“The Power to Detect and Create:
Ethical Challenges Emerging from DNA Technology and Genetics:
The Impact of Genetics on Jewish Living and Jewish Ethics”
at the Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain
Research Center at Bar-Ilan University
With
The Center for Bioethics, Columbia University College of Physicians &
Surgeons, New York, NY; the Ludwig & Erica Jesselson Institute for
Advanced Torah Studies and the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life
Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, Bronx, NY; Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York, NY.
25-26 Sivan, 5770
Monday and Tuesday, June 7-8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
08:00 – 08:30
Registration and Coffee
08:30 – 09:00
Welcoming Remarks
09:00 – 9:45
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Dr. John Loike, Director for Special Programs for the Center
for Bioethics and Co-Director for Graduate Studies in the
Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
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Professor Uri Nir, Dean, Mina and Everard Goodman
Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
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Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber, President, Jesselson
Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, Bar-Ilan University
Session I- Overview of DNA Technology
Chair: Dr. John Loike, Columbia University
Lecture: Dr. Eric Schon, Professor of Genetics and Development,
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
'' Molecular Genetics – The State of the Art"
9:45-10:30
Lecture: Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport, Rosh Bet Midrash, Jesselson
Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, Bar-Ilan University:
"Applying DNA Technology-in identifying a dead body, in
establishing paternity and in criminal investigationsA Halakhic Overview"
10:30 – 10:45
Coffee Break
10:45-12:00
Session II: DNA: Our Genes- Our Destiny
Case Study: Can one use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)
to select for embryos who do not carry the genetic predisposition
for late-onset diseases such as cancer, Huntington's Chorea,
Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's Disease.
Panel Discussion
Chair: Dr. Shimon Glick, Professor (Emeritus), Ben Gurion
University Faculty of Health Sciences
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Weinreb, Executive Vice President Emeritus,
Orthodox Union
Professor Elon Pras, Director of the Institute of Human Genetics,
Sheba Medical Center, Israel
Dr. Yanay Ofran, Senior Lecturer, Mina and Everard Goodman
Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
Professor Eric Schon, Columbia University
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch
Speaker- Dr. John D. Loike, Columbia University:
“The Power to Predict: Emerging Technologies in Genetic Testing"
13:45 – 14:30
Lecture- Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Weinreb, Executive Vice President Emeritus,
Orthodox Union:
"Psychological Dimensions in Genetic Screening: The Implications
of Family History and Genetics on the World of Shidduchim"
14:30-14:45
Break
14:45- 15:30
Lecture: Dr. Gil Atzmon, Assistant Professor, Departments of
Medicine and Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New
York:
"The Jewish Genome in the Genome Era"
15:30 -16:30
Session III: Designer Babies: The Quest for an Ethical Genome
Case Study: Can one use PGD to select for embryos who do not
carry the genetic predisposition for specific behavior traits, such as
adultery, aggression, sexual preference and spirituality,
("the Frum Gene")
Panel discussion
Chair: Professor Uri Nir
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, Director of the Center for
Medical Ethics at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem
Dr. Gary Steinman, Chair of Biochemistry, Touro College of
Osteopathic Medicine, New York, NY
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Weinreb
16:45-18:00
Four Small group discussions on specific dilemmas in genetic testing led by:
a) Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport and Dr. Eric Schon
b) Professor Elon Pras and Rabbi Dr. Michael Abraham
c) Dr. Yannay Ofran and Dr. Kenneth Prager
d) Dr. Gary Steinman and Rabbi Tzvi Weinreb
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
08:30 – 09:00
Coffee
Session IV- Genetics Part II
9:00-9:45
Welcome - Professor Moshe Kaveh, President, Bar Ilan University
Introduction: Rabbi Shimon Altshul, Director, Jesselson Institute, Bar
Ilan University
Lecture: Rabbi Shabtai Rappoport:
"Halakha, Genetics, and Marriage"
9:45-10:30
Panel Discussion: Creating a Modern Golem
New biotechnologies are being developed that will present new
challenges in halakha. For example: Synthetic biology- the capability
to alter existing life forms or create new life forms; Stem cell and
DNA technology- enabling scientists to alter animals to express
human-like organs. Animals have been engineered that produce
human sperm and human eggs, and there is the theoretical
possibility to engineer cows or sheep that contain human-like uterus.
Finally, there is talk among scientists to use the newly sequenced
DNA of the Neanderthal man to modify human stem cells to contain
Neanderthal-like DNA. Could these cells eventually be used to
engineer gamete- like cells and create a living Neanderthal- like
human that is gestated in a human being?
Chair- Dr. Kenneth Prager, Professor of Clinical Medicine; Director,
Clinical Ethics; Chairman, Medical Ethics Committee, Columbia
University
Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport
Israel Belfer, PhD student, Science, Technology and Society
program (STS) at Bar Ilan University, Machon HaGavoah LaTorah
Professor Ron Goldstein, Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of
Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
Professor Moshe Idel, Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
10:30 – 10:45
Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00
Moot Court- Privacy Rights in Genetics
Case- Rabbi Cohen is a childless Mohel who was hired to do milah
on the newborn son of a leading Hassidic Rebbe, a leading
charismatic personality. After the milah, the mohel takes the
foreskin of the baby and brings it to a laboratory in Israel that
specializes in stem cell technology and fertility. Scientists in the lab
can utilize technologies in cell and molecular biology to convert the
cells from the orlah into sperm like cells and use them to fertilize
the egg of the wife of the mohel and implants the newly formed
embryo into the wife of the mohel. Nine months later she delivers a
healthy baby boy whose genetic father is the nine- month old son
of the Rebbe.
What are the legal and halachic ramifications?
Moderator: Dr. Kenneth Prager
Judge Neal Hendel, the Supreme Court of Israel
Rav Michael Abraham, Ram, Jesselson Institute for Advanced
Torah Studies, Bar Ilan Umiversity
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch –Invited Speaker-Professor Amihood Amir, Professor of
Computer Science at Bar-Ilan University and Research Professor at
Johns Hopkins University:
"Genetic Archaeology“
13:30- 14:30
Lecture: Dr. Ruth Fischbach, Professor of Bioethics and Director
and Co-founder of the Center for Bioethics, Columbia University:
"Autism- The Ethics of Genetic Research on Autism"
14:30-14:45
Break
14:45-16:00
Concluding Session: Challenges, Opportunities and Questions
Moderator: TBA
Summing Up the Conference
The major issues as they emerge from the conference
16:00-17:00

