Q&A: Abortions
Abortions
Question
Regarding the relationship between the position of Jewish law on abortions and the moral position: is it possible that there is a difference between the two positions because Jewish law involves religious considerations and not moral ones (or at least not only moral ones)… similar to the Maharal’s comments regarding the laws of returning a lost item…? Or perhaps in this case both stem from the same question—when life begins… a determination that would have moral and religious implications… Or in other words, if a person has a position on this issue that differs from Jewish law… is it possible that this is his moral position, which stands alongside halakhic determinations (which is easier to come to terms with)… or is this the same question, and the fact that he accepts the position of Jewish law is only because he accepts the Talmud, even though his own position has religious implications that contradict that determination…
Answer
First, apologies for the delay (I missed the question. Thanks to Oren the editor, who misses nothing).
I didn’t completely understand the question. As I understand it, the moral consideration and the religious one are not dependent on one another (see Column 15 on the site). The concept of life may have different definitions in the moral context and in the religious context. Moreover, life is probably not a binary concept; rather, there are different levels of being alive, and each context uses a different threshold. That is true regarding a fetus, a dying person, a mortally wounded person, and so on.
Discussion on Answer
I don’t have a parallel article. But note that even with regard to ownership, I didn’t provide the criteria for when such a connection exists; I only stated that it does. Here too, I am saying that there is a halakhic concept of life, distinct from the moral concept. Its definition follows from the determinations of Jewish law.
That’s what I wanted to ask—what is the religious definition of life that differs from the moral one?
(For example, regarding the concept of ownership, you explained that the religious meaning is a metaphysical connection between a person and an object, and in light of that one can understand the halakhic rulings… do you have an article of that same kind about the concept of life in its halakhic or moral sense?)