Q&A: The Status of a Child Born Through Surrogacy by a Non-Jewish Surrogate
The Status of a Child Born Through Surrogacy by a Non-Jewish Surrogate
Question
Hello, honored Rabbi, and happy holiday.
In the past year, thank God, I had a baby cousin born through a surrogacy process, in which the parents, of course, are Jewish and provided the sperm and egg, while the surrogate was a non-Jew. I wanted to know the Rabbi’s opinion regarding the halakhic status of the baby girl, and in particular the Rabbi’s view of the unequivocal ruling that came out of Rabbi Ovadia’s study hall (apropos of the previous column).
Answer
I’m not familiar with the ruling in question. In my opinion she is fully Jewish, because genetics is what determines it.
Discussion on Answer
Reasoning. There is no proof in areas like these, and even if there were, they would have no real force, since the sages of the Talmud understood nothing about these processes. I remarked on this in passing in column 701.
Anachronism? Reasoning? Proof? On what basis should one not require a conversion out of stringency? By the way, that is also the view of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.