evil“ establishing the ground for Talmudic virtue macy of saving life over all other values and ethics. Talmudic literature generally indicates laws from an earlier teaching25, «A pregnant that the difference between the virtuous or woman who smelled [food and was seized the righteous and the evildoer is the degree by cravings] on Yom Kippur [a day of fast to which he or she distances oneself from and the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar] destruction. The paradigmatic target of de- [must be] fed until her soul struction is neither art nor rare natural ob- returns to her». jects, but incipient life. This is exemplified The medieval sages (Ha- Respect for life in the by the tiniest and apparently unnoticeable lakhoth Gedoloth and Nah- sense of non-harming is seed of mustard. The passage on the nail- manides) entered into the essence of Jewish vir- pairings underscores care even when the disputations on the ques- tue ethics chances of inducing miscarriage are very tion of whether permis- low. sion was given to respond Obviously, there is nothing wrong about to her cravings only to save eating mustard. Rather, the salubrious con- her life, or whether it was permissible to vi- sumption of mustard and other plants and olate the fast day to save the pregnancy as even animals is something good, part of the well, even if her own life were not at stake26. natural order and the sustenance of culture. Perhaps the moral idea behind this ruling is The onus of the moral question is not the the message that no clear-cut distinction be- fate of life, but the attitude of people towards tween extant and evolving life exists. More- life. Judicious consumption is good; futile over, rabbinic law indicates that respect for destruction is the essence of vice. life is carried out through respect for the Mustard is not a staple food; it is not neces- subjective state of mind of the pregnant sary for survival. However, the mere wish to woman. She is given food until she feels re- condiment one’s dish renders the eating of lieved, not until expert doctors opine that mustard compatible with the virtuous life. she has eaten enough27. When an ordinary The moral standing of human embryos is at patient is fed on Yom Kippur, doctors de- completely different level, so the justifica- cide how much a sick person needs to eat; tions meriting the loss of human life may be but not how much a pregnant woman few and stringent. does28. Human life has a special moral status.A sin- In the Talmud, two prominent second-cen- gle human being is considered as special as tury rabbis debate which is the “greater the creation of the whole world22.The Tal- axim” of the Torah. Ben Azzai argues that it mud teaches that every human being is a is imago Dei29; Rabbi Akiva contends that unique manifestation of the Image of God; it is the Golden Rule of neighborly love, that the loss of a single life is tantamount to and that we should accept violation of God’s the loss of the whole world, and that saving dignity for the sake of sparing a person se- one life is tantamount to saving the whole rious suffering (Talmud Yerushalmi,

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Nedarim, 9:4). In the rabbinic writings, cannot break the taboo on active killing (i.e. neighborly love and a negative formulation active euthanasia) rabbis have went a long of the Golden Rule are synonymous – «Do distance in order to make it possible for pa- not do unto others what you do not wish to tients to disconnect from life support, refuse be done to yourself». Hillel the Sage de- medical care and avoid unacceptable suffer- scribes this maxim as the fundament of the ing, even at the price of death (next section). whole of the Torah, on the basis of which This attention to subjective states of mind is all the rest may be inferred (Talmud, Shab- the hallmark of the rabbinic construction of bath, 31a)30. the value of neighborly love, thus under- Rabbi Akiva states in the Talmud that God’s scoring a relational aspect in the valuation «special love of man is manifested in the cre- of life. Worldly creatures are called «those In .3(םלוע יאב) «ation of man in imago Dei» (Mishnah, who have entered the world Avoth, 3, 14)31. Whereas respect for human the same vein, the fetus is a person once it אצי) ”dignity typically follows objective standards of has “entered into the air of the world i.e. born)3. The special moral) (םלועה ריואל -care, Rabbi Akiva stresses