Jewish Variants
There are three major variants within Judaism. These three variants are conservative, progressive and orthodox. Conservative Judaism seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual, but has a more flexible approach to the interpretation of the law than Orthodox Judaism. Progressive Judaism has reformed or abandoned aspects of Orthodox Jewish worship and ritual in an attempt to adapt to modern changes in social, political, and cultural life. Orthodox Judaism is a major branch within Judaism which teaches strict adherence to rabbinical interpretation of Jewish law and its traditional observances. There are more than 600 rules governing religious and everyday life. The difference between these three variants is more clearly outlined in this table.
Sources of Ethics
The Torah is believed to be divine law. The Torah provides the rationale for Jewish ethics, including bioethics. The text however, is open to varied interpretations. While the Tanakh, the Mishnah and the Talmud are respected as sacred texts, great teachers such as Moses
Maimonides and Rabbi Karo are considered their greatest interpreters and have contributed …show more content…
Killing a ‘dying person’ (a goses) is considered murder, however ‘passive’ euthanasia is acceptable in some circumstances. Improving a patient’s quality of life through palliative care is more significant to Jews, who understand that sickness and death are a natural part of life. When the ‘divine image’ (tzelem elohim) is affected by extreme suffering, some of the more liberal rabbis will allow a life to be terminated by removal of life support. ‘Active’ euthanasia is condemned and the option of patient-assisted euthanasia is considered to be suicide. Suicide is strongly condemned, despite there being no explicit prohibition in the Tanakh. Jewish authorities object to any attempts to unduly prolong life or to interfere with the natural process of
There are three major variants within Judaism. These three variants are conservative, progressive and orthodox. Conservative Judaism seeks to preserve Jewish tradition and ritual, but has a more flexible approach to the interpretation of the law than Orthodox Judaism. Progressive Judaism has reformed or abandoned aspects of Orthodox Jewish worship and ritual in an attempt to adapt to modern changes in social, political, and cultural life. Orthodox Judaism is a major branch within Judaism which teaches strict adherence to rabbinical interpretation of Jewish law and its traditional observances. There are more than 600 rules governing religious and everyday life. The difference between these three variants is more clearly outlined in this table.
Sources of Ethics
The Torah is believed to be divine law. The Torah provides the rationale for Jewish ethics, including bioethics. The text however, is open to varied interpretations. While the Tanakh, the Mishnah and the Talmud are respected as sacred texts, great teachers such as Moses
Maimonides and Rabbi Karo are considered their greatest interpreters and have contributed …show more content…
Killing a ‘dying person’ (a goses) is considered murder, however ‘passive’ euthanasia is acceptable in some circumstances. Improving a patient’s quality of life through palliative care is more significant to Jews, who understand that sickness and death are a natural part of life. When the ‘divine image’ (tzelem elohim) is affected by extreme suffering, some of the more liberal rabbis will allow a life to be terminated by removal of life support. ‘Active’ euthanasia is condemned and the option of patient-assisted euthanasia is considered to be suicide. Suicide is strongly condemned, despite there being no explicit prohibition in the Tanakh. Jewish authorities object to any attempts to unduly prolong life or to interfere with the natural process of