Jewish Bioethics Quiz

When Jewish thinkers consider issues like euthanasia, abortion, and organ donation, they articulate diverse positions on the relationship between Jewish law, Jewish ethics, and secular ethics. How much do you know about Jewish bioethics?

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Question 1. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are
 Lung diseases common in Sephardic families
 Asthma conditions common in the Hasidic community
 Breast cancer genes commonly found in Jewish women
 Screening procedures for Jewish genetic diseases

 

Question 2. According to Jewish law, which of the following is true of abortion?
 Life begins at conception, so abortion is tantamount to murder
 Traditional Jewish law does not consider a fetus to be a human being
 If a woman's life is endangered by her pregnancy she still must have the baby
 Abortion is permissible under all circumstances; the rabbis did not claim ownership over women's bodies

 

Question 3. The traditional Jewish principle guiding end-of-life decisions is that nothing can be done to hasten death, but _____________ can be removed.
 Anything that hindrances death
 Feeding tubes and IVs
 Medications other than those that combat pain
 Unpleasant odors

 

Question 4. According to Jewish law, the permissibility for a healthy person to donate an organ (such as a kidney) is dependent on what?
 Whether or not one is a priest
 Whether or not one is a religiously observant person
 The risk of the procedure
 Whether or not the recipient is a religiously observant Jew

 

Question 5. True or false: Judaism sees the termination of a pregnancy as murder.
 True
 False

 

Question 6. According to the Talmud, when does a soul enter a baby's body?
 At conception
 After the first trimester
 When the child first answers Amen to a blessing
 No one knows

 

Question 7. According to Jewish law, actively hastening the death of a dying person is akin to what?
 Stealing
 Murder
 Putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person
 Defiling Shabbat

 

Question 8. According to Jewish law, what is a goses?
 A terminally ill patient, who is expected to die within 72 hours
 Someone who has been given a terminal diagnosis, but whose life expectancy is unknown
 A corpse within one day after death
 A person who wants to die

 

Question 9. True or false: The Jewish community has a poor track record of post-mortem organ donation.
 True
 False

 

Question 10. True or False: There is a case of genetic engineering in the Bible.
 True
 False

 

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