Category Books

AIDS in Jewish Thought and Law »

Authors: Gad Freudenthal
ISBN-13: 9780881256109, ISBN-10: 0881256102
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
Date Published: December 1998
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Gad Freudenthal

Book Synopsis

Like any novel societal phenomenon, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic forced Jewish thinkers - rabbis, physicians, philosophers, and others - to examine whether this scourge raises new issues or problems for Judaism. The present volume provides a fairly full picture of the responses AIDS has solicited within Judaism on the theological, ethical and halakhic planes. The volume consists of a comprehensive introduction by the editor, followed by almost all major texts bearing on AIDS and Judaism published between 1986 and 1995 in the United States, United Kingdom and Israel.

Booknews

The AIDS epidemic has elicited sometimes conflicting Jewish theological, ethical, and halackhic responses regarding morality, compulsory testing and treatment, and ritual circumcision. Compiled here are 12 major texts, 1986-1995, and the resolutions on AIDS of two US Jewish organizations. Some bibliographic references are in untranslated Hebrew. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

	Preface
	Introduction
	Only a Moral Revolution Can Contain This Scourge	1
	Memorandum on AIDS	7
	Halachic Perspectives on AIDS	11
	AIDS: A Traditional Response	23
	AIDS: A Jewish View	39
	AIDS: Jewish Perspectives	59
	The Problem of AIDS in a Jewish Perspective	73
	An Analysis of Some Social Issues Related to HIV Disease from the Perspective of Jewish Law and Values	93
	Compulsory Testing and Treatment for AIDS	105
	Brit Milah and the Specter of AIDS	113
	Response to AIDS by the Jewish Community	135
	Reform Responsa on AIDS
1	Jewish Reaction to Epidemics: AIDS (1985)	139
2	Responsibility of an AIDS Carrier (1988)	141
3	Responsibility of an AIDS Carrier: A Communication (1989)	144
4	Tahara and AIDS (1990)	146
5	Testing for HIV (1990)	147
	Statements on AIDS by Jewish Organizations in the United States
	Resolutions Passed by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism	159
	Resolutions Passed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis	165
	Index	169
	Acknowledgments	173