Jewish scholars speak about genetics and medical ethics

On Sunday, a panel of three distinguished scholars will discuss Jewish Issues in Medicine and Technology, the theme of this year’s Leonard Wolinsky Lecture on Jewish Life & Education.

The Wolinsky Lecture panel gets underway March 11 at 2pm in the Robert R. McEwen Auditorium, Executive Learning Centre.

The panellists include:

  • Middle East specialist Susan Kahn (right) will ask "Are Genes Jewish?". Kahn is associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. Her book, Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel (2000, won a National Jewish Book Award and the Society for Medical Anthropology’s annual award for outstanding research in gender health.
  • Edward Reichman (middle right) from Yeshiva University in New York will discuss "Jewish Medical Ethics in the Past, Present and Future: From Smallpox to Stem Cells". Reichman teaches emergency medicine, philosophy and medical history. He is the recipient of the Kornfeld Foundation Fellowship and Rubinstein Prize in medical ethics. His research is devoted to the interface of medical history and Jewish law.
  • Elliot Dorff right) from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles will consider "Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics". Rector and distinguished professor of philosophy, Dorff is the recipient of the Journal of Law and Religion’s Lifetime Achievement Award and three honorary doctorate degrees. The rabbi has served on the ethics committee of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Health Care Task Force and testified before the President’s National Bioethics Advisory Commission on human cloning and stem cell research.

The Wolinsky Lecture is endowed by the Leonard Wolinsky Foundation and sponsored by York’s Centre for Jewish Studies Faculties of Arts and Education, in cooperation with the Toronto Board of Jewish Education.

For more information about the public lecture or to RSVP, call the Centre for Jewish Studies at 416-736-5823 or e-mail cjs@yorku.ca.