Lesson video

Hi, everyone, my name is Rabbi London.

Today, we're going to talk about the Jewish concepts of valuing life.

This lesson covers discussions about abortion, the medical process of ending a pregnancy so it does not result in a baby, and euthanasia, the deliberate ending of someone's life for compassionate reasons.

If this is a sensitive topic for you, we recommend checking with a trusted adult before starting, or doing the lesson with a trusted adult nearby.

In today's lesson, we're going to learn about the Jewish concept of valuing life, and then we're going to learn about some Jewish views surrounding abortion and euthanasia.

In today's lesson, you're going to need to have a pen or pencil and some paper or something to write on and something to write with.

I'm going to also ask you now to try to turn off any apps or notifications and to end any conversations if you're able to.

Try to find a place where you're going to have the least amount of distractions.

If you need to gather any materials for this lesson, press pause, and then press play when you're ready to begin.

First thing I'd like you to do before we start today is I'd like you to think, and take about two minutes to do this.

I want you to think about what questions do you ask yourself before making a decision? What are some of the factors that are important to you? Press pause to complete this activity, and then press play when you're ready to begin.

So making decisions.

There's a lot that goes into how do we choose what to do and know what's right? Many Jewish people believe that halacha Jewish law and ideas from the Torah are there to help make decisions or help them in their decision-making, whether that's how they're going to live their life or when big issues come up.

What is the moral and ethical way to answer this problem? When thinking of asking this question, many times in the Jewish community, people will ask a rabbi or a trusted leader, or sometimes they're going to think about the text to themselves of what does this text mean? And some questions that might arise are, who is asking the question? That might influence the way I answer.

And why are they asking the question? What is going on in addition to this question that's being asked? Then eventually might get to the place of what does the Torah say about this specific situation? And what do other Rabbinic texts say about this situation? I then might consider what are some other moral and ethical factors at hand, regardless of whether they come up in the Torah or Rabbinic texts, but there might be morals or ethics that I believe as a person.

I then will think about what do I think or believe about this issue? Do I believe that this is a good or a bad thing or should be done? Do I have bias when I'm answering someone's question? And finally, one question that might come up is, is there anything else that one needs to know about? Maybe there are definitions that need to be looked into, or maybe there's other circumstances or information that's needed.

Making big decision questions, decisions takes time to think and to think through.

And what we're going to do today is we're going to take some Jewish ideas together to then come up with some answers of what does Judaism believe about abortion and euthanasia? So first things first are definitions.

Abortion means it is a medical process of the ending a pregnancy so it does not result in the birth of a baby.

And euthanasia means the deliberate ending of someone's life for compassionate reasons.

So here we have the definition of the two terms that we're going to be discussing throughout this lesson.

One central idea that Judaism focuses on is this idea called sanctity of life.

This means.

This idea is that life is sacred and then should be protected and respected.

Many Jewish people believe that all life is special and belongs to God and that all life forms are God's creation and to be valued and treated with care and respect.

This means that a person's going to see human life as very important, and that goes for caring about one's own self as they're human, but also humans that are around them.

One idea within Judaism is that humans created in the image of God, as it's read in Genesis, "And God created humans in God's own image." This verse can come to teach that all humans should be treated with respect and with dignity.

This can also teach that God has a special relationship with humans.

In connection to this idea of sanctity of life and the special connection with humans, we can read from the Mishna in the tractate Sanhedrin, "Whoever destroys a soul, it is as if they destroyed an entire world.

Whoever saves a soul, it is as if they saved the entire world." This passage can teach an idea of the value of human life, meaning that each and every human life and soul is equal to the entirety of the world, which is pretty big.

So many Jewish people see human life as having a special or a holy status.

And as God is seen as the creator of all life, many Jewish people believe that it is only God who's allowed to decide when life can begin and when life is allowed to end.

Therefore, there are many Jewish people who believe that they should do everything that they can in order to preserve life because Jewish people believe in the sanctity of life.

Let's connect.

Wait.

Let's connect what we've learned together so far.

Complete the following sentences.

Sanctity of life means.

Many Jewish people believe blank and blank.

Therefore.

So pause the video to complete this task, and press play to resume when you're finished.

Let's go over this material together.

Sanctity of life means the idea that life is sacred and should then be protected and respected.

Many Jewish people see human life as having a special or holy status and believe that only God is allowed to decide when life begins and ends.

Therefore, many Jewish people believe they should do all they can to preserve life.

So the first two texts that we looked at are all about the sanctity of life and how many Jewish people believe they should do everything they can to preserve life.

That's one idea we're going to hold onto together.

Another Jewish concept is what's known as Pikuach Nefesh.

This concept means that saving life is more important than any other mitzvah, or almost every other mitzvah.

It is the belief that the sanctity of life should be one of the main guiding factors in moral decision-making.

So we've learned about a number of the mitzvoth as we've been learning together.

And Pikuach Nefesh is always going to come into play of, well, we have to do mitzvah A, but Pikuach Nefesh might also be at play.

