Eliezer Waldenberg
Encyclopedia
Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg (December 10, 1915 - November 21, 2006) was known as the Tzitz Eliezer after his monumental halachic
treatise Tzitz Eliezer that covers a wide breadth of halacha, including Jewish medical ethics
, as well as ritual halachic issues from Shabbat
to kashrut
. He was born in Jerusalem in 1915 and died there on November 21, 2006.
He was a leading rabbi
and a dayan on the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem and was considered an eminent authority on medical halacha. He was the rabbi of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Though he wrote numerous books and articles in all fields of halacha, he was best known for his decisions on medical dilemmas
such as fertility
, abortion
, organ transplant
ation, euthanasia
, autopsies
, smoking
, cosmetic surgery, and medical experimentation. Some of his decisions on medical topics have proven controversial in the Haredi
community.
His halachic opinions are valued by many rabbis across the religious spectrum. His major work Tzitz Eliezer, is an encyclopedic treatise on halachic questions, viewed as one of the great achievements of halachic scholarship of the 20th century.
disagreed with this opinion. (Responsa Igrot Moshe, Choshen Mishpat 2:66.)
He allowed first trimester abortion of a fetus
which would be born with a deformity that would cause it to suffer, and termination of a fetus with a lethal fetal defect such as Tay-Sachs disease
up to the end of the second trimester of gestation
. (Tzitz Eliezer, 9:51:3.)
He ruled that a child conceived outside the womb, through in vitro fertilisation
, has no parents and bears no halachic relationship either to the biological parents or the "surrogate mother
," the woman who carries the child to term. (Id., 15:45.)
He was one of a small but growing number of rabbis to forbid smoking. (Schussheim, Eli and Eliezer Waldenberg. (“Should Jewish law forbid smoking?” B’Or ha’Torah 8 (1993))
Many of his medical opinions were recorded by his student Avraham Steinberg, M.D, and then translated into summary volumes.
In the chapter entitled "On the treatment which exposes the physician to danger," Rabbi Waldenberg wrote:
(Quoted by Jewish Medical Law: A Concise Response; Compiled and Edited by Avraham Steinberg, M.D. Translated by David Simons M.D.; Beit Shammai Publications, 1989, Part 10, Chapter 11.)
In a particularly controversial ruling, Waldenberg ruled that sex reassignment surgery
for transsexuals effects a change in a person's halachic gender
, and that, in his words, "The external anatomy which is visible to the eye is what determines the halakha". (Id., 25:26:6; )http://www.starways.net/beth/tzitz.html.
, Shofar
blowing and Megillah
reading by means of a loudspeaker, telephone, or radio, if no other options were available. (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 8:11.). However Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
strongly disagreed on this. (see Minchas Shlomo I:9)
He also emphasized the Jewish concept of Kevod HaBriyot (human honor or dignity) in his rulings. As an example, Rabbi Waldenberg adduced this concept in support of his ruling that a deaf person can use an electric hearing aid
on Shabbat. Rabbi Waldenberg wrote:
(Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 6:6:3.)
, Shlomo Goren
, and Isser Yehuda Unterman
.
He writes in support of yeshiva
students' exemption from military service because through the merit of their Torah
learning they help protect the country.
He granted workers the right to strike when employers have violated a workplace condition that has become “the custom of the land.” Most legal authorities required workers to bring their employer to a beit din (religious court) before resorting to a strike.
"In situations such as these, in which the worker is absolutely certain that the employer has transgressed and violated a condition that has been established as the custom of the land, the worker may take the law into his own hands by levying the fine that the appointed communal leaders have deemed appropriate for a situation such as this." (Tzitz Eliezer 2:23)
Even though, "A convert may not hold a position of Jewish communal authority." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Melakhim 1:4). Rabbi Waldenberg ruled that a convert may not serve in a lone communal position but he may serve on a communal committee. (Tzitz Eliezer 19:48)
cemetery. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=115954
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
treatise Tzitz Eliezer that covers a wide breadth of halacha, including Jewish medical ethics
Jewish medical ethics
Jewish medical ethics is a modern scholarly and clinical approach to medical ethics that draws upon Jewish thought and teachings. Pioneered by Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits in the 1950s, Jewish medical ethics centers mainly around an applied ethics drawing upon traditional rabbinic law...
