Abortion: A Study of Biblical Case Law
Dr. Shana Strauch Schick / April 24, 2020
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Is a fetus a human being with legal standing? The case of two men fighting who accidentally strike a pregnant woman, Ex 21, has been the focal point of this question since Antiquity. BY exploring how this case has been interpreted and how the rabbis view fetal life in aggadic and legal texts, we will be able to shed light on the tensions inherent in attempting to value human life in all its stages.
Dr. Shana Strauch Schick
Shana Strauch Schick is a fellow of the Center for Israel Studies at Yeshiva University and teaches Talmud and Halakha in Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalim and Matan in Israel and in the Drisha Summer Kollel. In 2011, she became the first woman to be awarded a PhD in Talmudic Literature from Bernard Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University where she also completed an MA in Bible. She studied in the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud at Stern College and has held Postdoctoral Fellowships at Bar Ilan and Haifa University. Her upcoming book Between Thought and Deed: Intention in Talmudic Jurisprudence examines the role of intentionality in the development of Talmudic law and is being published by Brill.