What do we do? There's a verse from Leviticus that teaches, "And you shall follow My rules and My laws as a person does them and live by them, for I am God." This text is usually used to teach that is one is meant to be living by God's rules, not by dying.

And so if the rules do not allow one to live, then they can be broken.

Some examples of Pikuach Nefesh playing out of when it overrides a mitzvah is that if someone in general doesn't drive on Shabbat, and an emergency happens and they either need to get to the hospital or they need to take someone to the hospital, it is not just that they're allowed to drive on Shabbat to get to the hospital, but according to many opinions, they must drive to the hospital in order to save someone's life or their own.

Another example is if someone generally does not eat not kosher but are in some extreme circumstance where there isn't any other food, in that situation, that person's allowed to be eating that food in order to continue to survive.

I'd like you now to pause the video and answer in complete sentences.

Describe the concept of Pikuach Nefesh in your own words, and then give an example of how this concept might be used.

I'd like you to pause the video to complete this task and press play to resume when you're finished.

We've learned about Pikuach Nefesh and the sanctity of life, and now we're going to put these ideas into practise.

As we've said, abortion is the medical process of ending a pregnancy so it does not result in a baby.

We're going to read together some of the U.

K Abortion Act to know what is the laws here in the United Kingdom.

The Abortion Act in 1967 allows the termination, the ending, the termination of a pregnancy by a registered medical practitioner, subject to certain conditions.

This applies to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.

Under the Act, an abortion must be carried out in a hospital or special licenced clinic, and normally before 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Before a legally induced abortion can take place, two doctors must agree that the operation is less risky for the woman than continuing the pregnancy and that one or more of the following grounds for abortion apply.

One, it is necessary to save a pregnant woman's life.

Two, it is necessary to prevent grave permanent damage to the woman's physical or mental health.

And three, there's a substantial risk that the child will be born with physical or mental abnormalities and be seriously disabled.

So if we look at this Act, we can see that according to the law in the United Kingdom, a woman is allowed to get, to request an abortion, and it has to take place in a hospital or specialised clinic and normally before 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Before we get into the details of what does Jewish law say, it's important to think about why do some people request an abortion? So some examples are maybe the mother is underage, or the mother is a victim of sexual assault, or perhaps the baby will be born with severe disabilities, or perhaps the baby will be born with minor disabilities and the parents are worried for that, or the pregnancy risks the life or health of the mother.

And in honesty, there are many, many, many other reasons why a person will request an abortion.

These are just a few.

The first Jewish text we're going to look at is from the book of Exodus, 21:22-24.

Here it says, "If two men are fighting, and they injure a pregnant woman, and she miscarries, but no other damage happens, the one who hits her pays a fine.

But if other damages happen, then a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a leg for a leg." This passage comes into a section of Exodus where it talks about all different types of payments and laws of when causing damage to another person or their property.

So here it's talking about two men are fighting, and they hit a pregnant woman, and she loses the child.

She miscarries.

What happens then? So.

The text says that if the woman miscarries, then the attacker's going to pay a fine, so give money for this damage.

This shows that the miscarriage is not equal to a homicide, murder, because if it was seen as a homicide, then the penalty wouldn't be a fine.

It would've been death.

According to this passage, the losing or killing of a foetus can be seen as something different than homicide.

So if we take these ideas together, according to the text in Exodus, someone causing a woman to miscarry is not seen as homicide, although it is still seen as something that is seen as a damage, and the one who caused it needs to pay for those damages.

The next text we're going to look at is a later text in the Mishnah.

This comes from a tractate named Ohalot, and it says, "A woman who is having difficulty giving birth, one is allowed to terminate the pregnancy, as her life comes before its life.

But if the majority of the baby is coming out of the birth canal, we do not end the pregnancy, as we don't put one life before another." So this text shows that there is a time within Jewish law that says that one is allowed to terminate a pregnancy, meaning according to this text, when a woman's life is in danger and the foetus is not fully out of the birth canal, one is allowed to terminate the pregnancy to save her life.

This text also shows another interesting concept, that one does not put another life before one's, put one life before another life.

It is, in short, in some ways, not humans' right to decide that one life is greater than another person's life, which then shows that if one was going to have an abortion, then this would have to happen before a certain time.

Let's put together what we've learned so far.

Here are some Jewish views on abortion.

In some situations, many Jewish people would agree that abortion is allowed, such as the mother or the foetus was in danger.

In some situations, some Jewish people would say abortion is allowed, and other Jewish people would say it is not allowed, such as if one decided to have an abortion after becoming pregnant unwantedly.

There are some Jewish people who will ask a rabbi or look to Jewish texts for guidance.

And some Jewish people will make a decision based on their personal beliefs, no matter if they have Torah backing.

Let's put together some of the Jewish responses to abortion.

What I'd like you to do is finish the following sentences.

One Jewish response is.

This is because it says.

And use one of the quotes.

This means.

And then say another Jewish response is.

This is because it says.

And use the other quote.

And this means.

I'd like you to pause the video to complete the following task, and press play to resume when you're finished.

How'd you get on? This is really tough work, and you are working so well and so hard.

