Outline
- Almanah V'Ger
- Autonomy
- Halachic Status of Tissue in Culture
- Mitzvah HaBah BeAveira, Can one use unethical research?
- Financial Consequences: Does the family deserve financial compensation? (Going above the letter of the law)
1. Almanah V'Ger: The Jewish Approach to the Disadvantaged
(כא) כָּל־אַלְמָנָ֥ה וְיָת֖וֹם לֹ֥א תְעַנּֽוּן׃ (כב) אִם־עַנֵּ֥ה תְעַנֶּ֖ה אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י אִם־צָעֹ֤ק יִצְעַק֙ אֵלַ֔י שָׁמֹ֥עַ אֶשְׁמַ֖ע צַעֲקָתֽוֹ׃ (כג) וְחָרָ֣ה אַפִּ֔י וְהָרַגְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם בֶּחָ֑רֶב וְהָי֤וּ נְשֵׁיכֶם֙ אַלְמָנ֔וֹת וּבְנֵיכֶ֖ם יְתֹמִֽים׃ (פ)
(21) You shall not oppress any widow or orphan. (22) If you oppress him, [beware,] for if he cries out to Me, I will surely hear his cry (23) My wrath will be kindled, and I will slay you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans
(יט) חַיָּב אָדָם לְהִזָּהֵר בִּיתוֹמִים וְאַלְמָנוֹת... וְלֹא יַכְאִיבֵם אֲפִלּוּ בִּדְבָרִים, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנַּפְשָׁן שְׁפֵלָה מְאֹד, וְרוּחָן נְמוּכָה... בְּרִית כָּרַת לָהֶם מִי שֶׁאָמַר וְהָיָה הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁכָּל זְמַן שֶׁהֵן צוֹעֲקִין, מֵחֲמַת הֶחָמָס שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה לָהֶם הֵם נַעֲנִים ... וּמִכָּל מָקוֹם יַשְׁגִּיחַ לְנַהֲלֵם בְּנַחַת וּבְרַחֲמִים גְּדוֹלִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר כִּי ה' יָרִיב רִיבָם אֶחָד יָתוֹם מֵאָב וְאֶחָד יָתוֹם מֵאֵם, וְעַד אֵימָתַי נִקְרָאִים יְתוֹמִים לְעִנְיָן זֶה. עַד שֶׁיִּהְיוּ יְכוֹלִים לַעֲשׂוֹת כָּל צָרְכֵיהֶם בְּעַצְמָם, כִּשְׁאָר כָּל הַגְּדוֹלִים.
A person is obligated to treat widows and orphans with care... And to not cause them pain even with words, because their spirits are very low (double language). The One Who Spoke and the World Came To Be made a covenant with them, that any time they will cry out, because of the corruption that is being done to them they will be answered... And nevertheless, one should be careful to interact with them with gentleness and with great mercy, as it says, "Because G-d will fight their fights." [The Halacha is the same for] one who lost only a father and one who lost only a mother. And until when are they considered orphans in regard to this matter? Until they are able to provide for their own needs just like other adults.
Are the Lacks children considered self-sufficient like other adults?
2. Autonomy: Who Owns The Body?
(ה) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י ה' (ס)
(5) You shall observe My statutes and My ordinances, which a man shall do and live by them. I am the Lord: I am the LORD.
Judaism places life above almost all else.
(לא) וְלֹֽא־תִקְח֥וּ כֹ֙פֶר֙ לְנֶ֣פֶשׁ רֹצֵ֔חַ אֲשֶׁר־ה֥וּא רָשָׁ֖ע לָמ֑וּת כִּי־מ֖וֹת יוּמָֽת׃
Rambam: Mishneh Torah: Sefer Nezikim: Rotzeach uShmirat Nefesh: 1:4
The court is enjoined not to accept ransom from the murderer to save him from execution. Even if he gave all the money in the world, and even if the blood redeemer was willing to forgive him he should be executed.
