B"H
The litvishe Posek (halachic expert), Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv, added a new halachic decision:
Babies from a GENTILE surrogate mother are NOT Jewish.
It is very popular among childless Israeli couples to look for a surrogate mother in India or other countries. Once those babies are born and the couple is Jewish, the baby has to undergo a Giur (conversion to Judaism).
"Giur Be'Chumra" meaning that, for instance, the baby - boy has a short additional celebration at his Brit Milah (circumcision). The baby - girl undergoes the Giur Be'Chumrah as well. Just a short formal conversion but without the procedure, the child wouldn't be Jewish.
As a result of this, these children are considered Gerim and the women among them are not allowed to marry a Cohen (Temple Priest) later in life.
As we know, Talmud / Halacha don't allow a Cohen to marry certain women (e.g. divorced women).
Friday, June 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
whats the source?
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteMAARIV's Friday edition.
B"H
ReplyDeleteBesides Rabbi Eliyashiv's Halacha I want to mention: The first haredi surrogate mother
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3721194,00.html
unny how mechon puah and this coes up on hte same day!
ReplyDeleteintresting that the leding rabbi are againt all these things, including rabbi bransdofer, he spoke very harshly gaint them!
B"H
ReplyDeleteAccording to Internet sources, including the Wikipedia on Puah, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu does support them.
Concerning Rabbi Brandsdorfer:
Right after he passed away, the national religious weekly "Be'Sheva" wrote thatthe Rabbi worked together with Puah and gace rabbinical advice.
please ask the dayanim in london who deal with these issues what they think about the plane loads of woen they take there for egg donation , and if the kids are jewish!
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteI am sure that they may be different opinions in the Jewish Orthodox world.
Personally I am not into the surrogate issue at all. I would never take such a way of having a child into consideration.
Ask the dayanim in London?? I thought this was about Israel.
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteI thought so too !!!
is there diffrent halachot for Israel and the rest of the globe?
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteI am not a specialist in the fertilisation field but it could be. There may be even different rabbinic opinions from Israeli Haredim and the national religious ...
To Miriam Woelke, let me guess: you have 10 healthy children at home and have never had a miscarriage, have never struggled for months or years to get pregnant, to see a heartbeat only to have it disappear at the next ultrasound. You've never watched your husband cry or your sisters wring their hands. You've never sat through Purim as the only woman present who does not have an adorable child in a costume. You've never sat at a Pesach table and forced to endure hours upon hours of women talking about their pregnancies, births, showing pictures of kids, and trading advice on parenting while you had to sit there and say NOTHING the entire time. I'll bet you've never been kavater for the twentieth time and dreading being asked yet again to do it. I'll bet you've never awakened in the middle of the night with horrid cramps and found you were laying in a puddle of blood along with a tiny fetus half expelled. I'll bet you've never been told by an adoption agency that you and your husband are too old to adopt an infant, or that there aren't any white healthy infants available (to say nothing of Jewish infants). I'll bet you've never watched your husband cry as his brother taught his own son the rituals of the Levi, crying because he knows an adopted child would never be a Levi and he would never be able to pass this on. I'll bet you never wondered if your dear husband was secretly wondering if he should divorce you and marry a fertile woman. I'll bet you've never had to ask yourself "Am I worth it?"
ReplyDeletePlease think before you speak. And thank Hashem that you are in my shoes.
B"H
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you tell Rabbi Eliyashiv to think before he makes halachic decisions ?
- First of all, I don't have children at all.
- Although I do understand the pain of childless couples, running to Gentiles and asking them to be a surrogate mother is irresponsible.
How can a Jewish woman agree to have a child from a Gentile woman ? Despite all the pain, there should always be some kind of Yiddishkeit.
B"H
ReplyDelete@ Indianist
Are you, in general, asking who could be a surrogate mother ?