Pesach 5779 Paragraph If a doctor or other medical staff is on duty in a hospital on Seder night, it is important to know how to conduct an abridged Seder in order to fulfill the special Mitzvos of the night properly. A...
Yom Kippur 5780
Rabbi Yossi SprungHashem’s Decree & PGD
Pekudei 5779 Paragraph Parents at high-risk of transmitting genetic disease to their offspring can ensure the birth of healthy babies through Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). PGD enables the genetic diagnosis...
May I Use My Friend’s Body as a Resource for Saving My Own life?
Bo 5779 ‘And Moshe called to all the elders of Yisrael and he said to them ‘draw forth and take for yourselves a sheep for your families, and slaughter the Pesach offering’ (Shemos 12:21) Paragraph The Mitzva of...
Paternity Testing and the Adulterous Wife in Halacha
Naso 5779 “If a man’s wife will go astray and commit a treachery against him.” (Bamidbar 5:12) Paragraph In this week’s Parsha, the Torah outlines the laws of the Sotah – the woman whose husband suspects her of being...
Performing Medical Procedures on Parents
Mishpatim 5779 ‘And somebody who strikes his father or mother shall surely die’ (Shemos 21:12) Paragraph In this verse we learn of the grave sin of striking one’s father or mother. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (84b-85a)...
Chatzitza and Contraceptive Devices
Metzorah “And he shall wash his clothes and immerse his body in water, and he will be pure.” (Vayikra 14:9) This verse is the source of the law...
Switching Shabbos Shifts with Non-Observant Colleagues
Matot-Masei 5779 “But if her husband shall annul them on the day of his hearing, anything that came out of her mouth regarding her vows or the prohibition upon herself shall not stand; her husband had annulled them and...
Chillul Shabbos and Experimental Therapy
Korach 5779 “And Moshe said to Aharon, Take the fire-pan and place fire on it from upon the altar and place incense …” (Bamidbar 17:11) In this week’s Parsha, following the death of Korach and his followers, a raging...
Forceps Delivery and Pidyon Haben
Ki Tisa 5779 “Every first issue from the womb is Mine; and all your livestock that produce a male, that which emerges from an ox or a sheep. That which first emerges from a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and if...
Rabbi Yosef SprungWork-Life Balance and the Torah-Observant Physician
Ki Teitzei 5779 “…and so shall you do for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him and you find it; you cannot hide yourself.” Devarim 22:3 Practicing medicine, though famously described by Chaza”l...
