The spirit of the author's view opens a gate to compromise between Orthodox jews and the Secular majority in Israel .

Anything else is neither a valid interpretation of Torah nor valid Halakhah. Excellent, and MUCH needed article! Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

I never thought I'd live to see the day that a descendant of Abraham would demonstrate such gross ignorance. The issue was a matter of using fetal tissue for the research. Perhaps Mr. Kaveh wishes to deny that the fetuses are human beings? Or that the stem-cell extraction destroys the fetus? Of course, one might conclude that Mr. Kaveh is actually a German and that he would equally have asserted the justification for Nazi scientists experimention upon Jewish victims to enhance their scientific understanding of the human body, under Hitler's regime - after all, the Germans denied the humanity of Jews.

many embryos are discarded each year, because they are not used. does it make sense to discard these embryos when they could be used to possibly lessen the hardship of human diseases or maybe reach a cure? Sanctimony knows no bounds. Just because a treatment or cure is not immediately forthcoming, is no reason to abandon or prohibit this area of research with so much potential. Cance research has contined for nearly a century with no cures for many cancers. should we abandon that also?

Yes, Orthodox Jews are very much pro-science. Congratulations. I especially like the anti-Karaite slur. Was it necessary? And is it even accurate? For those who do not know, Karaite Judaism believes that the Tanakh should be understood according to its plain meaning / in the same way that Jews living at the time of its writing would have understood it. You can call it “plain meaning” if you like. Contrary to the caricature promoted in this article, it is NOT the same as “literal meaning”. “Literal meaning” is “meaning” that does not exist in the text, “meaning” divorced from all context, “meaning” that would not have been seen by the intended audience. This is NOT what Karaite Judaism teaches. Orthodox Judaism, on the other hand, does use literal meaning when it chooses to do so. For example, Orthodox Judaism claims that the Torah contains a commandment to wear tefillin – the claim is made by way of “literal meaning”. The Torah does contain words “eye for an eye”. For centuries, Christians have used that phrase to try to illustrate how “angry” and “vengeful” the “god of the Old Testament” is. Indeed, if we ignore all context, if we rip these words out of their context, then they do seem extreme. Now, Prof. Kaveh uses the words against Karaite Jews. How nice. Yet, Karaite Judaism does not believe, and has never believed, that a person’s eye should be harmed if he has harmed another person’s eye. Why not? Because Karaite Jews know how to read. When we read the rest of the verses, we see that “eye for an eye” means that a person should pay a fine for harming someone else’s eye. In short, in expressing our views, let us not falsely attack others just to appear superior. Prof. Kaveh believes that human life begins at birth. Fantastic. But why attack other Jews to make the point?

Bush is against emyonic stem cell resarch but endorses adult stem cell research. Also there is a bill coming up having to do with stem cell research I believe in Missouri. In the fine print, which the voters in that state probably don't know about is a provision for human cloning. The pro-life stance is that all life is precious and should be protected. Does that mean we don't believe in medical research? Of course not. Using adult stem cells is an the best way to do the research necessary without killing babies in the process.

pretty soon judaism is going to evolve into something that has nothing to do with what the biblical text actually says. yeah, sure the bible SAYS that, but it doesn't actually MEAN that at all. i'm sure that's what god had in mind when he transmitted everything to moses. he didn't actually mean "do all that is written" - he meant: "do all that is to be created and whispered down through the coming years. and then, nevermind what is written". makes sense to me.

nothing! only adult stem research has brought some results. EVEN if we would find embryonic stem cell to be an help for people, it will still be wrong according jewish law to do it. I WONDER WHY THIS PROFFFFESOR DIDNT MENTION THAT BUSH ONLY VETOED "EMBRYONIC " STEM CELLS AND NOT THE MORE EFFECTIVE ADULT STEM CELL RESEARCH?

Please, Professor, stick to Maimonides or whatever you do and leave American politics alone. Bush never for a moment proposed banning embryonic stem cell research. Other than research on certain existing stem cell lines, he objects to the the federal government paying for it. He thinks it is immoral to provide taxpayer-financed incentives that might well lead to the creation of human embryos for the purpose of killing them to obtain tissue. Understand?

While I am a rabbinic Jew and proud descendant of rabbis, I am very sorry about the anti-Karaite slur in Dr. Kaveh''s article. Having read and heard a lot in the last few years about all different movements in Judaism, I think that our future is with the Modern Orthodox, Sefardic version of Orthodoxy and a revived and enlarged Karaite movement. The other movements are not really sustainable.

I'm a real stem cell researcher who has worked with both adult and embryonic stem cells. I can say both have their uses. While adult stem cells can easily form many tissues, it's not evident that they can form brain cells. Since we can transplant that orgran, it's important to explore whether embryonic or even fetal cells can help. There is enough abnormal fertilized eggs, embryos, available for research. These don't grow, never will produce any human, and can be used to tease out the one or two normal cells! Open your eyes to the truth. Don't be misinformed

What this guy promotes is an obscure sect of its own creation with no followers, relevance, or consequence.

I've discussed this with a stem cell research scientist specializing in umbilical cord stem cells. Why isn't this option being addressed? Paqid Yirmeyahu Israeli Orthodox Jew Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il

Although he does not directly say so, the implication of Prof. Moshe Kaveh's article is that there is some kind of contradiction between "a law-abiding Christian" (for example) and a modern scientist, unlike for a "law abiding Jew." Yet surely there is some knowledge that is gained only at a price too repugnant to pay, the price of experimenting on human life. Surely there is too little distance in time between 2006 and the horrors of the mid-1900's for anyone to be able to forget what happens when some humans are more disposable than others, even if not everyone agrees they deserve human dignity.

there are researchers in Israel who respect Mosaic law and LIFE and thus use only stem cells harvested via umbilical cord and placenta after a live birh. Why is this method not enough for the rest of the world to gather infant stem cells for research purposes? I believe when we disrespect the rights of a child in the womb to use their body parts for others, we are dangerously close to consuming our offspring, and/or sacrificing our own children.