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8 S. Cal. Interdisc. L. J. 117 (1998-1999)
Human Cloning: A Jewish Perspective

handle is hein.journals/scid8 and id is 123 raw text is: HUMAN CLONING: A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE ELLIOT N. DORFF* Since I trust that you have heard from others about some of the moral issues that human cloning raises, I shall briefly touch on some of them from a Jewish perspective and focus instead on some of the theological conundrums posed by the possibility of human cloning. I shall then make some recommendations for your final report. I. MORAL ISSUES A. THE SUBJECTS OF CLONING: WHO WOULD BE CLONED? If cloning is left to the economic forces of the marketplace, pre- sumably the rich and the famous, but not necessarily the good, would be cloned. This would exacerbate the socio-economic divisions in society, but that, one might say, is just a result of the capitalistic eco- nomic system that we have chosen for America. Still, one would hope to relieve tensions of inequality rather than heighten them, and this would add to them in the most personal way possible: So-and-so is worthy to be cloned, but I am not. That certainly cannot make those unable to afford this procedure feel good. Human cloning may also be open to economic exploitation. A sports agent, for example, may seek to clone Michael Jordan to earn fees from many copies of him-presuming that human clones would have his athletic abilities. Indeed, since DNA can be copied from even a hair, clones of Michael Jordan might even be made without Mr. Jordan's knowledge and against his will. This would undoubtedly vio- late American laws prohibiting theft and American values of auton- omy and freedom, and from a Jewish perspective it would also constitute economic oppression (ona'ah) and personal violation akin to rape. * Rabbi ordained by the Jewish Seminary of America, 1970; Ph.D., 1971, Columbia Uni- versity; Rector and Professor of Philosophy, University of Judaism, Los Angeles. This article is based on a paper presented to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, March 14, 1997.

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