Schlesinger Institute

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The Schlesinger Institute for Medical-Halachic Research, or the Schlesinger Institute, is a research and publication center in Israel. [1] According to The Jerusalem Post, the Institute focuses on medical ethics and Jewish legal tradition, providing commentary, analysis, and guidance for healthcare professionals and Jewish communities. [1] It was founded in 1966 with the support of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and named in honor of the hospital’s second Director-General, Dr. Falk Schlesinger.

Contents

The Institute conducts religious and academic programs in Jewish medical ethics for a range of audiences, including medical students, religious scholars, and healthcare professionals. Activities include a semester course at Hadassah Medical Center, seasonal seminars for international students, educational visits for yeshiva and seminary groups, and workshops for Israeli high school students.

Publications

The Schlesinger Institute publishes books and journals on Jewish medical ethics.

Journals

The Schlesinger Institute has published two journals: ASSIA in Hebrew (which ceased publication in 2016) and JME in English. Both journals address medical and ethical issues, proposed solutions, and the ethical reasoning of rabbis and physicians.

The journals contain a wide variety of topics such as cloning, the determination of the time of death, heart transplantation, truth‑telling to seriously ill patients, HIV/AIDS, psychiatry, the organ trade, the cessation of medical treatment and euthanasia, initial counseling for an adolescent with same‑sex attraction, smoking and life expectancy, coercive medical treatment, surrogacy, medical dilemmas faced by hospital nurses, and halachic principles related to the obligation to save human life.

Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics

The Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, written by Avraham Steinberg, M.D., covers topics in medical practice from the perspective of Halacha and Jewish thought, drawing on sources from scripture through ancient, medieval, and modern rabbinic literature. It includes surveys of related medical, scientific, philosophical, ethical, and legal material, with references.

Articles address topics for both medical professionals and patients, combining halachic principles and medical knowledge with references from scripture and the Talmud with contemporary sources.

Topics include: Paternity, Suicide, Autonomy and Free will, Hospitals, Genetics, Religion and Science, Consent, Abortions, IVF, Organ Transplantation, Conflict of Halacha and Science, Old Age, The Patient, Embalming, Malpractice, Pain, Kashrut and Shabbat, Birth, Medical Education, Human Sexuality, Limited Resources, Medical Experimentation on Humans, Surgery, Confidentiality, Fertility, Lifesaving, Causing Pain to Animals, Triage, Defining Death, Physicians, and Ethics (General and Jewish).

Nishmat Abraham

Published as a four-volume set, Nishmat Abraham on Medical Halacha contains new responsa and medical halachic rulings. It is a commentary on the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch with detailed references from the Talmud through Rishonim and Acharonim. Rulings from halachic literature are included, with material from contemporary authorities such as Rav M. Feinstein, Rav Sh.Z. Auerbach, Rav Waldenberg, Rav Eliashiv, Rav Ovadia Yosef, Rav Wosner, and Rav Neuwirth.

Topics covered include doctor visits on weekdays and Shabbat, Yom Kippur, and Pesach. Additional topics include hospital or home visits, hospice, end-of-life care or brain death, pregnancy and assisted reproduction, contraception and abortion, Brit Milah (circumcision), and medical issues of niddah (women with a status of ritual uncleanliness related to menstraution). The work also addresses medical malpractice and claims, genetic engineering and cloning, DNA and stem cells, AIDS and herpes, threatened doctors and psychiatric patients, and Hatzalah and preventive medicine, through the lens of their halachic implications.

The views of leading authorities are summarized on each point, covering issues in medical halacha and its indices.

It is written by A.S. Abraham, M.D., F.R.C.P.

Additional books

The institute has published other books, including:

International Responsa Project (IRP)

The Institute operates as an International Responsa Project (IRP) [2] through which medical-halachic questions are posed to professionals by various means. [3] Questions regarding medical procedures, ranging from general inquiries to technical ones, are answered by rabbi-doctors at the institute or by a recognized rabbinical authority[ citation needed ].

The Chaim Kahn Library and Information Center

The Library and Information Center serves as a resource center for Jewish medical ethics in Israel. It houses texts of Jewish literature, compendiums of halacha, medical and Jewish journals, and legal texts.

Computer facilities, a database of Jewish sources, and the library's bibliography are available to the public. The information center is named after Mr. Chaim Kahn, the first chairman of the Institute.

International conferences

International conferences organized by the Schlesinger Institute are viewed by rabbis, doctors, and others for lectures on contemporary medical halachic issues. Conference proceedings and background materials have been published in both English and Hebrew. [4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Siegel, Judy (2018-06-03). "Genes and Jewish Medical Ethics". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  2. ↑ Halperin, Mordechai (2008). "International Responsa Project" (PDF). Bioethics AI Research– via Medethics.org.
  3. ↑ Halperin, Mordechai (2004). "Milestones in Jewish Medical Ethics" (PDF). ASSIA – Jewish Medical Ethics. VI (2): 4–19 – via Jewish Virtual Library.
  4. ↑ "History". מכון שלזינגר (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2025-10-10.

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