the value of re spect for subjective personal valuation and status of humans is connected to their rela- choices even beyond and even against the tional situation within the world, not to objective measures of their being alive.A medieval exegesis on the The loss of a single life human welfare – e.g., Talmud describes a live fetus within the is tantamount to the «the common good». womb of a dead mother as having the status loss of the whole world, The controversy between of a borne child. Upon her death, the and that saving one life Rabbi Akiva and Ben mother has become an object, part of the is tantamount to sa- Azzai bears upon the “world” and her body is legally conceptual- contemporary debate on ized as a box in which a human person en- ving the whole world euthanasia (passive or ac- trapped.35 The box metaphor would never tive). Philosopher David be acceptable as long as the woman is alive Vellman writes that human life has to modes (even if mortally ill) as it degrades a human of valuation. A patient may say that life has being into an instrument, a container sus- lost value for her. But she, as well as every taining another person. other person, should acknowledge the value Judaism is possibly the only religion that in her. The way a person value her life is rel- prohibits all forms of castration. This taboo ative to other values. In the case of terminal creates grave challenges to pet owners, mod- patients who suffer terribly, the devaluation ern animal farming and scientific research36. of life is secondary to pain and imminent However, when one becomes aware of the death. But other mode of valuation is un- ubiquity of sterilization in the utilization of conditional. This second mode of value animals, one may also appreciate the subtle within every human being corresponds to protest Judaism articulates against the me- his or her dignity or the image of God. This chanical exploitation of animals. is why, David Vellman believes that kindness The prohibition on sterilization of animals to the suffering person, “must be tempered and humans underscores further the special with respect” – respect for human dignity regard in Judaism to the capacity to gener- that does not allow us to euthanize people ate life. According to Sefer Ha’hinnukh, cas- the way animals that suffer are put to death32. tration articulates a nihilistic attitude Precisely at this point Rabbi Akiva broke towards life37. Contemporary scholarship on grounds with the ethics of “Imago Dei”. Judaism and human rights also interpret The special love of God to humans is man- God’s admonition “Choose life”! as a call for ifested in greater attention given to the sub- hope and engagement in worldly life, not as jective valuation of people, especially when a strict refusal to recognize situations in they suffer, relative to the value of respect which loss of life is the more dignified and for the Image of God. Although Jewish law just course of action38.

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Limits on the protection of biological life gin stripping naked in front of his eyes. The Talmud prohibits this life-saving therapy be- Respect for life is not always manifested as cause it humiliates women. This is a very re- protection of biological life. Sometimes, life markable ruling. After all, an innocent life is taken by human hands; sometimes, hu- was at stake and, possibly, a compassionate mans allow life to peter out without inter- and generous virgin may consent to a few vention. minutes of inconvenience for the sake of a As we have seen, one exception is the death noble cause. The Talmud conspicuously penalty, in which the life of condemned avoids either doubting the bizarre treatment criminals is deliberately taken by the agents or resorting to the defense from necessity of society. However, as early as the second and to choice of the lesser evil (the latter century, rabbis claimed that capital punish- was used by medieval Christian theologians ment should never to be meted out in real- to justify toleration and regulation of pros- ity. Since then, the laws on capital titution in Europe).This is not a situation in punishment are studied as theoretical con- need of creative casuistry but of firm affir- structs that expand our understanding of the mation of the unconditional dignity of per- value of life as well as other issues in Jewish sons, especially the vulnerable. law and theology. For example, according to There