Jewish ethical teachings on bioethics: HSC Studies of Religion

What this dot point is asking

In the Judaism depth study the syllabus asks you to describe and explain Jewish ethical teachings in ONE area: bioethics, environmental ethics or sexual ethics. This page covers bioethics: the ethics of medicine and the life sciences at the beginning of life, during illness and at the end of life.

Recent questions need named teachings with precise sources, applied to specific issues, with awareness of diversity: 2022 (describe ONE teaching, 3 marks), 2023 (explain how ONE teaching encourages adherents to "do good", with Psalm 37:3 as stimulus), 2024 (outline ONE teaching, then explain how it is reflected in your area) and 2025 (explain TWO teachings, and a 20-mark response on how Jewish ethical teachings guide adherents "to navigate the world today").

The answer

How Jewish ethics works

Jewish ethics is expressed mainly through halakhah (Jewish law, literally "the way to walk"). It flows from the covenant: God gave Israel the Torah, and living by its commandments (mitzvot) is the covenant response. Guidance comes in layers:

1. The Written Torah (and the rest of the Tanakh).
2. The Oral Torah: the Mishnah (compiled about 200 CE) and the Talmud, which discuss and apply the commandments.
3. Codes of law, such as Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (12th century; Maimonides was himself a physician) and the Shulchan Arukh of Joseph Karo (16th century), with the glosses of Moses Isserles (the Rema) for Ashkenazi practice.
4. Responsa (she'elot u-teshuvot): answers by rabbinic authorities to new questions, the main way halakhah addresses modern medicine.

Movements differ in how they use this system. Orthodox Judaism treats halakhah as binding and develops it through recognised authorities. Masorti (Conservative) Judaism treats halakhah as binding but evolving; its Committee on Jewish Law and Standards issues responsa. Reform (Progressive) Judaism treats halakhah as a guide to be weighed with individual conscience and contemporary ethics; the Central Conference of American Rabbis publishes Reform responsa. That is why conclusions can differ while the core principles are shared.

Core ethical teachings

1. B'tzelem Elohim: humans are made in God's image

"So God created humankind in his image" (Genesis 1:27). Every life has infinite and equal worth, whatever its length, quality or capacity. The Mishnah teaches that whoever destroys a single life is regarded as if they destroyed an entire world, and whoever saves a single life as if they saved an entire world (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Because infinity cannot be divided, even a short span of life is of infinite value.

2. Pikuach nefesh: saving a life

Saving human life overrides almost every other commandment. The Talmud derives this from Leviticus 18:5, "You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live", commenting "and not die by them" (Yoma 85b). So a Jew must break Shabbat to take a sick person to hospital and must eat on Yom Kippur if fasting endangers life. Only three prohibitions may not be broken even to save life: murder, idolatry and forbidden sexual relations (Sanhedrin 74a). This limit is crucial in bioethics: you may not kill one person to save another.

3. The duty to heal and to rescue

Exodus 21:19 requires someone who injures another to pay so that "he shall cause him to be thoroughly healed"; the Talmud reads this as permission for the physician to heal (Bava Kamma 85a). Leviticus 19:16, "Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbour" (a common rendering), is applied as an obligation to rescue a person in danger (Sanhedrin 73a). Medicine is therefore not interference with God's will but a partnership with God in healing, and visiting the sick (bikur cholim) is a mitzvah.

4. Lo tirtzach: you shall not murder

"You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Life belongs to God, not to the individual, so neither the patient nor the doctor may deliberately end an innocent life.

5. Be fruitful and multiply

"Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28) is counted as the first commandment of the Torah, which shapes strongly positive attitudes to fertility treatment.

Applying the teachings

Abortion

• Status of the foetus. Judaism values the foetus as potential life that deserves protection, but it is not regarded as a full person (nefesh) until birth. Exodus 21:22 to 23 sets a monetary penalty for causing a miscarriage, not the penalty for taking a life, and the Talmud describes the embryo in its first forty days as "mere water" (Yevamot 69b).
• The mother's life comes first. Mishnah Ohalot 7:6 rules that when a birth endangers the mother, the foetus may be removed, "for her life comes before its life"; but once its head (or the greater part of its body) has emerged, it may not be harmed, because one life is not set aside for another. Abortion is therefore required, not merely permitted, when the mother's life is at risk.
• Diversity. Orthodox authorities differ on other cases: some permit abortion for serious threats to the mother's physical or mental health, others are stricter. Masorti and Reform authorities generally give greater weight to the woman's wellbeing and conscience, while treating abortion as a grave decision. No movement treats abortion as morally trivial.

Fertility treatment

Because of "be fruitful and multiply" and the value placed on family, Judaism is broadly supportive of fertility treatment. IVF using the couple's own gametes is widely accepted. Donor sperm and donor eggs raise halakhic questions (lineage, the status of the child, and in Orthodox law concerns about adultery and mamzerut), so Orthodox authorities are cautious and differ; Masorti and Reform authorities are generally more accepting. Israel provides extensive state support for IVF, reflecting these values.

Organ donation

Pikuach nefesh gives strong support to organ donation that saves a life. Living donation (for example a kidney) is praised when the donor is not put at serious risk. Donation after death raises two issues: respect for the body (kavod ha-met) and the definition of death. Many authorities, including Israel's Chief Rabbinate, accept brain-stem death under strict conditions, while some Orthodox authorities accept only cardio-respiratory death, which limits some donations. Masorti and Reform authorities encourage donation.

End of life

• No hastening of death. A dying person (goses) is regarded as fully alive in every respect, and nothing may be done to hasten death. Active euthanasia and assisted suicide are forbidden in Orthodox and Masorti Judaism, and Reform responsa have generally opposed active euthanasia.
• No obligation to prolong dying. The Rema's gloss on the Shulchan Arukh (Yoreh De'ah 339:1) permits removing an external impediment that is preventing the soul from departing, while forbidding any act that shortens life. The Talmud records sensitivity to suffering: Rabbi Judah the Prince's maidservant prayed for his release when he was suffering (Ketubot 104a), and Rabbi Hanina ben Teradyon, dying as a martyr, refused to hasten his own death, saying it is better that the One who gave life should take it (Avodah Zarah 18a).
• Modern application. Authorities differ on withholding versus withdrawing ventilators, dialysis and artificial nutrition; many permit not starting futile treatment. All encourage pain relief and palliative care, and Israel's Dying Patient Act (2005) sought to reflect these halakhic distinctions.

Why Jews can reach different conclusions

A strong answer shows the shared foundation (infinite worth of life, saving life, never murdering, duty to heal) and the legitimate diversity of application.

In one sentence

Jewish bioethics applies halakhah to medicine through the teachings that every person is made in God's image, that saving life overrides almost every commandment, that there is a duty to heal and rescue, and that innocent life may never be taken, producing a shared commitment to preserving life and relieving suffering with diverse rulings on abortion, fertility treatment, organ donation and end-of-life care.

Try this

Q1. Outline ONE Jewish ethical teaching relevant to bioethics, with a source. (2 marks)

• What the marker wants. For example pikuach nefesh with Leviticus 18:5 and Yoma 85b.

Q2. Explain Jewish teaching on organ donation. (4 marks)

• What the marker wants. Pikuach nefesh, respect for the body, the definition of death, and diversity of views.

Q3. Analyse how Jewish ethical teachings guide adherents in decisions about fertility treatment. (5 marks)

• What the marker wants. Genesis 1:28, acceptance of IVF with the couple's gametes, halakhic questions about donors, and differences between movements.