The rationale is that the soul of the victim is not the property of the blood redeemer, but the property of the Holy One, blessed be He. And He commanded, Numbers 35:31: "Do not accept ransom for the soul of a murderer."
There is nothing that the Torah warned so strongly against as murder, as Ibid.:33 states: "Do not pollute the land in which you live, for blood will pollute the land."
If the body belongs to G-d and not to the relatives, can the Lackses halachically demand compensation for the revenue from the HeLa cells?
אין אדם רשאי לחבל בעצמו...
A man does not have the authority to sabotage himself...
(ה) וְאַ֨ךְ אֶת־דִּמְכֶ֤ם לְנַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם֙ אֶדְרֹ֔שׁ מִיַּ֥ד כָּל־חַיָּ֖ה אֶדְרְשֶׁ֑נּוּ וּמִיַּ֣ד הָֽאָדָ֗ם מִיַּד֙ אִ֣ישׁ אָחִ֔יו אֶדְרֹ֖שׁ אֶת־נֶ֥פֶשׁ הָֽאָדָֽם׃
(5) But of your blood, of your souls, I will demand [an accounting]; from the hand of every beast I will demand it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of each man, his brother, I will demand the soul of man.
Suicide highlights this conflict, does one have the legal right to take his own life?
3. Halachic Status of Tissue in a Culture
...וחכמים אומרים: כל שאין בו מצורת אדם, אינו ולד.
...And the Sages say: anything that does not have a human shape is not [considered to be] a fetus [with regard to the purity status of one who gives birth].
Chapter Three of Tractate Niddah in the Jerusalem Talmud
Rabbi Yasa states in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: if [a creature] has a human body but its face is of an animal, it is not human; if [a creature] has an animal body, but its face is human, it is human. [And so it seems that, at first glance, what we look for are human features. But the Talmud continues;] Yet suppose it is entirely human, but its face is animal like, and it is studying Jewish law? Can one say to it "come and be slaughtered"? [Rather one cannot]. Or consider if it is entirely animal like, but its face human, and it is plowing the field [acting like an animal] do we come and say to it, "come and perform levirate marriage and divorce"? [Rather, one cannot.]5
Is Henrietta still "alive" through her cells? Deborah, her daughter, was convinced that the scientists were still experimenting on her mother. To what extent is Deborah's fear legitimized by Halacha?
4. Using Unethical Research
מעשה ברבי אליעזר שנכנס לבית הכנסת ולא מצא עשרה ושחרר עבדו והשלימו לעשרה שחרר אין לא שחרר לא תרי אצטריכו שחרר חד ונפיק בחד והיכי עביד הכי והאמר רב יהודה כל המשחרר עבדו עובר בעשה שנאמר (ויקרא כה, מו) לעולם בהם תעבודו לדבר מצוה שאני מצוה הבאה בעבירה היא מצוה דרבים שאני
It happened that R. Eliezer went into a Synagogue and did not find ten there, so he freed his slave and with him completed the requisite number. Since he freed him he was [included], but had he not freed him, he would not! Two had been required [to complete the quorum], so he freed one slave and fulfilled the obligation [of having ten] with the other. But how could he act in this way? For behold, Rav Judah declared: Whoever frees his slave transgresses a command of the Torah; as it is said, "Of them shall you take your bondmen forever" (Lev. 25:46)! For the purpose of fulfilling a religious duty it is different. But it is fulfilling a religious duty through the means of a transgression! The fulfilling of a religious duty which affects the many is different.
Polio vaccinations are a routine vaccination given to all infants in America.
"Before there was a vaccine for Polio, about half a million people died or became paralyzed each year after contracting the Polio virus."
- Canadian International Immunization Initiative
The Ethics of Using Medical Data from Nazi Experiments, Article by Baruch C. Cohen
"I don't want to have to use the Nazi data, but there is no other and will be no other in an ethical world. I've rationalized it a bit. But not to use it would be equally bad. I'm trying to make something constructive out of it. I use it with my guard up, but it's useful."
