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Cloning:
Is it really kosher for Jews?
by Richard Yaffo
Jewah Ckrowck
One of the brighter luminaries in
the study of the Halacha, Jewish
religious law, and of bioethics, has
come to the conclusion after much
study of what has been going on in
the laboratories that ‘‘cloning” is at
present impossible for human
beings.
As for other forms of “genetic
engineering," these are not
“playing God” and are therefore
entirely permissible.
These views were given by Rabbi
Seymour Siegel, professor of
theology at the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America and
chairman of the Committee on
Law and Standards (Halacha) of
the Rabbinical Assembly.
Cloning is defined as the
‘‘technique of producing a
genetically identical duplicate of
an organism by replacing the
nucleus of an unfertilized egg with
the nucleous of a body cell from
the organism.”
In other words, removing from
the egg all traces of the female's
genes and retaining only those of
the male, and using the female only
as the mechanical medium for
bringing the egg to maturity and
birth as another human being.
The word, and the process, have
come to world attention ip recent
weeks with the publication of a
book, “In His Image, the Cloning
of a Man,” by David Rorvick, in
which it is claimed that the first
human “clone” has been born.
Rabbi Siegel, who recently spent
a year in the Institute of Bioethics
of Georgetown University, is
backed in his views of cloning by
Dr. Harry H. Gordon, director
emeritus of the Rose F. Kennedy
Center, Albert Einstein College of
Medicine.
“Cloning,” Dr. Gordon said,
“has been achieved inYrogs, but all
known attempts with animals have
failed. The current report in the
newspapers of a human clone and
the book in which it is reputed,
instead of scientific journals,
which are examined by critical
fellow scientists, are without doubt
a hoax, like the Golem.”
Quoting Russell Baker, the New
York Times humorist, who
recently asked “what are the
advantages of cloning compared to
old fashioned reproductive
methods?", and his reply that “it
eliminates the necessity of sex,”
Dr. Gordon declared that “this
consideration is the best guarantee
that cloning, even if possible, will
never make headway."
Rabbi Siegel, speaking of
genetic engineering in general,
declared that the Talmud teaches
that “the righteous could create as
does their Creator, but that sin
makes this impossible."
Thus, this prospect for the
creative power of man who can
imitate his Creator in power is
limited by the presence of sin.
which he described as “the
tendency to turn everything into
self-interest."
This “puts limits to our creative
power lest we create something
which will not benefit our posterity
but only serve our selfish
purposes."
“As far as the theological
problem is concerned,” he
continued, “the claim is that we
cannot play God. In Jewish
religion, nature is not divine. It is
created by God.
“The pagans believed that the
gods inhabit nature. The biblical
God is above nature. His glory is
reflected therein. (The heavens
declare the glory of God’). They
are not God.
“We have the duty and
responsibility to intervene in
nature, for the betterment of the
human estate. This is the
underpinning of the whole medical
enterprise.
“The challenge which God, so to
speak, throws at man is to use his
reason, his imagination and his
daring to probe nature, to wrest
from its secrets in order to bring
healing and health.
“Of course, we must be prudent
in our relationship with nature.
We cannot destroy it so that future
generations will not benefit from
it. We have to preserve it so that it
will serve us and our children.
“But nature is not sacrosanct.
Man is.
“Therefore, wresting from a
grudging nature its secrets is the
patient responsibility of man.
“We can improve on the human
estate. However, wt must be on
guard against destroying the image
of God through our manipula
tion-scientific and societal.”
Rabbi Siegel remarked that the
experiments of the past few years
have been overwhelming by
revealing “the realization of the
miraculous nature of human life.”
“Each cell contains myriads of
miniature computers that have in
their memories the results of
millions of years of evolution as
well as the instructions to every cell
whether to be a liver or a heart or a
hair,"he said.
“The more we uncover the
mysteries, the more we gain in
reverence for the mysteries of the
Almighty.
“How wonderous are Thy
works, O Lord!”
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Page 17 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE September 15, 1978
