Schlesinger Institute

The Schlesinger Institute for Medical-Halachic Research was founded in 1966 under the auspices of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, imbuing its professional pursuits with the spirit of Torah. This was the philosophy of the hospital's second director-general, after whom the Institute is named, and it remains the Institute's guiding principle.

The Schlesinger Institute is dedicated to the halachic approach of medical ethics. Through the scholarship and expertise of leading rabbis, doctors and others, the Institute aims to research and resolve the halachic issues that emerge as medicine progresses, to consider their medical, halachic, legal and ethical ramifications, and to present practical responses.

Principal Activities

The Schlesinger Institute offers a variety of religious and academic programs in Jewish medical ethics, enabling diverse audiences and student groups to learn from some of the most prominent Jewish medical ethicists of our time. Among these programs are a thirty-hour semester course at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, summer and winter seminars for medical and nursing students from abroad, lectures and tours of Shaare Zedek for yeshiva and seminary students, and one-day seminars on selected topics for Israeli high school pupils.

Publications

A number of important books and journals on Jewish medical ethics are available through the Schlesinger Institute.

Journals

The Schlesinger Institute publish two prestigious journals, ASSIA in Hebrew and JME in English. Both journals geared to provide those interested and connected to this field, medical and ethical problems, solutions and ethical thought processes of those Rabbis and doctors that have dealt with these problems. Article published in the journals deal with a variety of topics, including: scientific, legal, ethical and halachic aspects of cloning, determining time of death, heart transplantations, truth-telling to the dangerously ill patient, halachic and medical aspects of the AIDS virus, psychiatry and halacha, the selling of organs, the cessation of medical treatment and euthanasia, initial counseling for a juvenile with homosexual urges, smoking and life expectancy, coercive medical treatment, the surrogate mother, medical dilemmas of hospital nurses and naturally, practical halachic principles connected to the obligation to save human life.

Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics

By Avraham Steinberg, M.D.

Medical practice from the point of view of halacha and Jewish thought, thoroughly covering sources from Scripture through the whole of ancient, medieval, and modern rabbinic literature. Systematic surveys of related medical, scientific, philosophical, ethical, and legal material.

Articles in the Encyclopedia are in alphabetical order and cover a wide range of topics both for the medical professional and the patient. Combines halachic and medical knowledge, with full references for both. Covers the whole field, including medical, scientific, philosophical, ethical, and legal material, from Scripture and Talmud through the most recent sources.

An invaluable reference tool, including thousands of references.

Among the articles: Paternity, Suicide, Autonomy and Free Will, Hospitals, Genetics, Religion and Science, Consent, Abortions, IVF, Organ Transplantation, Conflict of Halacha and Science, Old Age, The Patient, Embalming, Malpractice, Pain, Kashrut and Shabbat, Birth, Medical Education, Human Sexuality, Limited Resources, Medical Experimentation on Humans, Surgery, Confidentiality, Fertility, Lifesaving, Causing Pain to Animals, Triage, Defining Death, Physicians, General and Jewish Ethics, and much more.

Nishmat Abraham

By A.S. Abraham, M.D., F.R.C.P

Published as four volume set, the Nishmat Avraham on Medical Halacha consists of new responsa and new medical halachic rulings. The Nishmat Abraham is a commentary on the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch with detailed references from the Talmud through Rishonim and Acharonim. In it one can find thousands of rulings gleaned from the vast sea of halachic literature, including the most up-to-date material from great contemporary authorities all over the world such as Rav M. Feinstein zt"l, Rav Sh.Z. Auerbach zt"l, Rav Waldenberg zt"l, Rav Eliashiv, Rav Ovadia Yosef, Rav Wosner and Rav Neuwirth.

Problems as far ranging as the doctor and patient on weekdays and Shabbat, Yom Kippur and Pesach, in the hospital or at home, hospice, end of life and brain death, pregnancy and assisted reproduction, contraception and abortion, brit milah and the medical problems of niddah, medical malpractice and claims, genetic engineering and cloning, DNA and stem cells, AIDS and herpes, the threatened doctor and the psychiatric patient, Hatzalah and preventive medicine and their attendant problems in halacha are but some of the issues discussed by the author.

The opinions of all these leading authorities are of particular importance in this survey which covers virtually every issue in medical halacha. Their views are comprehensively summarized on each point, elucidating the underlying principles of contemporary issues. Thus it is ideal for structuring a systematic syllabus. In addition, its extensive and detailed indices make it a perfect reference and research tool.

Additional books

The institute published a few more books including:

International Responsa Project (IRP)

When a medical procedure raises ethical or moral questions that seem to contradict halacha, advice from a reliable source is needed. The International Responsa Project provides this service to people all over the world who send the Schlesinger Institute questions - some of a general, theoretical nature and some of a very specific, technical nature - via telephone, e-mail, fax and post. The questions are answered as quickly as possible by one of the rabbi-doctors at the Institute, or, in special cases, by a recognized rabbinical authority.

The Chaim Kahn Library and Information Center

The Library and Information Center is one of the premier resource centers for Jewish medical ethics in Israel. All the standard texts of the Jewish library can be found there, as well as compendiums of halacha, medical and Jewish journals, and legal texts. Computer facilities, a database of Jewish sources, and a bibliography of the library are available to the public. The information center is named after Chaim Kahn, the first chairman of the institute.

International Conferences

Significant contributions to the halachic approach to medical or ethical questions are made at the international conferences organized by the Schlesinger Institute. These conferences bring together rabbis, doctors and others from around the world for lectures on contemporary medical halachic issues given by world-renowned experts. Conference proceedings and background materials have been published in both English and Hebrew and are available for purchase through the Institute.

See also

References

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