Judaism and the Genome

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor
November 17, 2000

In this week's Torah portion of Vayera, Sarah gives birth to Isaac when she is ninety years old and Abraham is one hundred. Avoiding the issue of the probability of pregnancy at such ages, if Sarah and Abraham were told today that she was pregnant her OBGYN, her Rabbi and a host of others would have told her to have genetic testing. In the Torah God promised them a son. Today the doctors wouldn't have promised them anything. We live in fascinating times. Not only will the pandemonium in the presidential elections compel a revolution in how we cast our ballots and how they are tallied. The World Wide Web has transformed how we do business and communicate. I have to check my emails at home and in the office besides the "snail mail" that arrives in both places. I do my research at a host of Jewish cites using their search engines. And medical science is on the eve of knowing the entire genetic roadmap that controls every physical component of our individual existences. In the Torah, in the Book of Deuteronomy, God says: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing a curse, Choose life…" The mapping of the human genome can be both a blessing and a curse. No one alive today will escape the consequences of this scientific breakthrough.

Last Sunday night, under the auspices of our Adult Education Committee we had a public forum on the issues that we can only begin to see about this subject. In brief I will share with you some of the initial Jewish responses to genome research, which I presented. But I preface those remarks with two preliminary comments.

1. As Jews we are not dispassionate observers to the scene. We understand first hand its potential evil. During the Holocaust the German scientists particularly experimented on Jews in order to discover the secrets now being revealed. They wanted to know how to make the Super Race, control physical appearances and characteristics, and reproduce the Master Race in large quantity so to control the world. The horror of their experimentation upon the bodies of our families has been described in great detail. This subject is not theoretical but real and immediate.

2. During the forum a comment was made that the positions of the religious communities are extraneous. The "genie is out of the bottle" and there is no putting it back. Some reference was made to end of life issues. There it is true. The religious communities had to play "catch up" with medical science, with scientists and doctors who were enthralled and intrigued by what they could do, without answering the questions of "why should they do it?" of "why not?" among so many others. Science is clearly not a source of moral values. Science is not the source of meaning. Science does not know righteousness or mercy as human emotions and values. The faith communities enunciate this; will represent it in the public domain; will hold science and scientists accountable; will not allow the loss of our humanity. Hitler understood that he had to muzzle, intimidate and silence the religious communities before he began the Holocaust.

The Jewish response to the mapping of the human Genome begins with citing two passages in the Torah.

In Genesis 1: 28 God says to Adam "…fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth." The Rabbis, Nachmonidies and Maimonides all substantiate the position that God gave mankind dominion over the earth for the benefit of mankind. That is the critical and core value: it must be of benefit and good for humanity. The quest for scientific knowledge is permitted and encouraged because of the inherent good that it can have for people.

In Exodus 21: 19 in the matter of two people fighting we read, "He must pay for his (enforced) idleness (due to the injury)and his cure." On this verse is established the Jewish perspective that healing and curing is a Torah law, the highest level in Judaism. It is as if God Himself commanded the scientists to discover cures and as if God Himself commanded the doctors to minister to their patients. When the knowledge isused to heal and to cure, it is positive, good and even Divine.

There are some dissenting voices in the representatives of Jewish law and tradition. A few see creation and the original Divine arrangement, which should not be touched. The genes are those building blocks. Some see in the rule of Shatnez, the forbidden mixtures which relates to grafting of plant species, a possible prohibition. Maimonides answers this posture in his explanation that while we cannot institute a new creation, we may, even must, improve upon this one. In the attempt to make a new creation we would be denying God; we would be denying the legal, moral and ethical code that God has issued; we would be validating that some would be masters and others would be servants by dint of who had control – which Judaism categorically rejects. We are all subjects. None of us are masters over others. We must never let science rule humanity, nor cause us to lose it.

In counterbalance Judaism enshrines the saving of life as the highest value, which commands the violation of all other commandments but three, in order to do so. In tomorrow's haftorah, Elisha the prophet will save the child's life. The Rabbis say, "He who saves one life is as if he saved the world." Certainly, the mapping of the human genome can result in the knowledge that will save many lives; will save many men and women, mothers and fathers from pain and grief. This new knowledge could save our world many times over. I have been the Rabbi who has buried babies afflicted with Tay Sachs, Canavans Disease and muscular dystrophy. I prayed that somehow they could throw the switches, like the dip switches on the back of printers, to control the genes and make it all good. The potential blessing is, soon they will be able to do so.

Yet even if possible, would it be permissible to tell the doctor: "I want my baby to have x color eyes; y color hair; zheight. And make it a boy/girl." Is the human being supposed to be like merchandize ordered off the shelf? To whose model of perfection are we supposed to be shaped? Who is going to be the pristine paradigm of the human shape? Is it the blond, the redhead or the brunette? Is it the scholar, the preppy, or the rugged outdoorsman? What are the correctheight and the correct weight? Are we to be manufactured to fit the requirements? Are we to be rejected and subservient if we don't, or altered to make us fit the mold? If we know that our genetic map includes defects, and most assuredlyeveryone's does, and if there is no cure, how are we supposed to live? Are we to be despondent and despairing? Do we have to know? Will the insurance companies relegate us to a new class called "undesirables?" beyond "uninsurables!"?

It is here, in the deep, dark questions that are hidden in the unfathomable and cavernous recesses of the scientific laboratory and mind that are the issues, which will determine our destiny. We see the world not through the microscope and telescope, but through religious eyes. From that Judaism teaches us that diversity is part of God's plan itself. That science may parallel the initiation of creation in the womb by doing so in a petrie dish. It will need to be implanted in order to survive. But science cannot create the soul. Our devotion to our faith is a clarion call that by being God's creation, we have a spark of divinity, which must be respected and honored and never destroyed. God created life that is laden with meaning. The Jewish Law website which has an excellent article closes with the following words:

As Jews, then we can detect a special challenge in the changes that are quickly coming upon us. More so than ever, we must be the ones to fight for the nobility of Man… If we do less, Mankind might win the war with weakness and infirmity, while losing the war with the banality of existence.

In the article entitled "The Moral Meaning of Genetic Technology" Leon Kass writes: "As we get better at technological manipulation of our physical selves, the soul will be an early casualty."

I pray that we will live to see and experience the good, positive and blessings that the mapping of the genome can give us. We will still live finite lives, but they will be blessed with more health, and hopefully, more peace. But may God spare us of the evils that it equally contains. May we be vigilant and involved to protect our humanity and our souls.

Amen.