, as well as ritual halachic issues from Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
to kashrut
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
. He was born in Jerusalem in 1915 and died there on November 21, 2006.
He was a leading rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and a dayan on the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem and was considered an eminent authority on medical halacha. He was the rabbi of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Though he wrote numerous books and articles in all fields of halacha, he was best known for his decisions on medical dilemmas
Jewish medical ethics
Jewish medical ethics is a modern scholarly and clinical approach to medical ethics that draws upon Jewish thought and teachings. Pioneered by Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits in the 1950s, Jewish medical ethics centers mainly around an applied ethics drawing upon traditional rabbinic law...
such as fertility
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
, abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, organ transplant
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
ation, euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
, autopsies
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
, smoking
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, cosmetic surgery, and medical experimentation. Some of his decisions on medical topics have proven controversial in the Haredi
Haredi Judaism
Haredi or Charedi/Chareidi Judaism is the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to as ultra-Orthodox. A follower of Haredi Judaism is called a Haredi ....
community.
His halachic opinions are valued by many rabbis across the religious spectrum. His major work Tzitz Eliezer, is an encyclopedic treatise on halachic questions, viewed as one of the great achievements of halachic scholarship of the 20th century.
Prominent medical opinions
Rabbi Waldenberg forbade performing elective surgery on someone who is neither sick nor in pain, such as cosmetic surgery. He argues that such activities are outside the boundaries of the physician's mandate to heal. (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 11:41; 12:43.) Notably, Rabbi Moshe FeinsteinMoshe Feinstein
Moshe Feinstein was a Lithuanian Orthodox rabbi, scholar and posek , who was world-renowned for his expertise in Halakha and was regarded by many as the de facto supreme halakhic authority for Orthodox Jewry of North America during his lifetime...
disagreed with this opinion. (Responsa Igrot Moshe, Choshen Mishpat 2:66.)
He allowed first trimester abortion of a fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
which would be born with a deformity that would cause it to suffer, and termination of a fetus with a lethal fetal defect such as Tay-Sachs disease
Tay-Sachs disease
Tay–Sachs disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder...
up to the end of the second trimester of gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
. (Tzitz Eliezer, 9:51:3.)
He ruled that a child conceived outside the womb, through in vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation
In vitro fertilisation is a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the body: in vitro. IVF is a major treatment in infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed...
, has no parents and bears no halachic relationship either to the biological parents or the "surrogate mother
Surrogacy
Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child for another couple or person. This woman may be the child's genetic mother , or she may carry the pregnancy to delivery after having an embryo, to which she has no genetic relationship whatsoever, transferred to her uterus...
," the woman who carries the child to term. (Id., 15:45.)
He was one of a small but growing number of rabbis to forbid smoking. (Schussheim, Eli and Eliezer Waldenberg. (“Should Jewish law forbid smoking?” B’Or ha’Torah 8 (1993))
Many of his medical opinions were recorded by his student Avraham Steinberg, M.D, and then translated into summary volumes.
In the chapter entitled "On the treatment which exposes the physician to danger," Rabbi Waldenberg wrote:
(Quoted by Jewish Medical Law: A Concise Response; Compiled and Edited by Avraham Steinberg, M.D. Translated by David Simons M.D.; Beit Shammai Publications, 1989, Part 10, Chapter 11.)
In a particularly controversial ruling, Waldenberg ruled that sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
for transsexuals effects a change in a person's halachic gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, and that, in his words, "The external anatomy which is visible to the eye is what determines the halakha". (Id., 25:26:6; )http://www.starways.net/beth/tzitz.html.
Other Opinions
Waldenberg permitted hearing Torah readingTorah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...
