Thursday, August 04, 2005
The Rabbi Doesn't Like Twins?
Haaretz has an article on the Halachic status of human clones:
I assume this debate goes a lot deeper than that.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
If I were an identical twin, I'd be very afraid. Especially if I couldn't prove I was the "sperm-meets-ovum" original.
'In my opinion,' says Rabbi Moshe Botschko, head of the Heichal Eliyahu hesder yeshiva, 'a creature born through genetic duplication is not considered human - It is clear beyond all doubt that the life form created in some scientific institution will be an animal that walks on two feet, no more.' According to Botschko, a highly respected rabbi in the French-speaking community, the reason for this is that the Creator only gives man a soul at the moment when sperm meets ovum. But the cloning process involves no sperm. The implications of Botschko's conclusion are far-reaching: 'Anyone who kills a creature of this type will not be indicted, because he has not killed a man,' he says.
I assume this debate goes a lot deeper than that.
