Michael Grodin: "Medical Halacha and Rabbinic Responsa in the Ghettos and Camps During the Holocaust"

Before the Holocaust, an estimated fifty percent of Eastern European Jewry strictly observed Halacha, the Jewish laws covering nearly every aspect of life. Historically, when rabbis have been faced with new questions of Jewish law, they have supplemented Halacha with legal opinions called "responsa" or "teshuvot" (answers). Drawing on research from the Project on Medicine and the Holocaust, Professor Grodin (SPH), Rabbi Joseph Polak, and Erin Miller (CAS '17) will discuss the difficult questions faced by rabbis during the Holocaust (e.g., involving contraception, abortion, smothering a crying baby while in hiding, ransom, suicide, and post-mortem cesarean section). Composing their answers, rabbis took into account not only Jewish law but the psychological impact of their decisions on their communities. Lunch will be served from 12 pm.