JUDS 1581: Public Health & Jewish Law Syllabus

Abstract

Course Overview In an ever increasingly global world what are the individual requirements and obligations of each Jew in regards to the preservation of Public Health? In this course we will look at how Halacha guides and obligates us to take steps as individuals that when taken together help to enact protections for all. We will look in detail at the way in which communal responsibility brushes up against personal choice and what incentives are appropriate in ensuring compliance with such measures. We will also look at the reverse relationship and what obligations the community has to increase public health and in what manner. This course will also look at exploitative relationships and the Halakhic guidelines therein in regards to creating communal benefits under questionable or inappropriate means. Course Objectives The goals of this course are to establish a basic framework of both secular and Jewish bioethics that can be applied in the field. Additionally, this course will focus on the ability to break down both classical Jewish texts as well as contemporary articles and secular case law to understand the ramifications of the questions that are commonly faced by the Halakha Observant public.