is a dimension in the Talmud, the judges warn the witnesses the value of life which is that if they either lie or err, they will be unrelated to its biological Respect for life is not al- guilty of the shedding of the blood of the manifestations; it is even victim of capital punishment as well as of incommensurable with ways manifested as pro- the loss of his future generations39. When the them. This is borne out tection of biological life witnesses are adjured to tell the truth, the powerfully by the image of point is not to avoid the imposition of the therapeutic striptease, death penalty (and thus the destruction of a which is only symbolically person’s line), but to avoid an unjustified erotic, without even the possibility of inter- death penalty. Only the latter involves moral course and procreation. One cannot even responsibility for the endless and immeasur- weigh the ‘harm’ or ‘wrongness’ in exploita- able value of future life. tive sex against the ‘harm’ or badness of al- Hence, harm to life always needs justifica- lowing people to die. The sexual integrity of tion. Judicious utility may justify harm to the person, even when purely symbolic, is as non- non-human life; but very special reasons violable as life itself. Indeed, Jewish and non- must justify harm to human life. Jewish laws on self defense justify killing in Although according to Jewish law saving life self defense of either bodily or sexual in- pushes aside all other values and command- tegrity of the person42. ments, one is expected to accept death and In this spirit, a prominent rabbi has ruled not save oneself or others by means of idol- that a woman is not a field which nourishes atry, adultery or spilling blood40. any seed planted in it. The woman has no Only one of these three exceptions is self- responsibility for a child conceived through evident – the one on spilling blood. With rape. It may be weeded out by means of the exception of self-defense, there is no abortion43. Notwithstanding the immense reason to save one life by means of sacrific- and immeasurable value of innocent fetal ing the life of another. All human lives are life, similar to the innocent patient from the equally valuable. Talmudic story, the sexual exploitation of One may wonder in what circumstances people is no less offensive to morals than adultery or fornication can save life. A Tal- preventable death. Following the Talmud, mudic story may throw light on the issue41. Jewish law prohibits merciful sparing of fe- A man fell mortally ill and the doctors tuses, when their abortion is necessary to opined that his only cure was to watch a vir- save their mothers’ lives44. Jewish law does

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not tolerate the exploitation of women, ter would come of age. Apparently, Judah even for the sake of saving their own chil- was procrastinating and Tamar felt aban- dren. Hence, in Judaism, the absolute taboo doned. So, she dressed up as a whore and on homicide begins at birth45. lured Judah to sleep with her. When her Although the Talmud requires people to ac- pregnancy was discovered, she was sen- cept death rather than commit bloodshed, tenced to death for committing adultery. adultery or idolatry, the Talmud also says that The Talmud explains why Tamar did not ex- nobody is required to endure extreme and pose Judah in order to save her life and good endless physical suffering46. name. This is because «it is better for one to This bears directly on bioethical issues. The throw oneself into a burning furnace, rather rabbis recognize the tragic fact that for many than to shame a person publicly»51. I find patients that suffer terribly, death is better this a shocking remark, especially because of than life. The late rabbi Waldenberg, who its possible implications for Tamar’s unborn was a leading Ultra-Orthodox authority in twins. Nonetheless, Tamar had the liberty matters of Jewish law and medicine, wrote (not the duty) to self-sacrifice and to sacri- that there is a religious duty (Mitzvah) to fice her future children rather than humili- disconnect a terminal patient from a respi- ate somebody, even though he deserved rator, because of the ex- shaming. Tamar preferred to send a private treme agony of such message to Judah and trust his decency and The sexual integrity of existence47. Most other his power of the will to overcome the pub- the person, even when rabbis do not permit ac- lic embarrassment involved