In the orthodox Jewish community there has been much recent controversy surrounding the ordination of women and their authority to issue halachic decisions. Notwithstanding these reservations, women Torah scholars (with and without formal ordination) have begun to issue halachic responsa. The purpose of this article is to analyze these rulings, particularly the ones related to questions in medical ethics, to ascertain whether there is a distinctive feminine voice in their approach to these complex halachic and moral dilemmas. However, before we approach these responsa, we need to better understand the progress in women’s Torah learning that produced these women halachic authorities. Clearly, since Sarah Schenirer started the Beis Yaakov movement in 1917 with the consent of the rabbinic sages of her time, there has been a revolution in Torah learning for orthodox women. In addition to the learning of Torah in secondary schools in both the ultra-orthodox and modern orthodox world, many women now attend post-high school seminaries where they engage full time in Torah study. Professor Tamar Ross maintains that there are two models of these higher Torah learning institutions for women. One, which she calls the track of “feminine distinctiveness,” believes that, “Women’s learning should not mimic that of the men. Instead emphasis should be placed upon women’s unique sensitivities and practical wisdom even in their learning.” This approach has an impact on the curriculum as at these institutions Talmud does not occupy a central place, replaced instead by courses in religious faith, Jewish philosophy, Bible, and practical Jewish law centered on the home and family. The mode of learning is also distinct from the men’s yeshivot as there is more emphasis placed on classroom learning with frontal teaching by mostly male rabbis as opposed to the study partner model in men’s yeshivot. Another model, which Ross calls the “egalitarian track,”

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犹太医学伦理决策中的女性声音

在正统的犹太社区，最近围绕女性的任命及其发布halachic决定的权力存在很多争议。尽管有这些保留，女性托拉学者（有或没有正式任命）已经开始发布 halachic 响应。本文的目的是分析这些裁决，特别是与医学伦理问题相关的裁决，以确定在他们处理这些复杂的哈拉克和道德困境时是否有独特的女性声音。然而，在我们接近这些回应之前，我们需要更好地了解产生这些女性 halachic 权威的女性妥拉学习的进展。显然，自从莎拉·施尼勒在 1917 年在她那个时代的拉比圣人的同意下开始了贝斯雅科夫运动之后，正统女性的妥拉学习经历了一场革命。除了在超正统和现代正统世界的中学学习妥拉之外，许多女性现在参加高中后的神学院，在那里全日制学习妥拉。Tamar Ross 教授坚持认为，这些高等托拉女性学习机构有两种模式。一个，她称之为“女性独特性”的轨迹，认为，“女性的学习不应该模仿男性的学习。相反，重点应该放在女性独特的敏感性和实践智慧上，即使在她们的学习中也是如此。” 这种方法对课程有影响，因为在这些机构中，塔木德并不占据中心位置，取而代之的是宗教信仰、犹太哲学、圣经、和实用的犹太法律以家庭和家庭为中心。学习模式也不同于男性的yeshivot，因为与男性的yeshivot 中的学习伙伴模式相比，主要由男性拉比进行正面教学的课堂学习更加强调。罗斯称之为“平等主义轨道”的另一种模式，