Rabbi Yosef Sprung
Beha’aloscha (Naso) 5780 We are living in challenging and confusing times. Our world has slowly begun to emerge from the first wave of a deadly pandemic and the global economy which was brought to a grinding halt...
Of Mice and Pens – Writing Medical Records on Shabbos
Shelach (Behaalotcha) 5780 The Melacha of Koseiv – writing (Mishna Shabbos 7:2) is derived from the Meleches haMishkan (the acts used in constructing the Mishkan) where letters were inscribed upon the Mishkan’s beams to...
How Far Must You Go? Tircha and Mitzvos
Korach 5780 The first Mitzva that we were commanded to observe is Pru uRevu – procreation. There are two important disputes with regard to Pru uRevu, both recorded in the Mishna in Maseches Yevamos (6:6). Firstly, Beis...
Medical Practitioners & Critical Decisions
Bereishit 5780 In this week’s Parsha, Hashem rebukes Kayin for the murder of his brother Hevel: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!” (Bereishis 4:10) This...
May a Woman Refuse Fertility Treatment?
Noach 5780 “And you, be fruitful and multiply and fill the land.” (Bereishis 9:1) The Mitzva of Pru uRevu (procreation) is considered to be one of the central and most important Mitzvos. Sefer haChinuch (Mitzva 1)...
Delaying a Bris Mila for Jaundice – Science vs. Chaza”l
Lech lecha 5780 “This is My covenant that you shall preserve between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall...
Bikur Cholim via Telephone: Technique vs. “Tachlis”
Vayeira 5780 “Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.” (Bereishis 18:1) Rashi explains that Hashem appeared to Avraham for the purposes of...
Triage Priorities – Does Age Matter?
Chayei Sara 5780 “And Avraham was old, advanced in years, and Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything.” (Bereishis 24:1) Honor and respect for the elderly is a hallmark of Judaism. Unlike other cultures that worship...
Hidden Matters – “Gender Reveal” in Halacha
Toldot 5780 “And the children agitated within her, and she said, ‘If so, why am I thus?’ And she went to inquire of Hashem.” (Bereishis 25:22) In recent years, prenatal ultrasound imaging (as well as other advanced...
Shiduchim and Disclosure of Confidential Medical Information
Vayeitzei 5780 And behold in the morning it was Leah. And he said to Lavan, “What is this that you have done to me? Surely, I worked for you for Rachel. Why have you deceived me?” (Bereishis 29:25) Those who are...
Husbands in the Delivery Room
Vayishlach 5780 “They journeyed from Beis El and there was still a stretch of land to go to Efrat, when Rachel went into labor and had difficulty in her childbirth. And it was when she had difficulty in her labor that...
Caregivers and Questions of Yichud
Vayeishev 5780 Then there was an opportune day when he entered the house to do his work – no man of the household staff being there in the house – that she caught hold of him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But...
In God We Trust
Mikeitz 5780 It happened at the end of two years…” (Bereishis 41:1) Parshas Vayeshev concludes with Yosef’s plea to the Sar haMashkim to remember him, and help him procure a release from jail. The Sar haMashkim forgot...
“Yosef is Still Alive” – Communicating Dramatic News to Patients
Vayigash 5780 They went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Yaakov their father. And they told him, saying, “Yosef is still alive”, and that he is ruler over all the land of Egypt; but his heart rejected...
Mitzvas Kevura and Issur Hana’ah in Organ Transplantation
Vayechi 5780 “The time approached for Yisrael to die, so he called for his son for Yosef, and said to him, ‘Please – if I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth...
Abortion and Bnei Noach
Shemot 5780 And the king of Egypt said to the Jewish midwives, one of whom was called Shifra, and the other of whom was called Puah. And he said, “When you deliver the babies for the Jewish women and you see them on the...
Service of the Heart
Vaeira 5780 And Moshe cried out to Hashem concerning the frogs that he had inflicted upon Paroh (Shemos 8:8) In the Parshiyos of Yetzias Mitzrayim, the Torah records how on numerous occasions Moshe Rabbenu Davened to...