in recognizing purely symbolic, is as tive discontinuation of his paternity. This is exactly what he chose non-violable as life itself life support, but they all to do, telling the elders, “She has been more seek measures that would righteous than I”. According to the Aggada allow patients with re- (Talmudic lore), on this occasion and in only fractory agony to die, two more, the Holy Ghost prevailed in a without violating the legal prohibition on courtroom. These occasions were marked by murder.48 Some rabbinic authorities wrote the saving of innocent women and children against attempts to rescue people who com- from death and sexual abuse52. mit suicide out of extreme and genuine In those days, and in some societies today, agony49. The rabbis have never endorsed or rejected widows are marginalized to scrap- encouraged suicide. Nor have they ever ing off livelihood as prostitutes. From Judah’s tried to systematize a legal approach to bal- point of view, Tamar’s exposure of their sex- ancing the value of life against different ual contact identified her as the professional kinds and levels of suffering. Many rabbis, prostitute he had met. It would have been especially Hasidic and Kabbalists (mystics), reasonable and tempting to condemn her to encourage their followers to fight for life by death and to reject his putative paternity, all means possible. The key message I take since the father could have been another from the Jewish tradition on this issue is that client. Indeed, according to ancient medi- respect for human life cannot be reduced to cine prevalent among the Jews, a decent the protection of biological life. Preservation woman cannot conceive in her first inter- of the sexual integrity of the person, even course with a man, so her pregnancy was the consenting person, and freedom from reasonable evidence against there being a extreme and continuous physical agony are single transgression53. However, even if independent dimensions of the respect for Judah had good reasons to doubt his pater- human life and may even trump over the nity, he recognized his own responsibility preservation of biological life. for her situation in general, and he was Another illuminating example is the story awakened by awareness of his moral frailty on Tamar and Judah50. Judah had promised to the vulnerability of her life and the life her his third son in marriage when the lat- inside her belly54. This was sufficient for him

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to accept responsibility for her and for her value of procreation in periods of plague children as well. This moral awakening has and famine. Augustine wrote that procre- transformed the situation completely. It was ation was important in the beginning of not a moment for judicial and forensic in- times, but in his days, the world was popu- quiries anymore, but a time for moral recog- lated enough57. In the Middle Ages, Muslim nition and fortitude. He made a choice of scholars maintained that it was permissible life; they both made it. This conversion from to postpone having children until the con- a sentence of death to embrace of responsi- ditions of life got better. Some scholars be- bility and life marks the beginning of the lieve that this attitude was the reason for the bloodline of King David.Whereas the story decline of the Muslim population in the late of Tamar might leave traces of doubt re- Middle Ages58. The rabbis have never ac- garding the genetic continuity of the line of cepted such an attitude. Nor have they been Judah, it underscores its commitment to the receptive to the idea that the world might values of human life and the dignity of per- be over-populated. They have always en- sons. couraged marriage and procreation as human values. In the book of Genesis, and throughout The value of generating life Jewish history, sterility has been considered a serious Most other rabbis do not We have seen that the protection of life is a personal tragedy. The permit active disconti- key value in Judaism and that the value of childless Rachel con- nuation of life support, human life broadly conceived includes the fronted her loving hus- but they all seek measu- presumptions that protection of the sexual band, Jacob, saying «Give res that would allow pa- integrity of the person, respect for his or her me children, or else I dignity and escape from extreme and un- die!»59. The Talmud does tients with refractory remitting agony