Speedily and Immediately: The Jewish Value of Healing
Yom Kippur, 5766
Rabbi Dennis Ross
Temple Emanuel
280 May St.
Worcester, MA 01602
DSimchaR@aol.com
Imagine a child with diabetes spared blood tests and needles because a stem cell implant, doing the work of a non-functioning pancreas, generates insulin.
Imagine a man with a spinal cord injury, whose stem cell implant restores a damaged myelin sheath, and limbs, once paralyzed, begin moving.
Imagine a friend or relative enduring the stiffness and shaking of Parkinson’s disease, until a stem cell implant restores dopamine production to the brain and normal movement returns. Stem cell research is an issue of life and death, and issue for today, tom Kippur and an issue for Judaism, a tradition has consistently affirmed that people have the right to benefit from the healing powers of medical science. As a matter of faith, stem cell research must move ahead.
Across America, around the world, people facing diabetes, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s and more, turn to stem cell research with hope for a cure. But that cure remains a distant hope until science does the work of stem cell research.
Science needs to know what makes embryonic stem cells grow into particular body cells, for instance, beating heart cells or insulin producing pancreas cells? Science needs to know what makes stem cells stop growing so they don’t multiply out of control like cancer. How do we keep the human body from rejecting stem cells tissues like a transplanted organ? How do we keep those new brain or heart tissues working properly for many years? Science faces a long road and needs many, many stem cells to do the work.
The matter gets even more complicated when we realize that adult stem cells, the least controversial, don’t hold out as much promise as embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells, as their name implies, come from less than week old human embryos, fertilized in clinics for people trying to have children. In the process of fertilizing embryos, clinics need to make many more embryos than they can use and keep the excess – now numbering about 400,000 across America[1] – in frozen storage. Donors of these excess embryos can keep the embryos in storage where they will eventually deteriorate. The donors can give embryos to other prospective parents, though that number is very small. The donors can have the embryos destroyed or they can donate them for stem cell research. When embryos are donated to research, scientists remove the stem cells – and here is the rub for some– destroy the embryos in the process. To do embryonic stem cell research, right now science has no other choice, but to destroy or modify the embryo.
Religious leaders from all three major western religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism – have endorsed embryonic stem cell research. In fact, all four major Jewish denominations – Reconstructionist, Conservatism, Orthodoxy and Reform – stand in support. Representatives of some of these religious groups, including ours, also endorse somatic cell nuclear transfer which may hold out even greater potential. Of importance, we all oppose the cloning of animals and human beings, which is far away from stem cell research.
The Jewish endorsement of embryonic stem cell research rises from a longstanding emphasis on medical research and health care. For centuries, our tradition taught that people have the right to benefit from the healing powers of medical science. We believe it’s a mitzvah to care for the sick. It’s a mitzvah to advance human knowledge. And its a mitzvah to turn to the healing powers of medical science to bring cure and comfort. The traditional mishebayrach prayer for healing urges God to send healing of body and spirit hashtah baagala uvizman kariv, swiftly, immediately, and in good time, in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Healing is an urgent, critical matter. Over the centuries, Jews came to see the physician as God’s agent of comfort and healing and today, Jewish leaders from all denominations, affirming that people have the right to benefit from the healing powers of medical science, consider embryonic stem cell research and agree – it’s a mitzvah and we must move ahead hashtah baagalah with dispatch.
The Union of Orthodox Congregations of America, and the Orthodox Rabbinic Council of America publicly urged President Bush to provide “support for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research… The potential to save and heal human lives is an integral part of valuing human life …,” they continued. “Our rabbinic authorities inform us that an isolated fertilized egg does not enjoy the full status of person-hood.” Embryonic cell research “ought to be pursued.”[2]
Through national resolution, our Union for Reform Judaism also affirms embryonic cell research. We believe that a fetus is not a person and an embryo, though to be respected for carrying the potential for life, is not even a fetus. We declare that “The ethical choice must be to advance our research into lifesaving technologies, not abandon it.” [3] Hashtah baagalah!
