Hasidic says abortion of Jewish fetus not murder, while abortion of gentile fetus is murder

[comrade1789]

The link is from Hasidic University

hasidicuniversity.org/index.php?page=hu_theocracy/mitzvah_profile.php?mitzvah=-293

I don’t understand this at all:

"Not to abort a gentile fetus, even to save the life of the mother. It is strictly forbidden to murder one innocent human to save another, and since the fetus is not a deliberate pursuer, abortion of a gentile fetus, even to save its mother’s life, is an act of murder (see commandment -289). (Abortion of a Jewish fetus is not murder, however, and thus can be performed to save the life of a Jewish mother on rare occasions, in contrast to gentile abortions.)

 

[Kaninchen]

The link is from Hasidic University

hasidicuniversity.org/index.php?page=hu_theocracy/mitzvah_profile.php?mitzvah=-293

I don’t understand this at all:

"Not to abort a gentile fetus, even to save the life of the mother. It is strictly forbidden to murder one innocent human to save another, and since the fetus is not a deliberate pursuer, abortion of a gentile fetus, even to save its mother’s life, is an act of murder (see commandment -289). (Abortion of a Jewish fetus is not murder, however, and thus can be performed to save the life of a Jewish mother on rare occasions, in contrast to gentile abortions.)

Right, ok, I’ll try to explain - the site is under construction so I’ll make the initial comment that “it will end up being somewhat more complicated than all that.”

Meanwhile, the reason for the Jewish/Gentile difference lies in covenants. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah (Genesis 8/9) which applied to everybody. Then, later, God made one with Abraham and a fuller one with Moses which applied to Israel - these require us Jews to do lots more stuff than anybody else and have all sorts of complex rules.

So, the discussion is over what the Noah Covenant rules are regarding abortion for Gentiles (if we all lived in an ancient Jewish theocracy) - the argument being that the situation is different from the Jewish one (which is based on the Mosaic Covenant and means that the mother’s life comes first).

It should be noted, by the way, that despite all the bloodthirsty penalties in what you call the Old Testament, in practice, it was pretty difficult to get yourself executed.

PS - I’m not going to get involved in an argument about abortion!

 

[Bezant]

The link is from Hasidic University

hasidicuniversity.org/index.php?page=hu_theocracy/mitzvah_profile.php?mitzvah=-293

I don’t understand this at all:

"Not to abort a gentile fetus, even to save the life of the mother. It is strictly forbidden to murder one innocent human to save another, and since the fetus is not a deliberate pursuer, abortion of a gentile fetus, even to save its mother’s life, is an act of murder (see commandment -289). (Abortion of a Jewish fetus is not murder, however, and thus can be performed to save the life of a Jewish mother on rare occasions, in contrast to gentile abortions.)

Have you looked for other opinions? You would undoubtedly find a different answer from, if not another Hasid, other Orthodox scholars, or Conservative or Reform scholars.