Judaism and Science

Credit: National Inst. of Health

Introduction

The manipulation of our genes is a new and rapidly developing process for addressing genetic disorders of the kind we have discussed in “Jews and Genetic Disorders.” What if medical science could develop safe and effective procedures to eliminate variant (or other unwanted) genes from our bodies and replace them with normal (or other more desired, if not objectively better) genes? Engaging with gene-altering technology raises a host of practical questions each and all of which also invoke ethical considerations. A Venn diagram which included areas at least for medical, political, economic, and ethical areas of concern might illustrate the general complexity of the matter, but we need more than a picture to get to the nits and grits of the subject.

Jews may have a unique perspective from which to begin our investigation. We have been talking about health matters for over 2,500 years, and have, based on our religious texts and traditions, and our experience, developed a useful orientation, or, perhaps better, a useful conversation for considering the challenges of human gene editing.

As we have discussed elsewhere with respect to vaccinations, the origin of any Jewish ethical approach has its beginnings at the very start of the Jewish Peoples’ origin story. We don’t have to go all the way back to the pre-creation state of chaos, just to the first report of the creation of humankind. There we are told that humans were created by a Supreme Being and made b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s own image. (Gen. 1:27.) Rabbi Danny Nevins, of the Jewish Theological Seminary, acknowledges that this phrase is ambiguous. Moving beyond any notion of physical similarity, though, Rabbi Nevins holds that it at least “implies that humanity has God-like qualities and therefore great responsibilities.”