One Jewish response is that abortion in certain circumstances is allowed.

This is because it says in the Mishna in Ohalot, "A woman who is having difficulty giving birth, one is allowed to terminate the pregnancy, as her life comes before its life." This means that if the woman's life is in danger, one is allowed to do what is necessary to help her.

Another Jewish response is that the abortion should not be allowed.

This is because it says in the Mishna in Sanhedrin that to destroy a life is like destroying an entire world.

This means that as a foetus is also one of God's creation, then aborting the foetus, not allowing it to come into the world, would not be allowed.

If you've noticed, I gave two examples, one example of a way of where it might be allowed within Jewish law and ideas, and another example of where abortion would, a text that proves that abortion should not be allowed within Jewish law and ideas.

Again, I want to stress that there are many opinions within the Jewish community and within each individual Jewish person about how they will respond to questions of if a person is allowed or not allowed to have an abortion.

Now we're going to talk about euthanasia.

As we said, euthanasia is a term describing the act of deliberately ending a person's life, such as for compassionate reasons, such as if they're suffering from a painful or incurable disease.

Sometimes euthanasia is referred to as assisted suicide.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide is illegal, not legal, in the United Kingdom.

It can carry a punishment of a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Before we get started in what does Jewish thought say about euthanasia, let's think together of why do some people request euthanasia? Again, this is going back to our first set of questions.

Who are we talking about, and why might they be asking this question? Some possible answers as to why someone would request euthanasia is the person has a terminal illness, and they will definitely die from.

The person is severely disabled, and they do not feel that they're able to continue living in that way, or a person is in physical pain every day, or they're in emotional pain every day, or a person has an illness that will affect their mind, such as Alzheimer's or dementia, or many, many other reasons why a person might request euthanasia.

That's a very personal choice and desire.

When looking at, thinking about ideas with euthanasia, should it be allowed or not allowed within Jewish thought, the first text that we're going to look at is from Genesis 9:6.

Here it says, "Whoever sheds blood of a human, by humans their blood would be shed, because humans were created in the image of God." From this text, we can learn humans are created in the image of God, and one should not spill the blood or end the life of another human being.

It is from this text that is another proof in addition to don't murder, which comes up in other places in the Torah, that here we can see that one shouldn't kill or spill blood.

And part of that commandment is because humans are created in the image of God.

Another text we're going to look at is from the tractate Shabbat, and it's talking about what, some end of life preparations.

Well, really what happens at the end after someone dies.

"And the Rabbis taught, 'One who closes a person when their soul is departing.

'" So this means that they have done some of the post-life rituals on someone who is still alive.

"'One who closes a person when their soul is departing, it is as if they spilled blood.

' An analogy," this can be compared to.

"An analogy: to a candle that is burning out, someone comes and puts their finger on the flame, immediately the flame goes out." This text shows that if someone hastens, makes someone's death come faster, hastens someone's death, it is as if they had killed them.

They're equating the moving this, moving death closer or faster as equal to murder.

So let's put together some of the ideas that we learned about some Jewish opinions that would apply to euthanasia.

Most Jewish people do not condone, think that euthanasia, condone euthanasia or assisted suicide, condone meaning they don't think that it should be allowed.

Most Jewish people do not condone euthanasia or assisted suicide.

Most Jewish people think that a person should be kept comfortable, and what needs to happen is that person should find comfort and peace in whatever ways that are possible that continues to allow them to stay alive.

There are many, many, many debates, both from the rabbis many, many years ago, to modern rabbis and modern Jewish people of if and when a person is allowed to stop medical treatments.

One thing that I would say all Jewish people believe is that a person must continue, no matter where they are or how ill or not ill they are.

They must continue to be treated with respect and with dignity.

And that's going to an underlying principle when helping make decisions and in caring for someone.

Let's put together the texts that we looked at on euthanasia.

I'd like you to complete the following sentences.

One Jewish response is.

This is because it says.

This means.

Another Jewish response is.

This is because it says.

And this means.

Please pause the video to complete this task, and press play to resume when you're finished.

Let's go over the answers together.

One Jewish response is euthanasia is not allowed.

This is because it says in Genesis, "Whoever sheds blood of a human, by humans their blood would be shed, because humans were created in the image of God." This means that humans are seen as special in terms of being created in God's image, and it is a grave sin to spill the blood of another human.

Another Jewish response is that euthanasia is not allowed.

This is because it is taught in tractate Shabbat, "Our Rabbis taught, 'One who closes a person when their soul is departing, it is as if they spilled blood.

' An analogy: to a candle that is burning out, someone comes and puts their finger on the flame, immediately it goes out." This means that speeding up a person's death is equal to killing them, which is not allowed.

Thank you so much for learning today.

You did a wonderful job.

Today, we learned about the Jewish idea of the sanctity of life and then looked into two issues of abortion and euthanasia and what are some Jewish responses.

I'd like you now to write down three things that you learned today, and try to share those with a parent or carer or friend or teacher.

And please now complete the end of the lesson quiz.

If you'd like to share your work with us at Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the day, and happy learning.