THE SEARCH FOR LIBERAL HALAKHAH
gadol hador, in other words, is willing to deny technological hope to infertile couples on the strength of a truly imaginative Talmudic interpretation and the scientific opinion of a twelfth-century philosophical work that is rarely cited in halakhic discourse. He goes on to cite what are undoubtedly the real reasons for his opposition to the procedure: the frightening potential for abuse, for science run amok, for a brave new world of genetic engineering. These fears are understandable, and we may share them. But where Waldenberg’s social concerns are by far the stronger part of his responsum, his halakhic reasoning is weak, far-fetched and just plain bad. While it is true that the subjective judgments of the posek and his concern for the welfare of the community are integral parts of the process of rabbinic decision, it is intellectually dishonest to try to cover these motivations with a thin veneer of legal respectability.” By carefully distinguishing between legal and extra-legal concerns in the writings of the gedolim, liberals can help observant Jews identify cases where the decisions of those sages amount to no more than the translation of personal opinions and prejudices into the language of halakhah.
At times, the majority position, while textually sound, must give way to other viewpoints on grounds of reason and common sense. A case in point is the autopsy controversy, which continues to flare from time to time into the public consciousness. Halakhah is strictly opposed to routine autopsies, and the vast majority of gedolim also forbid autopsies upon the corpses of Jews for the purpose of medical education. Even here, the procedure is forbidden as a desecration of the corpse and the deriving of benefit from the dead.® Against the majority stands the ruling of R. BenZion Uziel that autopsy for medical study involves the saving of life and cannot be construed as desecration, nor does medical education fall under the traditional definition of profit or benefit.* If, as usual, the halakhah here follows the majority, liberals would suggest that the victory of the consensus comes at a high cost. Listen to the kind of argument advanced in support of that position.
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