, Shofar
Shofar
A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Shofar come in a variety of sizes.- Bible and rabbinic literature :...
blowing and Megillah
Megillah
Megillah may refer to:Bible:*The Scroll of Esther , read on the Jewish holiday of Purim.*Megillat AntiochusRabbinic literature:*Tractate Megillah in the Talmud....
reading by means of a loudspeaker, telephone, or radio, if no other options were available. (Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 8:11.). However Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach , was a renowned Orthodox Jewish rabbi, posek, and rosh yeshiva of the Kol Torah yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel...
strongly disagreed on this. (see Minchas Shlomo I:9)
He also emphasized the Jewish concept of Kevod HaBriyot (human honor or dignity) in his rulings. As an example, Rabbi Waldenberg adduced this concept in support of his ruling that a deaf person can use an electric hearing aid
Hearing aid
A hearing aid is an electroacoustic device which typically fits in or behind the wearer's ear, and is designed to amplify and modulate sound for the wearer. Earlier devices, known as "ear trumpets" or "ear horns", were passive funnel-like amplification cones designed to gather sound energy and...
on Shabbat. Rabbi Waldenberg wrote:
(Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, 6:6:3.)
Political and Social Questions
Rabbi Waldenberg also wrote a multivolume set on the practical issues of government called Hilkhot Medinah. In this work he takes issue with many positions of former chief rabbis Yitzhak HaLevi HerzogYitzhak HaLevi Herzog
Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog , also known as Isaac Herzog, was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term lasting from 1921 to 1936...
, Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren
Shlomo Goren , was an Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi in Israel who founded and served as the first head of the Military Rabbinate of the Israel Defense Forces and subsequently as the third Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983.He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars,...
, and Isser Yehuda Unterman
Isser Yehuda Unterman
Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1964 until 1972.Born in Brest-Litovsk in modern Belarus, Unterman was educated at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Maltsch. There, he became a pupil of its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shimon Shkop...
.
He writes in support of yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
students' exemption from military service because through the merit of their Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
learning they help protect the country.
He granted workers the right to strike when employers have violated a workplace condition that has become “the custom of the land.” Most legal authorities required workers to bring their employer to a beit din (religious court) before resorting to a strike.
"In situations such as these, in which the worker is absolutely certain that the employer has transgressed and violated a condition that has been established as the custom of the land, the worker may take the law into his own hands by levying the fine that the appointed communal leaders have deemed appropriate for a situation such as this." (Tzitz Eliezer 2:23)
Even though, "A convert may not hold a position of Jewish communal authority." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Melakhim 1:4). Rabbi Waldenberg ruled that a convert may not serve in a lone communal position but he may serve on a communal committee. (Tzitz Eliezer 19:48)
Death
Rabbi Waldenberg died on 21 November 2006 at Shaarei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, of which he had been the Rabbi. He was buried later on the 21st at Jerusalem's Har HaMenuchotHar HaMenuchot
Har HaMenuchot is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located at the western edge of the city adjacent to the neighborhood of Givat Shaul, with commanding views of Mevaseret Zion to the north, Motza to the west, and Har Nof to the south.-History:...
cemetery. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=115954
Works
- Tzitz Eliezer, major responsa
- Hilchos Medinah, a 3-volume halachic work
- Divrei Eliezer, novella
- Shvisas Hayam, which deals with the laws of ships regarding Shabbos
Further reading
- Fred Rosner, Pioneers in Jewish Medical Ethics, Jason AronsonJason AronsonJason Aronson is an American publisher of books in the field of psychotherapy. Topics dealt with in these books include child therapy, family therapy, couple therapy, object relations therapy, play therapy, depression, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance abuse, sexual abuse, stress,...
Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-7657-9968-5 - Jewish Medical Law: A Concise Response. Compiled & Edited from the Tzitz Eliezer by Avraham Steinberg; translated by David B. Simons, MD. Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing, 1992.
- A. Steinberg, Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics: a Compilation of Jewish Medical Law on All Topics of Medical Interest
External links
- Judaism and Gender Issues Essay Summarizing responsa of the Tzitz Eliezar on transsexuality
- Presentation of Award for Medicine and Halacha to Rabbi Eliezar Waldenberg
- Rabbi Waldenberg answers Halachic questions concerning dentistry
- Cosmetic Surgery -- A review of four classic Teshuvot (Rabbi Waldenberg is #2)
- His obituary from Arutz Sheva
- Tzitz Eliezer passes away at age of 89