But that’s not all! We stand with the support of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations,[4] the Episcopal Church,[5] the Islamic Institute[6] , the Presbyterian Church[7] and the United Church of Christ.[8] The three major western faiths, an array of Christian faiths and all four branches of Judaism affirm that people have the right to benefit from the healing powers of medical science. A five day embryo, destined to deteriorate in storage or to be destroyed, would be far better used to explore a promising avenue of healing, hashtah baagalah, immediately and speedily.
With other nations, including South Korea, the United Kingdom and Israel in the race for a cure, you would think our federal government would leap to maintain the American lead in this promising field. But no! America is knuckling under the pressure of reactionary groups, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops[9] and the National Right to Life Committee.[10] These organizations, typical of the Religious Right, are using religious leverage to impair even the begrudging, limited support the White House offered embryonic stem cell research in 2001. Yes, there are state initiatives, including one proposed for Massachusetts, and corporate ventures here and across the nation. But the big muscle of federal funding and coordinated oversight is absent, all because of pressures from the Religious Right and the so-called “Culture of Life.”
When the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops talks of a Culture of Life it says no to embryonic stem cell research and sets out to halt medical progress. A Culture of Life is a restrictive religious belief about sexuality to be imposed into the minds and offices of our highest elected leadership and into hospitals, schools and into the privacy of our homes. A Culture of Life throws religious roadblocks in the way of the healing potential of embryonic stem cell research. A so-called Culture of Life flies in the face of the Jewish emphasis on the doctor as God’s agent for healing, on medical science as God’s tool to bring comfort and wholeness to the afflicted. Instead of hashtah baagalah, utilizing the resources of this great nation in the effort to find cures, in a Culture of Life, those facing life threatening and life altering conditions must continue to languish because of a few religious bullies who think that an embryo, the size of a pen ball point, is the moral equivalent of a living person like you or me. In a Culture of Life all of America must cower to the restrictive teachings of a particular faith or two!
In a purported Culture of Life, we keep science in the dark and prevent people from getting the medical help they need. A Culture of Life would not only have America turns a callous shoulder to those with life threatening and life altering conditions; it would also punish people for their sexual behavior as we see when it comes to emergency contraception. And look at the situation at the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA.
Emergency contraception, the morning after pill, is a safe and highly effective way to prevent an unplanned pregnancy, but only if taken as soon as possible. The longer the wait, the less effective it is. Many people confuse emergency contraception with an abortion pill, such as RU-486, which is something else altogether. Emergency contraception, as the name says, is just contraception, made of the same thing as birth control pills. Emergency contraception does not cause abortion and does not interfere with any established pregnancy. However, in order to be most effective, emergency contraception must be taken as soon as possible following a sexual assault or contraception failure.
Under current national medical policy, emergency contraception is available by doctor’s prescription. The scientific arm of the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, recognizing the safety and effectiveness of emergency contraception, and concerned that women in immediate need could not get that doctor’s prescription soon enough, recommended that emergency contraception be available for over the counter sales. However, the recommendation for over-the-counter sales came up for approval before the faith-based FDA leadership, which refused to follow the recommendations of its own scientific arm as well as groups such as the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Planned Parenthood.[11] Faith trumps science in Washington, DC. As far as the religion of the FDA is concerned, a woman in need had better take the time to call her doctor, see her doctor and get a note from her doctor, even after a contraception failure. So, if there is a need, say Friday evening before a weekend and the doctor is not seeing patients, or a woman is traveling out of state where her doctor cannot prescribe, where should she turn? Can’t wait till Monday – hashtah baagalah, she needs it right away. According to the scientists at the FDA, its safe for her to walk into a CVS or a local drug store, by the pills and use them, but the religious folks say no. You might think that a woman could just go to a hospital emergency room. But some emergency departments, particularly those under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church, typically cite religious restrictions and refuse to dispense or even discuss emergency contraception. In the Culture of Life, a sexually assaulted woman gets pregnant, carry that pregnancy to term, and delivers, regardless.
