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Texts: Abortion As Murder

Gil StudentNov 29, 18
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A few months ago, political commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted that according to Judaism, abortion is murder. This led to criticism from one rabbi as overly simplistic and then defense by another, who showed that both Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik called abortion murder.

Below is a report from Rav Ya’akov Kamenetsky’s 1970 Shabbos Shuvah derashah, in which he calls abortion a form of murder after 40 days from inception — before 40 days it is forbidden for a different reason. While this was not said as a specific ruling, neither was Shapiro’s tweet. At the very least, Rav Kamenetsky’s lecture reflects a general attitude.

(Of course, all such cases should be discussed with a competent rabbi.)

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Gil StudentNov 29, 18
Less than a minute

Gil Student

Rabbi Gil Student is the Editor of TorahMusings.com, a leading website on Orthodox Jewish scholarly subjects, and Director of the Halacha Commission of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He writes a popular column on issues of Jewish law and thought featured in newspapers and magazines, including the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine, The Jewish Link, The Jewish Echo and The Jewish Vues. In the past, he has served as the President of the small Jewish publisher Yashar Books and as the Managing Editor of OU Press. Rabbi Student currently is serving his third term on the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Council of America. He serves on the Editorial Board of Jewish Action magazine and the Board of OU Press. He has published five English books, the most recent titled Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era, previously served as the Book Editor of Jewish Action magazine, and served as the American editor for Morasha Kehillat Yaakov: Essays in Honour of Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

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