Challenging Nature - I

I just finished reading a very fascinating book Challenging Nature. The book is an interesting review of biotechnology and the challenges it presents for people of religious faiths. The author attempts to present the views of different faiths throughout the book and discuss how they can or cannot be reconciled with current scientific understanding.

Unsurprisingly, I was interested in seeing how the issues he presents challenge my understanding of Judaism, as well as how he presents Jewish understanding of many of these topics. Equally unsurprisingly, he gets much of the latter wrong. Over the next few weeks I will try to share with you some of the statements he makes and my views on them.

One of the classic mistakes he makes is the assumption that there is some sort of Judaeo-Christian world view. There is no such thing. On so many very basic issues Judaism and Christianity differ that the term Judaeo-Christian has no meaning whatsoever. This is evident in many places in the book. Furthermore, within Judaism, even within Orthodox Judaism, there is not one monolithic hashkafa (outlook) on many of the points this book raises. In the main where he fails is a seeming complete lack of any exposure to Kabbalistic thought. Many ideas which seem very clear cut and simplistic in Jewish thought, are actually revealed to be much more complex and multi-faceted when one is exposed to the Kabbalistic outlook on Judaism.

Finally, there are places where he simply has his facts wrong when it comes to Judaism. Yes, he apologizes for that possibility in his prologue, that doesn't change the facts.

The first such error is when he records a conversation with a Chabad rabbi (p. 9) during which the author asks "When does God give a human being a soul." The rabbi answered him that the soul is given at birth and not a moment before.

Unfortunately for the rabbi, this is clearly and unequivocally rejected by the Talmud in Tractate Sanhedrin. It states clearly that the soul enters at the time of conception. Frankly, it is shocking to me that a "rabbi" could have made such a blatant error.

The author then goes on to say (it is unclear to me is this came from the "rabbi" or if this is his own conclusion) that embryos before the 20th week of development can be removed at a woman's request because they are just her tissues, totally dependent on her body for vitality.

While there is much discussion in Halachic literature as to when abortion is and is not permitted, this blanket permission of a woman to have an early term abortion just because she feels like it is quite shocking.

I don't know exactly what this rabbi may have shared with the author, perhaps the author got it all wrong. That would only strengthen the dictum of חכמים הזהרו בדבריכם...