Advancing Death? Discourse and Authority in Judaic Bioethics

Abstract

This chapter investigates two arenas in which normativity is both acknowledged and contested within Jewish bioethics. The first is a discursive arena that for the most part involves Jewish bioethicists. I consider how these scholars, clergy and professionals discuss dying and death, and identify at least three layers of problematic conversational issues. The first layer is terminological: strong disagreements exist regarding the very definitions of who and what is in the throes of dying. The second layer pertains to intervening in someone’s dying. This is complicated by how bioethicists read classic texts. The final layer raises meta-ethical issues of conversing across foundational worldviews. For example, some bioethicists consider moral conundrums predominantly through legal lenses whereas others turn more to narratives and some to theology. It is unclear whether and how such foundations facilitate a coherent Jewish bioethical discourse on, say, death and dying issues. The second arena focuses on the dynamics of authority between rabbis and Jews, especially in regard to thinking about and making decisions regarding dying. This dynamic is most conspicuous in the various advance directives published by the streams of modern Jewry. At one extreme are Orthodox advance directives that mandate signatories to abide by strict interpretations of Jewish law, whereas at the other extreme are Reform advance directives that hardly speak of Jewish law or values, and Conservative forms give options based on positions taken by the movement’s centralized committee on law. Examination of such advance directives reveals explicit and implicit notions of rightful authority in regard to making decisions about dying and, ultimately, death. Speaking about and authorizing dying thus illustrate some of the concerns regarding normativity in contemporary Jewish bioethics.

Suggested Readings

1.1 On Jewish Ethics:

• Crane, Jonathan K. 2015. Jewish Ethics. Jewish Studies Bibliography Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199840731/obo-9780199840731-0087.xml. Accessed 6 Sept 2017.

  • Offers the most recent annotated bibliography of the field.

• Dorff, Elliot N., and Jonathan K. Crane, eds. 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • A state of the art survey of the field, complete with fresh essays by leading scholars around the world on a range of historical, methodological and topical issues.

• Dorff, Elliot N., and Louis E. Newman, eds. 1995. Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Collection of classic essays on meta-ethical, methodological and topical concerns.

• Newman, Louis E. 1998. Past Imperatives: Studies in the History and Theory of Jewish Ethics. Albany: State University of New York Press.

  • A description of the field, critically analyzing the relationships between ethics, law, and theology.

1.2 On Jewish Bioethics:

• Bleich, J. David. 1998. Bioethical Dilemmas: A Jewish Perspective. Hoboken: Ktav.

  • A compilation of previously published essays on a range of classic bioethical issues, all treated from an Orthodox perspective.

• Dorff, Elliot N. 1998. Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

  • A cohesive book surveying a range of biomedical issues; the appendix outlines Dorff’s understanding of the relation between religion and morality.

• Jakobovits, Immanuel. 1959. Jewish Medical Ethics: A Comparative and Historical Study of the Jewish Religious Attitude to Medicine and its Practice. New York: Bloch.

  • A classic, perhaps the first major work in the field, drawing together classic Jewish and other sources on a range of biomedical topics.

• Zohar, Noam, ed. 2006. Quality of Life in Jewish Bioethics. Lanham: Lexington.

  • Offers a range of Jewish positions on the concept and pragmatic implications of “quality of life” in medicine, especially at end of life.

1.3 On Jewish views of Euthanasia:

• Crane, Jonathan K. 2013. Narratives and Jewish Bioethics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • This analysis of a classic Talmudic source critical to contemporary Jewish euthanasia scholarship reveals some shocking reading strategies.

• Hurwitz, Peter J., Jacques Picard, and Avraham Steinberg, eds. 2006. Jewish Ethics and the Care of End-of-Life Patients: A Collection of Rabbinical, Bioethical, Philosophical, and Juristic Opinions. Jersey City: Ktav.

  • A collection of essays drawn from such fields as law, history, philosophy and clinical medicine.

• Mackler, Aaron L. 2000. Life and Death Responsibilities in Jewish Biomedical Ethics. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

  • Essays by the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, especially on end of life care, physician assisted suicide, and euthanasia.