might all tip the balance not propose to people in agony to die, without against the preservation of biological life. such situations to accept violating the legal prohi- Jewish law is quite reserved with regard to their fate and to choose a bition on murder the degree of self-sacrifice one is allowed to childless vocation in life; commit for the sake of saving another per- rather, the Talmud asserts that “a person son. Some rabbis refer to self-sacrifice for without children is considered as good as the sake of saving another as “foolish dead”60. piety”55. Other authorities endorse a limited When we take together the special value ac- degree of risk, or only in extraordinary cir- corded to procreation in Judaism, and the cumstances, such as during battle. recognition of childlessness as a personal Nonetheless, Judaism has encouraged the tragedy at the magnitude of death, it is eas- taking of some risk for the sake of new life, ier for us to understand the openness, maybe for the sake of procreation. The Midrash even enthusiastic embrace, of the new tech- (Talmudic lore) praises the Israelite women nologies of fertility by Jews in general and who engaged their husbands erotically and by Orthodox rabbis in particular. Other fac- later gave birth in the open fields, when tors are operative as well. Rabbis have always Pharaoh imposed on Israel hard labor and been fascinated by creation, including the infanticide. According to the sources, the re- creation of artificial hominids by means of demption of Israel from Egypt was made magic and mystical methods61. Jewish law possible by this dare-devil dedication to pro- includes a strong positive character. So the creation56. As said in the beginning of this absence of an explicit prohibition in the paper, procreation is a special religious value classical Jewish sources on IVF, stem cell re- directly related to the Jewish construction search and cloning provides a strong pre- of the idea of the creation in the Image of sumption in favor of permissibility. God. Different cultures have debated the Due to considerations discussed above,

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namely the protection of life, health and able to develop a systematic and formal laws sexual integrity of women, the unborn do and comprehensible teachings. However, the not have an independent legal status in Jew- discussion has brought us to the observation ish law.It follows that if they do not benefit that, possibly, a higher regard to life is man- from direct legal protection as fetuses, they ifested by refusal to systematize and priori- certainly do not benefit from moral status as tize its basic elements such as biological life, very young embryos in test-tubes62. Pre-em- genetic identity, the dignity of personal nar- bryos are considered as good means for the ratives and the sexual integrity of the person. ends of medical research, treatment and ar- Highlighting joyful personal conversation tificial procreation. Ironically, in Judaism, the pushes us further from the language of du- strong valuation of life and procreation in- ties, rights, permissions and even the nature volves permissions for acts that are not or- of the person and his or her virtues. So, how dinarily construed as conducive to life and can we find and cultivate such special states that are considered as morally problematic of mind and body – the combination of joy by many non-Jews. and “I-thou” conversation? Whence the joy Rabbinic passion for procreation has one of life is found and how can we share it in significant limit though. The medieval sage the spirit? What are the psychological re- and physician Mai- sources that inspire people to struggle for When we take together monides wrote in his the sake of having children, despite formi- the special value accor- code of rabbinic law, that dable hardships and the palpable risk that ded to procreation in a man is not allowed to they might die young? How to strive thus Judaism, it is easier for be sexually intimate with with joy? us to understand the his wife unless through openness of the new te- “consent, conversation and joy”63. Even today, Non-transcendental valuation of life chnologies of fertility by consent is the universal Jews keyword in the ethics of Over and above the creation of new life, the sexuality. However, de- preservation of life, dignity, sexual integrity spite being a natural drive, and despite the and freedom from suffering, one