Chayla Vazquez Blog Post 1

The first two chapters of Genesis recalls a biblical event that explains the origins of man and is usually used as the standard to familial relations for those who go by this biblical text. The second chapter specifies that a woman was made for a man as companionship. This establishes the belief that heterosexual relationships are the ideal. It also states that a man leaves their mother and father for a woman so that they could be “one”. Again, this asserts that men and women couples were created by God and were the only types of couples recognized by the bible. This passage also already assumes that a man and a woman together (“mother and father”) creates a child, establishing reproductive norms as well. Christian’s have an alternative way of reading the book of Genesis compared to the Jewish community. Christians, especially the Catholics, use the book of Genesis to support their negative opinions on technology that assists with reproduction, pointing out sections that provide examples through stories on how issues arise when women are burdened with the inability to conceive and therefore find alternatives. To Christians, these narratives may warn about moral issues that may arrive as natural human conflict, because of the deviation from Genesis reproductive and kinship traditions. The Jews, on the other hand, refer to the book of Leviticus when dealing with questions about alternative, biomedical reproductive strategies. Leviticus lacks these complicated, elaborate stories of other people’s lives and focus more on family rules that dictate Jewish laws, such as sanctification. Therefore, because this is more of a focus, the state of Israel has more toleration towards using technology to combat infertility, such as in vitro fertilization. This then translates to more support, money, and relaxed social views for single women going through procedures to become a mother within Israel. IVF is high in the state of Israel compared to other countries. Their religious beliefs do not specifically ban reproduction that does not follow the norms of copulation between a man and a woman. However, other researchers suggest that there are additional reasons to why Israel is comfortable with supporting these technologies. These reasons include the want for a larger Jewish demographic, state security, and the immense support from extended family.

Susan Kahn did a wonderful job of trying to interpret the point of view of Jewish single woman wanting to go through a process of assisted conception. Kahn was able to involve herself in the lives of these other women and was able to make a real connection with this specific population of Israel. Unlike religious texts, this allowed her to know the actualities of opinions and beliefs of the people within a medium that seems more honest. Not every person abides by or follows every part of their religion. Religious commands and suggestions could be interpreted to mean certain things. They could also be taken more lightly by some people or not followed at all. You would not know this just by reading religious text, nor would you know it by only listening to religious leaders and political figures. An ethnographic approach to answering questions about technology that have raised concerns globally as we advance in our ways to manipulate the human body is a very insightful solution. This method gets to the core of what is actually happening within specific groups of people. The production of a culture is not solely through its religion. There are other variables that influence how a culture makes decisions about certain phenomena’s such as reproductive technologies. An anthropologist like Kahn could learn about these other variables through deep discussions with people. We learn that the doctors and nurses had an influence on the sperm choice for the women and that family members cause pressure to conceive a child which could lead to the want of faster reproductive alternative choices. We also learn that copulation outside of marriage just to have a child was considered “dirty” while reproduction through a sperm donor was considered “clean”. You could not find all this information within religious texts, nor a rabbi. Overall, differences between religions on their viewpoint of certain scientific discoveries, as well as, important principles like kinship and reproduction can be analyzed through many strategies which has shown to be crucial to fully understanding.

Citation:

Kahn, Susan Martha. Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.