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Despite the passage of time since the New Jersey case of Baby M 1 captured the attention of millions of Americans, both the human and legal questions posed by surrogate motherhood remain largely unresolved. Medically, the procedure is not at all complex and represents a simple method of coping with female infertility. A woman who is willing to serve as a surrogate, usually in return for a fee, is found and an agreement is reached. She is artificially inseminated with the semen of the in…

For Jews, circumcision is first and foremost fulfillment of a divine command. But circumcision is unique among mitzvot in that it represents the covenant established between God and Abraham and, through Abraham, with his progeny. Since the covenant represented by circumcision is shared by the entire people of Israel, circumcision also serves as a symbol of identification as a member of the community of Israel. As stated by Sefer ha-Hinnukh, no. 2, circumcision is designed “to separate [Israel] from other nations in the form of their body as in their souls.” Thus,…

Other than the ongoing debate concerning the moral legitimacy of abortion, the heated controversy that erupted during the summer of 2001 regarding government funding of embryonic stem cell research is without parallel in bioethical discourse. The vehemence of the debate is such that each side accuses the other of gross insensitivity to the value of human life. Those who favor such research point to the potential for developing cures for diabetes, Parkinson's disease, senility and other life-thre…

Genetic engineering has made it possible to manipulate the DNA of microorganisms, animals, and plants in order to satisfy human needs. Science has developed bacteria that ingest petroleum in order to alleviate the environmentally devastating effects of oil spills, sheep whose milk contains a drug used in treatment of cystic fibrosis, and a host of genetically modified foods. One third of the harvest of corn, soybeans, and canola in the United States is genetically modified to make the crops resi…

There is no gainsaying the fact that the world has witnessed quantum leaps in scientific and technological advances since the mid-nineteenth century or, according to Jewish reckoning, since 5600, i.e., the year six hundred in the sixth millennium. As foretold by the Zohar, Bereshit 117a, the benefits are not merely pragmatic; the explosion of human knowledge is categorized by the Zohar as the direct result of heavenly inspiration and serves to herald the advent of the eschatological era of the seventh millennium. God revels himself in the processes of nature with the result t…