Q&A: Science Fiction and Fascinating Halakhic Implications
Science Fiction and Fascinating Halakhic Implications
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In science-fiction books, an idea is presented according to which, in some number of years, scientists may succeed in causing souls to be switched instantly from one body to another at the press of a button.
In other words, Reuven would agree with Shimon that the two of them would exchange their souls for two hours. They would both press a button, and suddenly Reuven's soul would pass into Shimon's body, and vice versa.
Reuven's body would continue to function normally, but the soul operating within it would be Shimon's.
Shimon would remain with all of his information, style, character, knowledge, dispositions, and state of mind, but he would receive the physical power of Reuven's body.
Such an exchange would help us get from Jerusalem to the U.S. with the press of a button, for example, or rob a bank while using the body of some terrifying thief…
Hypothetically speaking, a law for the messianic era, castles in the air (see the book Torati Bekirbam, which explained this concept as clarifications of Jewish law regarding situations that are not practically realistic), etc.—if such a thing were possible (alternative medicine is already involved today with transmissions from the healer to the soul of the patient. Perhaps one day they will also succeed in replacing the soul in a body with another soul…)—let us discuss its many Torah and halakhic implications, such as:
– Is the one obligated in the commandments the owner of the body, or the owner of the soul?
– Who would be punished for damages or transgressions committed by a body when the soul inside it belongs to another person?
And of course, thousands of questions, such as forbidden sexual relations, commandments that are performed with one's body, exchanging the soul of a man into the body of a woman, and many more besides.
Even today we know about the world of reincarnations, impregnation of souls, etc. etc., but our case here is apparently different, since the owner of the soul continues his life routine entirely, with the same abilities, information and thoughts, sensations and feelings, virtues and traits, only in another person's body.
By the way: the brain is apparently a bodily organ and not (only) a spiritual one. But according to the above science-fiction scenario, even the brain capacities of body A could be transferred to body B…
What do you think, our dear Rabbi?
With friendship
Answer
The question is not well defined. Usually researchers assume that a person has no soul and that mental phenomena “emerge” from the material complex. In that case, it seems that nothing passed from one to the other except for the information stored in the brain. But if a person does have a soul, then in order to answer the question we would need to know whether the soul really passed over, or whether only the information passed and the soul remained where it was. If only the information passed, then the person remains as he was; and if the soul passes, then this is really nothing other than transferring a body from one person to another, not transferring a soul. It is like transferring organ after organ from one person to another in surgery (as in a transplant), until in the end the entire body has been transferred (see Wikipedia, the entry on the Ship of Theseus). Would it occur to you that if we transplanted a person organ by organ, he would become another person? And that includes a brain transplant. In principle, the brain could be supplied with the information it previously contained, and thus turned into another “person.” Therefore, it seems reasonable that this would not count as changing into another person.