by R. Yitzchak Blau
The RCA and Tradition magazine is pleased to announce that we have opened up our archives to the general public. All the back issues from 1958 through 2012 are available at http://traditionarchive.org/archives/. We encourage you to read the material there and to share it with your congregants, students, and peers. As a regular feature, we will bring important articles to your attention. This week, we highlight two significant articles from the last ten years.
Many poskim have counseled against sharing negative diagnoses with patients for fear that the knowledge will cause a deterioration in the patient’s health. Is it obvious that such knowledge may harm the patient? Does our tradition value the autonomy that such knowledge grants the patient? How should the realization that medical decisions are often not definitive but involve weighing various costs and benefits impact on this dilemma? See Dr. Judah Goldberg’s insightful essay: link (PDF)
What is Judaism’s attitude towards marital intimacy? Is sexuality to be limited and only valued for the purpose of procreation or does it have larger value? How do we account for the differing attitudes regarding this topic at the time of Hazal, the rishonim and the acharonim? See Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s important analysis of this topic: link (PDF)
