Brave New Judaism: When Science and Scriptures Collide

In this courageous and compelling study, Wahrman, a biology professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey, draws on her expertise in both biotechnology and Jewish law to apply the ancient precepts of Judaism to thoroughly modern medical situations. Here she addresses the ethics of cloning, stem cell research, genetic testing and other contemporary issues. Many of the questions, she notes, arose from e-mail queries she has received in her role as a Judaism columnist for America Online. Particularly fascinating are questions of how biological advances reflect on traditional Jewish practices. Can bio-engineered food be regarded as kosher? If a Jewish mother conceived a child using donated eggs of uncertain origin, is the child still considered Jewish? Is it halakhically permissible to use genetic testing to demonstrate who belongs to the ancient priestly lineage? The book's strengths are its balanced perspective (Wahrman actively seeks out the views of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews) and the author's own powerful voice. In the preface, she describes her ambiguous feelings while watching her mother be kept alive for months on end in the intensive care unit, and also relates her personal struggles with infertility in the 1980s. These two drives—to stay alive and to reproduce—are at the heart of bioethics, Wahrman says, and they are endlessly complicated. This book is passionate, engaging and sometimes surprising. (Oct.)