Here the FDA has a chance to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. But in the Culture of Life, the religious folks at the FDA are still holding hearings and continuing to blabber while women face immediate need. Thank God, the Massachusetts state legislature held its ground, offering at least some relief allowing access to emergency contraception through emergency rooms and pharmacists. But that wasn’t Gov. Mitt Romney’s plan.
The Governor tried denying women the benefits of medical science by vetoing this measure that makes emergency contraception more available. He claimed he was honoring a campaign promise not to change the state’s abortion laws. Now, again, emergency contraception, like the label says, is just contraception. It doesn’t interfere with an established pregnancy. It’s not an abortion pill. To the Governor’s concern, making emergency contraception more available does not change abortion laws. So, our legislators bravely and sensibly overrode the Governor’s veto.
In neighboring New York, Governor George Pataki vetoed a similar measure. That Governor worried that teens would buy emergency contraception without the knowledge or permission of their parents. But the reality is that in New York, with 40,000 teen pregnancies each year teens, in particular, need emergency contraception. Never mind, that any teen with a computer and a credit card can long onto Amazon,com and order a heart defibrillator, whether Mom or Dad knows or not. In the Culture of Life, a Governor squanders an opportunity to save scores of young woman from the social, economic and educational impact of teen pregnancy.
Of course, when it comes to emergency contraception, parents should know about the medical needs of their young. But let me ask that if one of our children – yours or mine – were to have a medical need, and were they to decide not to tell us, whatever their reasons, wouldn’t we want them to get immediate, safe and effective medical care? Of course we want to know what’s going on with our kids. But more than that, we want them to be safe and healthy, right away, whether we are involved in their treatments or not.
Governor Pataki bowed to political pressure from the state’s Roman Catholic cardinals and bishops. Eight catholic religious leaders published an open letter opposed to emergency contraception, the Governor capitulated, signed a veto and faith trumped science right next door. He needed to send this message: If you need emergency contraception, my religious leaders and I will stand in your way. And that Governor’s faith driven veto holds.
Now we are not forcing potential stem cell implants on anyone. We are not forcing emergency contraception on anyone. If your religion is against stem cell implants and you don’t want any in your body, no one is going to tie you down and put them in you. If a rape victim does not want emergency contraception, that’s her decision and we stand in support of her. But the people who want these things should be allowed to get them. Hashtah baagalah. It’s a mitzvah.
For years, we tried to reassure ourselves with the mantra about the “Wall of Separation between Church and State” We honestly believed that the America’s religious institutions would not seek to dictate national health care policy and impose themselves on the private medical decisions of Americans. We trusted our elected leaders to be blind to the private religious practices of our judges. None of us ever imagined that our President would trumpet a prospective judge’s appointment with the reassurance that part of her life “is her religion.” One observer, our friend The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and state said you would think the President was looking for a Sunday school teacher, instead of a justice for the United States Supreme Court. Truth is, that Wall is under attack and at risk of collapse and look at those who are attempting to knock it over. The Rev. Jerry Fallwell claims that “Separation of Church and State… never once appears in our Constitution and is a modern fabrication of discrimination” against Christians. The Rev. Pat Robertson maintains, “There is nothing in the United States Constitution that sanctifies the separation of church and state.” [12] The result is that our Jewish faith, our teachings and our right to privacy are not secure. Religious zealots are bent on undermining our religious freedom by thwarting access to the healing powers of medical science. The Religious Right is going to unparalleled extremes to foist restrictive faith driven attitudes toward sexuality on us and on all America.
Take the example of St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. On a recent visit to the Vatican in Italy, Archbishop Burke reiterated his belief that a Catholic who upholds a woman’s right to choose an abortion should lose the right to receive communion. The Archbishop says Church “law clearly precludes Communion for someone, who having been admonished, persists in publicly sinning in a serious way.”[13]
Or take the example of Colorado Springs Bishop Michael J. Sheridan, who proclaimed that “Any Catholic politicians voting against church teaching place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation.” Catholics who vote for these candidates “suffer the same fateful consequences.”[14] Shame on him for openly threatening Catholic policy makers and Catholic voters with a religious punishment in an effort to make the law of the church the law of our land. Truth is, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gave these bishops the green light when it warned, “Catholic civil leaders who reject or ignore the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of human life do so at risk to their own spiritual well being.”[15] No communion and no heaven.
