| Title: | BAGELS and other things of Jewish interest |
| Notice: | 1.0 policy, 280.0 directory, 32.0 registration |
| Moderator: | SMURF::FENSTER |
| Created: | Mon Feb 03 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1524 |
| Total number of notes: | 18709 |
This appeared in todays VNS Vogon News Service. Any idea what the
halachic view on this is?
Malcolm
> From: Katie McCormick ....................................... Nashua, NH, USA
>
>Biblically speaking, personhood or "soul life" consists of breath-life-- the
>Hebrew word is "psuche." In other words, until a feotus can breathe on its
>own, it is technically a part of the breath-life or soul life of the mother.
>Consequently, as morally repugnant as some of us might find it, abortion does
>not constitute murder.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 244.1 | yep, it's not a person yet | DELNI::GOLDSTEIN | Not Insane / Not Responsible | Fri Dec 05 1986 17:50 | 16 |
In the Jewish Advocate about a month ago (just before the elections,
which had an anti-abortion referendum here in Mass.), there was
an article which explained the halachic view. The fetus is considered
part of the mother, roughly equivalent to a limb, until birth.
Therefore if the preganancy is harmful to the mothers' health, it
is almost required to abort. If, on the other hand, the pregnancy
is merely inconvenient, then it is wrong to abort, because that
would be like maiming the mother. (Drawing the line to say what
is "harm" to the mother is not clear-cut; different rabbis disagree.
In general, the Orthodoxy take a stricter view, that it must be
very serious physical harm. Some Conservative and Reform rabbis
view the mother more holistically.)
The contrast to the other side's view is quite clear. In Jewish
law, the woman's rights come first. Banning abortion would be a
clear violation of Jewish rights.
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| 244.2 | Oxygen - not through your nose only | TAV02::NITSAN | Duvdevani, DEC Israel | Thu Dec 11 1986 02:58 | 14 |
re.0: >Biblically speaking, personhood or "soul life" consists of breath-life-- the >Hebrew word is "psuche." In other words, until a feotus can breathe on its >own, it is technically a part of the breath-life or soul life of the mother. >Consequently, as morally repugnant as some of us might find it, abortion does >not constitute murder. The related Hebrew terms are: "neshima" for "breahing" or "breath" (from the verb "linshom" - to breathe) "neshama" for "soul" or "spirit" (whatever it is) and they are intentionally close to each other. Nitsan. | |||||
| 244.3 | Parallel development? | ARGUS::CURTIS | Dick 'Aristotle' Curtis | Tue Dec 16 1986 14:50 | 6 |
.2:
Funny, the Greeks had a similar attitude :-)
Dick
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| 244.4 | the humorous side | MDVAX1::ESROCK | Fri Oct 02 1987 19:44 | 2 | |
In the learned opinion of contemporary Jewish scholars, life begins
when the kids move out and the dog dies!
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