- Dr. John Hayward, Victoria University
"...this loss [to science], it seems, would be less important than the far reaching moral loss to medicine if the data were to be published."
-Dr. Henry Beecher, Harvard Medical School Professor
"In such cases the religiosity and moral fiber of the composer, mechanic, inventor and scientist is completely irrelevant to the object's subsequent use. People have no religious expectations, nor do they seek any religious fulfillment from inanimate objects. Therefore, Rav Moshe (a major Halachic authority of the 20th century) allows their use, even though they were created by wicked men"
- Cohen's reference to Rav Moshe Feinstein's Responsa, Igros Moshe: Even HaEzer
5. Financial Consequences: Does the Lacks family deserve financial compensation?
רבה בר בר חנן תברו ליה הנהו שקולאי חביתא דחמרא שקל לגלימייהו אתו אמרו לרב. אמר ליה "הב להו גלימייהו." אמר ליה "דינא הכי?" אמר ליה "אין (משלי ב, כ) 'למען תלך בדרך טובים'." יהיב להו גלימייהו. אמרו ליה "עניי אנן וטרחינן כולה יומא וכפינן ולית לן מידי." אמר ליה "זיל הב אגרייהו." א"ל "דינא הכי?" אמר ליה "אין (משלי ב, כ) 'וארחות צדיקים תשמור'."
Some porters [negligently] broke a barrel of wine belonging to Rabbah son of R. Huna. Thereupon he seized their garments; so they went and complained to Rav. 'Return them their garments,' he ordered. 'Is that the law?' they inquired. 'Even so,' he rejoined: 'That you may walk in the way of good men.' Their garments having been returned, they observed. 'We are poor men, have worked all day, and are in need: are we to get nothing?' 'Go and pay them,' he ordered. 'Is that the law?' he asked. 'Even so,' was his reply: 'and keep the path of the righteous.'
(translation courtesy of Rabbi Dr. I Epstein)
רב יהודה הוה שקיל ואזיל בתריה. דמר שמואל בשוקא דבי דיסא. א"ל "מצא כאן ארנקי--מהו?" אמר ליה "הרי אלו שלו." "בא ישראל ונתן בה סימן--מהו?" א"ל "חייב להחזיר." תרתי? אמר ליה "לפנים משורת הדין: כי הא דאבוה דשמואל אשכח הנך חמרי במדברא, ואהדרינהו למרייהו לבתר תריסר ירחי--שתא לפנים משורת הדין."
Rav Yehudah once followed Mar Shmuel into a street of wholemeal vendors, and he asked him "What if one found here a purse?" [Mar Shmuel] answered "It would belong to the finder." "What if a Jew came and gave an identification mark?" [Mar Shmuel] answered: He would have to return it." Both [make sense]? [Mar Shmuel] answered "[He should go] beyond the requirements of the law: Thus the father of Shmuel found some donkeys in a desert, and he returned them to their owner after a year of twelve months: [he went] beyond the requirements of the law."
(translation courtesy of Rabbi Dr. I Epstein)
1. Demonstrates notable example of monetary compensation even after the halachic time parameter has passed (12 months, in this case)
2. Places importance on going above the letter of the law in general
לפנים משורת הדין - מ"אשר יעשון" נפקא לן לקמן בפרקין (דף ל:) תימה דלא מייתי קרא הכא כדמייתי לקמן בעובדא דר' ישמעאל ובהגוזל קמא (ב"ק דף ק. ושם ד"ה לפנים) בעובדא דרבי חייא במראה דינר לשולחני ונמצא רע ולקמן בסוף פרק האומנין (דף פג.) מייתי קרא אחרינא "למען תלך בדרך טובים"--שהוא מדברי קבלה....
Explanation: Tosfot notes that the Torah source of "asher ya'asun" can only apply to one of a group of people in making his obligation equal to theirs. However, the source for a unique obligation above the level of the law is the passuk in Mishlei: "lma'an telech b'derech tovim."
What are the potential financial ramifications of these sources in a halachic court for the companies who profited from HeLa cells?