The Different Viewpoints Held by Different Branches of Judaism on the Sanctity of Life

The Reform community is a big supporter of therapeutic cloning and to show their outward support, the 2003 General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution and written document which stated the Reform movement's support for therapeutic cloning. The resolution also support stem cell research and condemns any efforts to prohibit stem cell or embryonic research. The Reform movement and the Reform Judaism Union have been very active in regard to the issue of cloning and stem cell research.

This past summer on July 19, 2006 the leader of the General Assembly, Rabbi David Saperstein issued a public statement in which he applauded the passing of stem cell legislation in Congress and also urged President Bush not to vote against the bill. The statement by Rabbi Saperstein also pointed to Torah and Talmudic scholar Nachmanides and the Jewish law of healing the sick. Rabbi Saperstein points out that therapeutic cloning and stem cell research is one of the best ways of healing the sick and finding cures for disease and should be passed into law.

The Orthodox community also believes that therapeutic cloning is good for society and consistent with Jewish law. Orthodox rabbis point to the ability to heal the sick and cure disease as the main reason why therapeutic cloning should be allowed under Jewish law. However, the Orthodox community and the Rabbinical Council of America oppose reproductive cloning of human beings. Their reasoning lies in the value and image of human life and its partnership with God in the sanctity of human life. Therefore, taking into account these two positions, the Rabbinical Council of America would like to see therapeutic cloning have full supervision to make sure that it does not turn into reproductive cloning. At the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the resolution to affirm stem cell research and therapeutic cloning was passed unanimously by representatives of each Jewish sect including Reform, Conservative and Orthodox.

All of the above mentioned concerns and viewpoints still do not give us a better sense of the Jewish position on cloning a human being. God's partnership with man in his development and birth is a question of morality that Jewish law prohibits. Under Jewish law, only God has the power to ultimately take and give life. The power of cloning to create a living, breathing human being conflicts with the image of God as the creator of mankind. Finally, as stated before in the discussion about eugenics, Jewish law and rabbinic scholars are fearful that reproductive technology and cloning could lead down a "slippery slope" that mankind cannot predict and does not know the answers Still, there is no specific law that can be pointed to which prohibits reproductive cloning, although rabbis discourage the notion of cloning, it is permissible under Jewish law.

The image of God as the creator has had several arguments arise as well. Although there is no doubt that God created the world in six days and created humans, there are different interpretations of the creation of the world by God's own hand and power. Some biblical scholars that study Jewish laws have interpreted verses of the Torah to mean that humans have the power given by God to shape the world and the universe.

According to Rabbi Judah Luria, God gave humans the power to conquer nature and bring creative changes to the world. He stated that, "When God created in the six days of creation the laws of nature, the simple and complex, and finished creating the world, there remained additional power to create anew, just like people can create new animal species through inter-species breeding .... People bring to fruition things that are not found in nature; nonetheless, since these are activities that occur through nature, it is as if it entered the world to be created. It is the opinion of Rabbi Luria and many rabbinic scholars like him that humans have the God given power to change the world and the laws of nature which can be looked at as an extension of God's creation of the world. This interpretation counters the argument that human beings should be prohibited from cloning a person or creating a new human being.