Genetics and Jewish Law

Genetics and Jewish Law examines the complex relationship between contemporary genetic science and Halakha, exploring how new technologies are challenging traditional Jewish legal understandings of identity, parenthood, and family relationships.

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines analysis of classical rabbinic sources with comparative legal perspectives, this book investigates how genetic evidence is being interpreted within modern Jewish law. It considers genetics in relation to Jewish identity, including debates over “who is a Jew”, the Israeli Law of Return, and the identification of Cohanim, before turning to its implications for inheritance and cases involving Agunot. Particular attention is given to questions of Halakhic parenthood, including the use of DNA evidence in establishing paternity and the sensitive implications of genetic testing for Mamzerut. The book also examines competing genetic and gestational claims to motherhood arising from egg donation, surrogacy, and embryo mix-ups, drawing on Talmudic sources and contemporary rabbinical court rulings. These debates are situated within broader questions about science, artificial intelligence, datafication, and the growing authority of data in contemporary society.

This book will appeal to students and scholars of Jewish law, Jewish studies, religious studies, bioethics, and law and technology, as well as legal and religious practitioners interested in the implications of genetics and reproductive technologies for Jewish identity and family law.