We continue to analyze the Sixth Commandment and its application in complex medical situations. Yesterday we explained that the Talmud discusses and allows under certain conditions therapeutic abortion, i.e., when the mother’s life is in danger.

Now, except for medical reasons, abortion is strictly forbidden by Jewish law. However, Jewish law does not consider abortion as murder, i.e., a crime that would have deserved the death penalty in the days when the Jews courts applied execution. The Tora explicitly mentions the case in which a person negligently causes a pregnant woman to miscarriage her baby (Shemot 21:22) and does not consider this case as homicide, but considers other penalty for the perpetrator (ונתן בפלילים). In this regard, Judaism is different from other religions. For the Catholic church, for example, life begins at conception and it usually equates abortion with murder.

Abortion is viewed in Jewish law as injuring someone’s body or mutilation (חבלה), not murder (רצח, there are very few rabbis who disagree on this point). Since an individual is considered a legal person only once he or she is born. Before birth, the fetus is considered yerekh immo, a limb of the mother’s body . This consideration has implications, for example, for determining the legality of abortion when a congenital malformation of the fetus is detected. Such cases represent a new challenge in Jewish law. Why? Because obviously, the rabbis of the Talmud or the Middle Ages, Maimonides or Shulchan Aruch, did not address these cases, since only today we have the ability to determine the health of a baby in the mother’s womb. As it happens with other modern scenarios or medical situations such as organ transplant, etc. there is no Talmudic legislation which we can base upon to determine the law. And it is important to know that every time we can not find a direct precedent in Talmudic law, we will generally find more than one rabbinical opinion, which based on Talmudic analogies, not legal precedents, would usually arrive to different or opposite conclusions. The issue just mentioned, abortion in a case of genetic malformation is no exception to this rule. The case of Tay-Sachs, for example, a serious genetic disease that progressively destroys the nervous system and results in the death of the individual at a very young age, has been analyzed by modern rabbinical legislators (= posqim). And while most rabbis are inclined to authorize abortion in this specific case, there is no absolute consensus on the matter. Besides the type of malformation modern rabbis would also take into consideration for example, in what month of pregnancy the problem is detected; the emotional state and mental health of the family; how would the abortion be performed, etc.

From a halakhic point of view, in cases like this, where there are no direct Talmudic precedents and there is no consensus among the rabbinical authorities, each situation must be analyzed in particular, in consultation with the rabbis of one’s community, regarding the criteria to follow.

In most Sephardic families, children pay a special tribute to their grandparents and parents on the occasion of the Qiddush. The children would come to be blessed by their father and mother on Friday night, even when they are older. The parents or grandparents bless the child with the Priestly Benediction (yebarekhekha haShem veYishmerekha... Many parents would also say: yesimekha/yesimekh Eloqim) and any additional prayer that they want to offer to see their good wishes for theirchild fulfilled. Immediately after that, the children would kiss the hand of the grandparents and parents as a signal of honor, love and devotion.

When a grandparent or a father is called for an Aliya laTora, all the members of the family will rise at their seats in the synagogue honoring their elder. This recognition is accorded by children, younger brothers, and sometimes nephews of the elder, who has been called to the Sefer Tora. As he returns to his seat, his grandchildren and children express their reverence for him kissing the back of his hand. When an older patriarch of the community is called to the Tora it is not uncommon to find dozens of people rising in his honor.

NAMING OUR BABIES
Naming our children after our parents is considered one of the highest ways of paying honor (kabod) to the parents. It is an ancient tradition, very carefully kept in Sephardic communities. In general, the first boy will be named after the husband’s father’s name, the first girl after his mother, the second boy after the wife’s father’s name, and the second girl after her mother’s.

Now, in the Ashkenazi community, children would not name their babies after their parents while their parents are alive. Why? It is a very practical matter. As we explained yesterday, it is not permitted to call our parents by their name. We have to address them as ‘Father’, ‘Mother’. According to the Ashkenazi tradition, this restriction includes mentioning one’s parent’s name, even when calling somebody else. For example; if my father’s name is Ya’aqob and a friend of mine is called Ya’aqob, I shouldn’t call my friend by his name in the presence of my father, because it will ‘sound’ disrespectful to mention my father’s first name in his presence, even when addressing somebody else. Therefore, if my father Ya’aqob is alive and I name my son “Ya’aqob”, every time I would call my son in the presence of my father, it would be disrespectful to my father. And this is why, according to the Ashkenazi tradition, one should not name one’s children after one’s parents, while the parents are alive.

The Talmud (Kiddushin 32) asserts that children are not obligated to support their parents financially if the parents have the means to support themselves.

However, when the parents cannot work because they are too old, and/or they don’t have the means to support themselves, it is a Mitsva to support one’s parents financially and provide them with food, clothing, shelter, and whatever necessary for a livelihood with dignity.

The obligation to support one’s parents in these circumstances must be divided amongst all the children, based on each one’s financial ability.

If the parents have the means to support themselves but they don’t want to spend from their own assets and/or they choose to live in a very low standard of living, then the children are not obligated to provide additional financial assistance to their parents.