Jewish Learning Center course offers guidance for medical decision making

09.23.10 - 01:50 pm

This October, the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) will launch its fall course, Medicine and Morals: Your Jewish Guide Through Life’s Tough Decisions. Medicine and Morals is a case-study-based exploration of Jewish medical ethics and a fascinating look at Judaism’s approach to 21st century medical dilemmas. Do you have a moral obligation to donate a kidney to a loved one? With today’s biotechnology, can a child have more than two parents? Is it right to hasten the death of a terminally ill patient in great pain?

“At some point in our lives, many of us will have to deal with questions like these,” says Rabbi Yehudah Pink, course author. "People want to know what’s right, what’s wrong, and where they can turn for guidance. Jewish wisdom offers some very helpful direction in dealing with these issues, and that’s what this course is about."

“Medicine and Morals is more intriguing than any fictional TV show,” promises local JLI instructor, Rabbi Yossi Laufer. “It will prepare students for choices that they or their loved ones may be called upon to make, and it’s also a fascinating exposure to little-discussed aspects of Judaism.”

Lessons will examine a range of classic Jewish sources, drawing extensively from the Talmud, and from modern commentaries that make Talmudic wisdom relevant to real case studies.

Rabbi Yossi Laufer of Chabad of West Bay will teach the course at six separate locations, starting the week of Oct. 24, and potential students are welcome to call 884-7888 or they may visit www.riJewishKids.com/newcourse for more information.

Courses will be held at Chabad of West Bay, 3871 Post Rd, Warwick, Monday at 7 p.m.; Tamarisk Assisted Living, 3 Shalom Dr, Warwick, Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m.; Partridge Snow and Hahn, 180 South Main St Providence, Wednesdays at 8 a.m.; Eliot Rose, 1000 Chapel View, Cranston, Thursdays at noon; Feinstein & Gabrilowitz, 1150 New London Ave, Cranston, Fridays at noon and Armstrong Gibbons & Gnys, 155 South Main St, Providence, Thursdays at 4:30 p.m.

The cost for the entire JLI course is $100 or $25 per lesson. There is an additional charge for credits.

Medicine and Morals, like all of JLI’s courses, is designed for people at all levels of Jewish knowledge. Participants without any prior experience or background in Jewish learning can attend and enjoy this course. All JLI courses are open to the public, and attendees need not to be a member of any particular synagogue or temple.