Future Issues, Dr. John Loike

Halakha, Rabbi Prof. Daniel Sperber
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Ethics, Rabbi Shimon Altshul

Genetics, Prof. Uri NIr
Small Group discussions
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Genetics and Privacy - Dr. Gil Atzmon and Rabbi Abraham
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Autism – Dr. Ruth Fischbach and Rabbi Sperber

Designer Babies – Professor Ron Goldstein and Dr. Rabbi
Steinberg
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This Conference is also sponsored by:

The Yavneh Founders:Rabbi Nachum and Yaakov Meir Shapiro Jewish
Ethics Program

International Academic Friends of Israel

The Henry, Bertha and Edward Rothman Foundation

The Jewish Press

Jerry Wartski
Conference Participants-Israel
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Rabbi Dr. Michael Abraham, Ram, Jesselson Institute for Advanced Torah
Studies, Bar Ilan University
Rabbi Shimon Altshul, Director,The Ludwig and Erica Jesselson Institute for
Advanced Torah Studies(RA),Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Professor Amihood Amir, Professor of Computer Science at Bar-Ilan
University and Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University:
Israel Belfer, PhD student, Science, Technology and Society program (STS)
at Bar Ilan University; Machon HaGavoah LaTorah
Prof. Shimon Glick, Professor (Emeritus), Ben Gurion University Faculty of
Health Sciences
Professor Ron Goldstein, Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life
Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
Professor Moshe Idel, Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Judge Neal Hendel, the Supreme Court of Israel
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Professor Uri Nir, Dean, Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life
Sciences, Bar-Ilan University
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Yanay Ofran, Ph.D., Systems Biology and Functional Genomics, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Elon Pras, MD, PhD, Director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the
Sheba Medical Center, Israel.
Rabbi Shabtai Rappaport, Rosh Bet Midrash, Ludwig and Erica Jesselson
Institute for Advanced Torah Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan,
Israel.
Rabbi Daniel Sperber, Ph.D., President of the Ludwig and Erica Jesselson
Institute of Advanced Torah Studies of Bar Ilan University, Bar-Ilan
University, Ramat Gan, Israel, Israel Prize Recipient, 1992
Avraham Steinberg, M.D., Rabbi, Department of Pediatrics, Shaare Zedek
Medical Center, Director of The Center for Medical Ethics at Shaare Zedek
Medical Center, Editor in Chief of Encyclopedia Talmudit, Jerusalem, Israel.
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Conference Participants-US
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Dr. Gil Atzmon, Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and
Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
Ruth L. Fischbach, Ph.D., M.P.E., Professor of Bioethics and Director of the
Center for Bioethics, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons and Department of Sociomedical
Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New
York, NY
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John D. Loike, Ph.D. Director for Special Projects, Columbia University's
Center for Bioethics, Co-Director for Graduate Studies, Department of
Physiology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New
York, NY
Kenneth Prager, M.D., F.A.C.P., Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of
Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Director, Clinical Ethics and Chairman, Medical Ethics
Committee, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY.
Eric Schon, Ph.D. Professor of Genetics and Development, Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Gary Steinman, M.D., Ph.D. Professor and Chair of Biochemistry, Touro
College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York, NY
Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Weinreb, Executive Vice President Emeritus, Orthodox
Union, Clinical Psychologist