This book analyzes the Halachic discourse of the proponents of brain death. Unlike most preceding works on this subject, this book casts a spotlight on the medical information provided to the Halachic authorities. It considers their rulings in the historical medical context in which they were issued. It also documents how over the years consequential changes were made to the definition of neurological death and to medical protocol. These changes have been largely overlooked in the existing Halachic narrative.
This book raises multiple difficult questions for those who continue to Halachically ratify brain death diagnoses today by relying on decades old Halachic rulings. In particular, it highlights the problematic influence of changes in medical standards and the Tower of Babel syndrome – mistaken understandings of a complex medical phenomenon due to inadvertent miscommunications and reliance on partial and outdated information.
As these are matters of life and death, this book calls on the Halachic community and especially the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to revisit this subject from a comprehensive, up-to-date and scientifically informed position.
This book comprises two sections. The initial paper challenging the status quo, and Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg’s response to the initial paper, translated and annotated.