may find immense value of procreation in Judaism in Judaism gushing undercurrents celebrat- and its role in the fulfillment of the Image of ing life along with their earthly and joyful God in humans, Maimonides is much more potentials. One example may be found in stringent in his sexual ethics. Neither mari- the stories on Rabbi Yohanan, a prominent tal relationship, nor consent is sufficient. A third century Talmudic rabbi who was en- happy “I-thou” human interaction must dowed with the blessings of life, and ap- prevail as preconditions to every act of in- proached it in a very special way64. He tercourse. Apparently, if you cannot find a became an orphan in a young age and lived partner to joyful conversation, you cannot over a hundred years. He was blessed with bear children, even though your spouse has extraordinary physical strength and beauty. consented to marry you and to bear your Not only was he strong, but also was he in- children devotedly. The lesson I take from credibly fat, which at those times of famine rabbinic ethics is that the state of mind, the and war was considered a sign of health. He earnestness, cooperation, humanism and joy used to sit near the entrance of the bath- are the dominant factors in the ethics of house, were women washed before being procreation, not the biological or techno- intimate with their husbands. He wanted logical means. them to see his beauty, so they would con- This poses a serious challenge. If issues of ceive handsome children (he followed the fertility are regulated by consent and the doctrine of maternal impression). He pro- choice of appropriate goals and means, like claimed trust in his virtue, not being wor- any other human enterprise, we might be ried about improper thoughts and deeds. Yet,

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this habit is remarkable at least because as a dren seems superfluous, fatuous and unholy, man who sold away his huge inheritance for even by those who encourage procreation. the sake of studying Torah, we would not The key values in those stories about rabbi expect to spend time posing on the way to Yohanan are not ‘Jewish’ or even ‘religious’ the public bath. values. Nonetheless, the stories are apprecia- One day he visited his sick and poor friend ble universally. Possibly, the highest regard a Rabbi Eliezer, who lived in a dark and religion might give to human life is the in- dingy cabin. Light shining off Rabi corporation of a stance of valuing that be- Yohanan’s arm lit up the place. Rabbi longs wholly to earthly life, without Eliezer burst in tears. Asked him Rabbi recourse to either communal or transcen- Yohanan, why do you cry? Is it becausr your dental values. illness and possibly death will curtail your Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Eliezer were able growth in Torah and cut your trail of good to be aware of death without anxiety or deeds? If so, you should know that God “being-unto-death”. They were able to cry cares for intention and dedication more than over theirs as well as our inevitable tran- cumulative achievement. If you are crying sience; but the very meaning of their tears is over your poverty, be reminded that God has derived from full appreciation of the endless not promised us easy life in this world, only and unique value of tran- in The World to Come; if you cry over the sient life and the most One may find in Ju- death of your children, be comforted. Rabbi ephemeral and transient daism gushing under- Yohanan, who had lost all of his children, within it – the beauty of pulled out a tiny bone and showed it to the flesh and its power to currents celebrating life Rabbi Eliezer, “This is the bone of my tenth lit up a poor man’s home. along with their earthly child”. Rabbi Eliezer retorted: «No. I am not Neither the Torah nor the and joyful potentials crying for either loss of Torah, poverty or Talmudic literature offers a bereavement. I have seen the light shining principled explanation for from your arm, and I am crying over the the creation of the world and for the exis- vulnerability and transience of such beauty. tence of human life. These sources tell us I could not accept the idea that one day that the life created is “very good” and that your flesh as well will return to the earth God expects humans to live in certain ways. and rot». «It is indeed worth crying over», However, the notion that life has an ulterior agreed Rabbi Yohanan, and they both