Course Overview

Decisions of Fate:

Your Jewish Compass for Navigating Questions of Medical Ethics Explore the guiding Jewish values that help inform choices on common medical questions.  This course will equip students with the tools to chart a path through four areas of medical ethics: experimental treatments, extending life, pregnancy questions, and caring for a body. Gain an enriching perspective on how the Jewish ethical tradition helps us confidently navigate fateful decisions.

Lesson Outline

LESSON ONE
Experimental Treatments

When emerging treatments offer hope of recovery, when is the risk justified? Discover the Jewish ethics of risking your life in the hope of extending your long-term prospects.

LESSON TWO
Extending Life

How does Judaism balance the desire to preserve life with concerns of reducing suffering? See how Jewish values inform a dignified approach to end-of-life care and advance medical directives.

LESSON THREE
Pregnancy Questions

Explore questions of pregnancy through the lens of Jewish texts. Is a fetus a human life, or a part of the mother’s body? When pregnancy endangers a woman’s life, may she, in good conscience, carry the pregnancy to term?

LESSON FOUR
A Body’s Dignity

Might autopsy violate the dignity of the human body? Learn the Jewish view on the respect to which the deceased is entitled and how the sanctity of human life continues after death.