Now most Roman Catholic leaders reject Archbishop Burke’s and Bishop Sheridan’s methods. Most Catholics I know are embarrassed by the Catholic Conference’s pulpit bullying. And the reality is the overwhelming majority of American religious leaders disassociate ourselves from any efforts to undermine electoral behavior with the threat of religious sanction. We believe its fine for a person of faith to vote on the basis of that faith, but only if they want to. And it is not the place of a rabbi, minister, imam or whatever to use the pulpit to threaten people with a religious punishment. No religious leader should so abuse religious teaching or the American way.
Synagogues, churches and mosques across the country welcome people of all political persuasions. We don’t impose a political litmus test for participation in our spiritual life. We don’t ask how you vote before calling you to the Torah. Study our faith and then make up your own mind when it comes time to cast a ballot. And no matter what you decide, you are welcome here to pray.
150 years ago, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the founder of the major institutions of American Reform Judaism, said, “The state has no religion. Having no religion, it cannot impose any religious instruction on the citizen, adult or child… Such is our conviction, and we have the moral courage to be there with our conviction. … “ [16]
We honor Rabbi Wise’s vision when we have the “moral courage” strike out against the imposition of the so-called “Culture of Life” that attacks the Wall of Separation of Church and State by obstructing access to the healing potential of embryonic stem cell research, the same Culture of Life that would force every pregnant teen, every pregnant woman, each woman we know, to carry every pregnancy to term, the same Culture of Life that says to no to contraception, including emergency contraception, and would demand that a woman conceive, carry and bear the child of her rapist, the Culture of Life that tried to commandeer our nation in an effort to force a feeding tube into Terry Schaivo, a medical treatment she did not want to endure, the Culture of Life that would trash time tested Jewish religious teachings, foist upon all Americans a theocracy of the Religious Right and send this country back to the middle ages.
These are Jewish issues – religious freedom, the right to benefit from the healing powers of medical science, and the obligation to continue to expand the fund of human knowledge, and the mustering of moral courage to stand up for our religious beliefs and for people in need. Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes afflicts 18 million and Parkinson’s one million. Cancer is the second leading form of death in America today Half of American men will get it, a third of all women. We owe the people we know and love, we owe the people living on this planet. We owe them all a chance at better, longer and healthier lives. Research into embryonic stem cells offers that hope. Ready access to emergency contraception allows women – victims of sexual assault – to benefit from the abilities of medical science. It is Jewish. It is American. And it is right. Hashtah baagalah bizman kariv venomar amen.
[1] Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and its Clergy Alliances by the Rev. Tom Davis, Rutgers University Press, 2005.
[2] Orthodox Union, Statement Regarding Stem Cell Research, Beth Din of America, Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, August 21, 2001.
[3] Union for Reform Judaism, December, 2003.
[4] Statement by the Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, November 14, 2001.
[5] Genetics: Ethical Guidelines for Gene Transfer and Germline Interventions, Legislation Number: A011,General Convention, 2003.
[6] Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation, Press Release, August 27, 2001
[7] Attachment A: Statement on the Ethical and Moral Implications of Stem Cell and Fetal Tissue Research. Actions of the 213th General Assembly (2001) from the Office of the General Assembly.
[8] United Church of Christ, Twenty-third Synod, 2001.
[9] Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, July 26, 2001.
[10] NRLC.org. numerous citations
[11] Numerous citations on both websites, www.ACOG.org and www.PPFA.org.
[12] Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “They Said It! Religious Right Leaders in Their Own Words.” www.au.org.
[13] “Archbishop Burke Says He’ll Continue Politics-Abortion Campaign.” CNS, www.Catholic.com
[14] “Critical Mass.” Americans United for Separation of Church and State, www.au.org, July/August, 2004
[15] “Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities: A Campaign in Support of Life.” United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2001
[16] Isaac Mayer Wise: His Life, Work and Thought, James G. Heller, UAHC Press, pp. 620-1.
