Jewish Medical Ethics · Foundations
Jewish Medical Ethics: Foundations & Core Topics
A structured introduction to medical halacha and Jewish healthcare ethics, from foundational principles to contemporary questions in clinical medicine.
Foundations
What is Jewish medical ethics?
Jewish medical ethics examines medicine and healthcare through the framework of Torah, halacha, and Jewish moral thought. It addresses not only what medicine can do, but what should be done: how we understand the obligations of patients and clinicians, preserve human dignity, weigh risk and benefit, and make difficult decisions about life, illness, and death.
This collection provides a structured introduction for clinicians, rabbis, students, patients, and others seeking to understand the intersection of Jewish law and medicine.
Core Topics
Explore Jewish Medical Ethics
A topic-by-topic guide to major questions at the intersection of halacha and modern medicine.
Fertility & Reproductive Medicine
Infertility · IVF · gamete donation · surrogacy · parenthood
Explore topic →End-of-Life Care
Life-prolonging treatment · palliative care · suffering · decision-making
Determining Death
Brain death · neurologic criteria · halachic definitions of death
Organ Donation & Transplantation
Saving life · donation · transplantation · recipient care
Shabbat & Medical Care
Clinical work · hospitalization · emergencies · patient care
Mental Health
Psychiatric illness · risk · stigma · communal responsibility
Genetics & Screening
Carrier screening · genetic risk · privacy · family implications
Emerging Technologies
AI · precision medicine · biomedical innovation
Medical Decision-Making
Risk · consent · obligation · treatment decisions
Primary Sources
Medical Halacha Archives
Topic-based guides to the responsa and writings that shaped modern medical halacha.
Igros Moshe
Medical Halacha Responsa Index
Explore archive →Tzitz Eliezer
Medical Halacha Responsa Index
Coming soonA growing primary-source library
Future indexes will make the medical writings of major halachic authorities easier to discover and study.
In developmentThe JMAR Approach
Scholarship at the Intersection of Halacha and Medicine
JMAR brings physicians, rabbis, scholars, and healthcare professionals into conversation around the complex questions raised by modern medicine. The Foundations collection combines accessible education with deeper scholarship and primary-source study.
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