11-23-2006, 08:39 AM
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Guru
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,483
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Jews in Jesus' Time Didn't Condemn Abortion
Thanks to our friend at Kos...
Quote:
Until the recent linkup between the Christian Right and the Right-Wing Jewish Orthodox, the Judaism has never viewed abortion as murder or as otherwise sinful.
By way of general background, Jews look upon the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, as the basis of the Jewish faith. The traditional view is that these are the words of God dictated to Moshe Rabenu (Moses our teacher or rabbi), who, like a good stenographer, copied God's words verbatim. In the Torah, Exodus 21:20-24, we read:
And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall surely be fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
These lines make it clear that accidentally hitting a pregnant woman and causing her to miscarry is not negligent homicide or manslaughter but a tort for which the tortfeasor must make monetary compensation. But if the woman herself is killed or hurt, e.g. she loses an eye, a tooth, a hand, etc., the assailant suffers more serious consequences. (But the Talmud makes it clear that the Torah text does NOT mean we poke out the assailant's eye, or cut off his hand, etc.)
In the Talmud, compiled between 180 C.E. and the 7th century C.E, the Rabbis discussed the case of a pregnant woman facing execution for murder. Do we hold up her execution to allow the baby to be born? Or do we carry out the execution immediately after the Sanhedrin's judgment, which was the general rule? The rabbis answer that the fetus is the property interest of the parents. The father should decide whether or not his property interest should be preserved, so the father would make the decision whether or not to delay the execution.
In another discussion found in the Talmud, also in the Tractate Sanhedrin, we are told that if the woman is suffering from a hard labor, or a difficult pregnancy, we remove the fetus from her womb, regardless of whether the fetus can survive.
Navy Vet Terp's diary :: ::
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/23/104857/09
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The Jews in the time of Jesus the Jew had a very comprehensive and established set of rules covering abortion. They did not consider it murder in any form. This is why Jesus the Jew never condemned it. This is why none of the "New Testament" scribes mentioned it. This is why it is not mentioned anywhere in the bible.
This is also why contemporary Christian religionists who seek to justify their odd notions on fetal life continue to orbit Jupiter.
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