Title: Medical Halachah Annual: Volume 1: The Pandemic and its Implications
By: Touro University, New York Medical College
Mosaica Press
Touro University’s New York Medical College, a proudly Jewish and frum medical school, was the brainchild of Dr. Bernard Lander, z”l, the legendary founder and first president of Touro College, now Touro University, until shortly before his petira in 2010. Touro University is now led by President Alan Kadish, M.D., his worthy successor.
New York Medical College, after only 11 years as part of Touro University, has grown into a 800-member diverse student body, which is located on a lush rolling hill campus in Valhalla, Westchester County, N.Y. NYMC serves exclusively glatt kosher food, and has affixed a mezuzah on every door.
And now NYMC has published a first of its kind annual all frum medical halacha journal, authored by a leading group of preeminent physicians and rabbonim. These learned essays are not only intellectually satisfying, but deal with real life challenges brought about by cutting edge technology, as well as by current events, which many readers have unfortunately encountered.
The Journal discusses the halachic and ethical questions facing frum practicing physicians, and even more so, the Orthodox Jewish community at large. The latter group will now have the opportunity to raise the curtain and understand the complex methodology of the various halachic formulae, which guided these outstanding rabbonim, as they paskened these literally “life and death” questions, for tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Jewish families, throughout the world.
A quick survey of these essays reveals how the overriding medical and halachic concern of certain pikuach nefesh for the individual patient is weighed so very carefully against potential or probable pikuach nefesh and the general health and welfare of the community at large.
There are heart-breaking discussions and questions which include the following grave medical, halachic, legal, and ethical issues:
- May an Israeli army doctor accompanying a group of soldiers on an extremely dangerous mission leave these soldiers with an inexperienced medic, so that he could accompany and care for a critically wounded soldier being evacuated by helicopter to a local hospital? (See Rabbi Elyashiv’s amazing response.)
- During triage, must a doctor stop triage to attend to the first critically ill patient he faces, before assessing other patients in the same room?
- At what stage of danger to the individual or community does a doctor and/or a rabbi define possible or probable safek nefashos?
- What halachic set of facts determines when the rabbi closes down a shul or school, because of a debatable predicted danger, which may or may not occur? How do you deal with a split in the Orthodox community relating to dina de’malchusa dina (Shmuel’s famous dictum “The law of the land must be obeyed”), when the governor orders shul and school closures, and certain Orthodox communities disobey the law? (See Rav Mordechai Willig’s “diary” and decision-making process.)
- If the CDC’s dictates are presumed by some or many to be influenced by political or non-purely medical concerns, must a physician, or rabbi, and/or individual heed the CDC’s recommendations?
- Under what circumstances may one fulfill the mitzva of bikur cholim for a patient with an infectious disease? (See article by Rabbi Ephraim Glatt, esq. & Rabbi Aaron Glatt, MD.)
- Whom do we obey? Rabbanim or doctors?
- Halacha dictates that we must rely on an expert (rofei baki) to issue a p’sak. Who may be considered an expert? And if experts differ?
- Does pikachu nefesh override Shabbos if the risk is 1/1000? (See Rabbi Twersky.)
- The halachic concepts of darchei shel olam (the “way of the world”) and shomer pesaim Hashem (Hashem guards the foolish). How do these affect the p’sak?
- Does a pandemic change the way rabbonim pasken?
- 12. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? (See Zvi “Zvika” Ryzman’s and Sarah Becker MD’s articles).
These and many other issues are presented in this highly scholarly yet very digestible journal.
I was astonished how non-doctors, whose articles are found in the journal, are so well versed in medical related subjects. Their penetrating essays, which analyze multiple medical scenarios, oft times giving rise to conflicts between the medical society’s standard of care and halachic standard of care, and what one must do to synthesize these two medical approaches.
I cannot cite every article, each of which is worthy of reading, but one is a must read. Rabbi Mordechai Willig’s first person “diary” of how decision making unfolded concerning shul closures, masking, and ultimately mandatory vaccinations, was like being the proverbial “fly on the wall.” The article recounts the multiple meetings, Zoom sessions, and anguished decisions which had to be made especially for the first Pesach of Covid, and the Yomim Noraim of both 2020 and 2021. It is plainly obvious that halacha does not follow a rigidly stringent course of conduct; instead, we read of the genius of poskim, who over the millennia and centuries, and even today, have successfully internalized Ben Bag Bag’s dictum of “Hafoch ba v’ hafoch ba deculu ba” – loosely paraphrased, “Dig deeply into Torah and you will see it is all there,” as so well-articulated by Rabbis Glatt, that “the same Hashem who authored the Torah, created the natural world.”
The Journal, a handsome hard cover book of approximately 150 pages, was edited by Dr. Edward Lebovics M.D., and assisted by Rabbi Moshe Krupka, executive vice president of Touro University.
Additionally, Dr.Kadish’s introduction to the journal, describing it as featuring the “interaction between Halacha and medical care…which however has become more crucial and challenging with advances in medical science,” should not be overlooked.
Upon inquiry, I was advised that this journal proceeded with the full support and approbation of Rav Doniel Lander, rosh hayeshiva of Yeshiva Ohr HaChaim and cancellor of Touro University, who sought to present authentic Torah thought, in the realm of science and medicine. Kudos to Rabbi Aviyam Levinson, the managing editor, for his contribution to the journal.
The journal encourages the reader to skip around the articles and select those of interest. In other words, the journal is for professionals, rabbanim, bnei Torah, and laymen.
As I am not a doctor, I was initially drawn to the medical authors to see if their essays held my interest. Remarkably, while I found that a few pages were over my head, nevertheless, there were many pearls of wisdom and nuggets of Torah to motivate me to read every article.
I recognized for the first time the frightening choices to be made by doctors and rabbis alike, as lives literally hung in the balance.
I look forward to the next volume (hopefully with an index), due to be published before Pesach 2024.