and ultimate purpose is a novelty of the sobbed together. mystical and Scholastic literature. Perhaps Rabbi Yohanan embraced life in spite of suf- the fourth dimension of the respect for life fering, and even at very old age. He tried to is borne out by the attitude that life is valu- make the good out of it, despite its harsh vi- able even if it had no transcendental mean- cissitudes and agonies. According to one of ing and value. Rabbi Kook explains that his sayings in the Talmud, childlessness is people must seek the dignified aspect of worse than seeing your children die. He everything that exists. This is the essence of .65(חישמה תומי) never took a detached or nihilistic stance to- redemption wards life. He would only cry over the fragility and transience of the things that make our earthly life distinctly special. NOTES These stories on rabbi Yohanan have noth- 1 ing to do with valuation of life as either a Prov 3:18. 2 Deut 30:19. gift from God or something valued by Him. 3 Talmud, Yoma 85b on Lev. 18:5. With Eternity on one’s mind and the Spirit 4 E. BERKOVITS, Not in Heaven: The Nature and Func- in the heart, there is no reason to cry at all. tion of Halacha, New York, Ktav, 1983. Obesity is the reverse of ascetism. The effort 5 M. A. WEINGARTEN, «Sanctity of Life: A Critical to make women conceive handsome chil- Reassessment of Jewish Medical Ethics», in P. TWOHIG, V. K ALITZKUS, (ed.), 1-12 Interdisciplinary

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Perspectives on Health, Illness and Disease (New York son as replicating that between God and Adam. (For 2004). an earlier and different reading of this debate, see 6 S. DARWALL, «Two kinds of respect» in Ethics 88 ROTH 1962, 291-302; ROSENBERG 1983, 72-91). (1977), 36-49. 30 Hillel said this to a man who wished to convert to 7 J. FEINBERG, «Some conjectures about the concept Judaism. Obviously the value of human dignity ap- of respect», in Journal of Social Philosophy 2 (1973) 1- plies to all people and peoples – «the children of 3. Noah» in the Talmudic jargon. 8 See C. SAFRAI, Human Dignity in Rabbinical Per- 31 Following this phrase, contemporary Jewish the- spective, in D. FRETZMER and E. KLEIN (ed), The ologian David Novak (1998, 167-73) elaborates an Concept of Human Dignity in Human Rights Discourse, ethics of human dignity interpreting this value as Dodrecht, Kluwer, 2002, 99-109. meaning “being of special concern to God”. 9 Jonah 3:10-11 32 J. D. VELLMAN, «A right of self termination?» in 10 Gen. 9:6 Ethics 109 (1999) 606-628. See G. MEILANDER, Nei- 11 MAIMONIDES, Mishner Torah, Hilchoth Rotze’ah ther Beast nor God: the dignity of the human person, En- 4:9 counter, New York 2009, 75. 12 Gen. 1:28 33 M. HIRSHMAN, Torah for the entire world, Ha’Kib- 13 J. COHEN, Be Fertile and Increase, Fill the Earth and butz Ha’Me’uhad, Tel Aviv 1999, ch. 4. Master It: An Ancient and Medieval Career of a Biblical 34 E.g. Gloss RASHI on Talmud, Sanhedrin, 72b. Text, Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca 1989. 35 TOSAPHOTH, on Talmud Niddah 44a. 14 Genesis Rabbah, 34:14. The rabbinic codex of law, 36 A. STEINBERG, Halakhic Medical Encyclopedia, VOL. 5, Shulhan Aruch (at Even Ha’Ezer, 1:1) uses harsher Falk-Schlesinger Institute, Jerusalem 1996, 79. language by drawing analogy from celibacy to homi- 37 Sefer Ha-Hinnukh, Commandment 291. cide. 38 L. E. GOODMAN, Judaism, human rights and human 15 Y. M . B ARILAN, «From imago Dei in the Jewish- values, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, 39. Christian traditions to human dignity in contempo- 39 Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a. rary Jewish law», in Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 40 Talmud, Pesahim 25a. In this article I put aside sit- 19 (2009), 231-259. uations of religious persecution, which are artificial, 16 Sefer Ha-Hinnukh, Commandment 529. human made, impositions on other people, and are 17 Talmud, Avodah Zarah 20b. According to a con- treated differently from natural dilemmas and calami- tending opinion, the most prominent virtue is hu- ties. mility, which comes next in the scale of virtues. The 41 Talmud, Sanhedrin, 75a. next two virtues are “fear of sin” and “sanctity”. Once 42 S. UNIACKE, Permissible killing: the doctrine of self-de- again we may observe that the language of the sacred fense justification of homicide, Cambridge University is not related directly to the Jewish attitudes to life. Press, Cambridge 1994, 40. 