Abigail Klein Leichman
Playing catch-up with science
When it comes to genetic screening and engineering, Judaism’s ‘jury’ still out
Progress in detection of genetic diseases is spurring a new push for Ashkenazi Jews to get screened, but timeless questions of Jewish medical ethics are being raised anew.
Rabbi David Golinkin, the Conservative Jewish law expert, says the core issue has not changed since the days when screening was available only for Tay-Sachs disease.Golinkin will be scholar-in-residence at Temple Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn during Shabbat on Sept. 23-24.
“The main discussion vis-à-vis genetic disease is whether it justifies abortion,” Golinkin told The Jewish Standard in Jerusalem, where he lives and works at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.
Playing catch-up with science
Tackling the thorny issues of modern life
“There’s a huge thirst for learning,” says leading Conservative scholar and halachist Rabbi David Golinkin, who will be Shabbat scholar-in-residence at Temple Beth Sholom in Fair Lawn on Sept. 23-24.
President and professor of Jewish law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, Golinkin served for 20 years as chairman of the Vaad Halachah (the Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel, which writes responsa (answers to questions of Jewish law) for the Conservative (Masorti) Movement there. He has lectured in such cities as Puerto Rico, Paris, London, Montreal, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Tucson, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Chicago, and Reno.
Back to school
Holding on to good teachers
As the 2011-2012 school year dawns, financially strapped Jewish day schools are faced with myriad challenges. The statistical likelihood of many new teachers leaving the profession within their first three years on the job, coupled with recent economic constraints, highlights one of those challenges.
“Low paycheck, low morale, and not feeling valued by administrators” is how “Shira,” a young teacher at a Northern New Jersey day school, describes her work. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Shira said she feels at a professional dead end. “There is no protection, no union, no tenure. I should be making about $6,000 or $7,000 more than I am now.”
