Volume 67, Issue 4  

Torah U’Madda Annual Lecture:
Feit Addresses Controversial Cloning Issue

by Seth Salpeter

The cloning of Dolly the Sheep over three years ago precipitated considerable excitement throughout the scientific community. The experiment was not only an amazing scientific feat but also had clinical human applications. Since the discovery, the technique was utilized to clone other animals and, in various attempts, to manufacture human organs.  Yet, while the therapeutic possibilities of the cloning technology are fairly clear, the ethical ramifications remain uncertain. For Jews sensitive to halacha, the potential conflict with cloning makes the reservations all the more important.

Dr. Carl Feit, chair of health sciences at Yeshiva, addressed many of these issues in his lecture entitled “Human or Golem? Therapeutic Cloning and the Definition of Human hood in Jewish Law, ” a part of the annual Torah U’madda lecture series.  Feit now joins a long list of scholars whom the Torah U’madda project has sponsored for public lecture. The lecture series, which was organized by Yonatan Kaganoff, is just one of the many outgrowths of the project coordinated by the Max Stern Division of Communal Services.

Feit opened the lecture by discussing the sources in Jewish tradition that demonstrate the importance of medicine. Citing various sources from the Bible, Talmud, and Rabbi Yosaif Karo’s halachic codex, he illustrated that Jewish tradition not only endorses the idea of healing, but also goes as far mandating it. Explaining the verse, “You shall not stand aside while your fellow’s blood is shed” (Leviticus 19:16), he emphasized that one cannot stand by when another person is sick.

After establishing the importance of healing, Feit focused on the topic of cloning as it relates to the use of human embryo cells, better known as stem cells. He presented a brief explanation of the process in general, explaining that the novelty of the process is based on replacing an embryo’s DNA with mature adult DNA and allowing the egg to develop within the mother. In addition to animal cloning, stem cells can be used to counter infertility, as well as to eliminate disease by using replacement organs.

While there are many benefits to the use of stem cells, Feit noted that the use of human embryos might create halachic problems and that the correct halachic position is far from clear. While some sources point to the permissibility of the use of human embryos, others seem to forbid it. He explained that points of conflict include the prohibition of coming close to murder and wasting seed. In his conclusion, he pointed to Rabbi Moshe Tendler’s famous position that embryo cells may be used as long as they are not implanted in a mother and are less than forty days old.

Student response to the event was extremely positive. Yehuda Kessock, a junior in Sy Syms, noted that, “It opened my eyes to things I never understood.”  For some, the lecture was able to impact their Torah philosophies. Yeshiva College Biology major Moshe Herman commented that he finally understood the meaning of Torah U’Madda as “Talking about biology in a gemara voice.”

Kaganoff closed the event by thanking Feit and all who were present. The next installment of the Torah U’madda lecture series, slated to take place later this year, will feature Robert Pollack, chairman of the biology department at Columbia University.

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