18 Talmud Berakhot 31a. 43 Y. L . P ERLMAN, Responsa “Or gadol”, Mark 31, 19 On the notion of “respect for life” in philosophy Minsk 1891. see J. KLEINIG, Valueing life, Princeton University 44 MAIMONIDES, Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Rotzei’ah Press, Princeton 1991, 3-28. 1:9. 20 Talmud, Mo’ed Kattan 18a. 45 Talmud Nidda 43b-44a on Lev 24:17. 21. For example, Talmud, Baba Mezi’a 70a. 46 Talmud, Kethubot 33b. 22 MIDRASH AVOTH D’RABBI NATHAN 46 Solomon 47 E. Y. WALDENBERG, Responsa “Tzitz Eliezer,”, Pt. Schechter, ed., Feldheim 1945. 13, Mark 89. 23 Talmud, Sanhedrin 37a. 48 Y. M. BARILAN, «Revisiting the Problem of Jewish 24 Sefer Ha-Hinnukh, Commandment 243. Cf. Ro- Bioethics: The Case of Terminal Care», in Kennedy mans 13:9. Inst. Ethics J. 13 (2003) 141-68. 25 Talmud, Yoma 85b. 49Y. M . B ARILAN, «The new Israeli law on the care of 26 Sefer Halakhoth Gedoloth, Pt. I, at 155 (A. the terminally ill», in Persp. Biol. Med. 50 (2007), 571. Hildesheimer ed., Mekitzei Nirdamim Society,1888). 50 Gen. 38. Here I offer my own hermeneutics to the Nahmanides, Torat Ha-Adam vol. II, at 29 (Cheval ed., story. The first rabbinic sources discussing Tamar’s re- Harav Kook Inst. 1964). sponsibility for her unborn twins are M.S. HA’CO- 27 S. ARUCH, Orah Haim, Mark 417 and MISHNA HEN, Neshekh Hokhma, 46 (Paris, 1972) and S. Z. A. B’RURA, Mark 5. According to the Palestinian Tal- AUERBACH, Responsum “Minhat Shlomo T’nina”, Mark mud, Yoma 8,1 doctors decide how much a sick per- 133 (Jerusalem, 2000). The exegeses NAHMANIDES son needs to eat; but not how much a pregnant and ABARBANEL dispute whether Tamar acted right woman does. by seducing Judah. 28 Palestinian Talmud, Yoma 8,1. 51 Talmud, Berakhot, 43b. See Jacob Ettlinger, Responsa 29 Ben Azzai points to Genesis 5:1ff. as the «greatest “Binyan Zion” Mark 172 (Altona 1868). JONAH maxim of the Torah» not to Genesis 1:26-27, thus GIRONDI, S HA’ARI T’SHUVA, 3:139 explains that explicitly linking imago Dei to sexual procreation and shaming is like murder. Other sources explain that casting the “imago” relationship between father and whereas murderers may be atoned by repentance and

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death, shamers are hopeless. Talmud, Baba Metzia, 58b. Human Creativity and Interreligious Dialogues», in It did not occur to the rabbis that had Judah hushed W. B ENDER, Ch. HAUSKELLER & A. MANZEI (ed.), down the whole incident, he would have spared a Crossing Borders: Cultural, Religious and Political Differ- person both public shaming and death. ences Concerning Stem Cell Research: A Global Approach, 52 Genesis Rabbah, 85:13. The other two occasions Agenda Verlag, 2005, 293-323; Y. M. BARILAN, «The were the trial of the prostitutes (I Kings 3) and the debate on cloning: some contributions from the Jew- confrontation of Samuel with the people of Israel (I ish tradition», in H. ROETZ, C. F REY (ed.), Cloning: a Samuel 12:5). He reminds them of the judgment of multicultural perspective, Rodopi, Berlin / London the sons of Eli, who abused women pilgrims. 2005, 311-340. 53 According to the Aggada, Tamar deliberately ma- 62 Y. M ICHAEL BARILAN, «Her pain prevails and her nipulated her body in order to conceive. MIDRASH judgment respected: abortion in Judaism», Journal of SECHEL TOV on Gen. 16 and 38. Law and Religion (2010), 1/XXV (2009-2010), 97- 54 Cf. John, 7:53-8. 186. 55 D. I BN ZIMRA, Responsa “Radvaz”, Warsaw, 1882, 63 MAIMONIDES, Mishne Torah, Hilchoth Ishuth, 15:17. part 3, #627. 64 The sources from which this story is reconstructed 56 Talmud, Sotah 11b. are scattered all over the Talmud. They may be found 57 AUGUSTINE, De Bono Conjugali (On the Good of together in A. M. HEIMANN, Toldoth Tana’im Marriage), #2. Available at www.newadvent.org/fa- v’Amora’im, vol. 2 , London 1910, 653-672. Many of thers/1309.htm, accessed 11 August 2009. the elements are found in Talmud, Berakhot 5b and 58 B.F. MUSALLAM, Sex and Society in Islam: Birth Con- Baba Metizi’a 84a. More on Rabii Yohanan’s sayings trol Before the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge Univ. on life and the Original Sin, see E. E. URBACH, The Press, 1983. Sages, 2 nd ed., Magnes Press, Jerusalem 1987, ch. 15. 59 Gen. 30:1. 65 A. I. HA’COHEN KOOK, Mussar Avi’cha, Mossad 60 Talmud, Nedarim 64b. Ha’Rav Kook, Jerusalem 1971, p. 136. 61 Y. M. BARILAN & G. SIEGAL, «The Stem Cell De- bate: A Jewish Perspective on Human Dignity,