Halacha & Science

The Jewish religion is primarily a guide to action. Halacha, which literally means "the proper way" and is an all-embracing term for the Torah, plus 2,000 years of legal rabbinical commentaries on it, covers every conceivable detail of daily life, from what constitutes a fair interest rate to how grain that falls into gopher holes during harvest time should be left for the poor. At Manhattan's Orthodox Yeshiva University, 150 rabbinic alumni listened to a lecture on halacha and science by Yeshiva's Dr. Moses D. Tendler, a 33-year-old rabbi and biologist. The lecture was a good example of how halacha changes with the times.

P: Jewish law forbids man to kill on the Sabbath--even a flea or a worm. But an exception is made in the case of head lice and maggots. Why? Because, say the ancient commentaries, these are not real creatures in the line of life but the result of spontaneous generation--the louse from man's sweat and the maggot from decaying meat. Modern science, however, does not accept spontaneous generation; hence there must be some other reason for the law's distinction. Rabbi Tendler's answer: the dividing line is between the organism which exists on living matter (the worm on vegetable material, the flea on blood) and that which lives on dead and decaying matter (the maggot on rotting flesh, the head louse oa dead flakes of skin).

P: Jewish dietary law forbids man to eat bees. But the Old Testament demonstrates over and over that eating honey is permissible, and this is surprising because generally the product of any nonkosher animal is forbidden. Why the exception for honey? Traditional halacha explains this on the ground that the honey never enters the system of the bee but merely rests in the nectar sac, where it becomes honey. Science now knows that the bee secretes an enzyme that changes the nectar to honey. In recent Orthodox opinions, an enzyme from a nonkosher animal (such as a bee) is forbidden to Jews; enzymes used in the making of kosher cheese, for instance, must come from kosher animals. Question to be resolved: if a nonkosher enzyme is permissible in honey, should it not also be permissible in cheese?

P: The law is generally understood by Orthodox rabbis as forbidding contraceptive devices, on the ground that users commit the sin of Onan, who "spilled [his seed] on the ground." But how about oral contraceptives in pill form? Rabbi Tendler's answer: oral contraceptives are permissible. But the effect of some of the pills now used (in experiments in Puerto Rico, for instance) is to reduce the hormone level in a woman, which in turn may result in constant minor bleeding from the uterus. The law forbids sexual intercourse with a woman who is nidah (menstruous); therefore intercourse would be wrong in the case of a woman who had taken an oral contraceptive.

The application of Jewish law in outer space was recently considered by chaplains, theologians and scientists at the Haifa Officers Club on Israel's Mt. Carmel.

In two conferences, reports the Jewish Digest, these were some of the questions discussed:

1) On the moon, given an entirely different calendar, how will Jewish astronauts be able to tell the eve of holidays? 2) How will they perform the monthly sanctification of the New Moon, being themselves on the moon? 3) What color will they dye the ends of their prayer shawls--blue on earth, to denote the color of the sky--when the lunar sky is black? Answers: Jews on the moon (or anywhere) are earthlings, must act according to terrestrial time and custom.

Exception: since one lunar day equals 14 terrestrial days, moon Jews will have to observe the Sabbath twice a day.

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