Feb 6, 2006 -- For those who think predetermining gender is a modern idea, the Talmud—redacted fourteen centuries ago—discusses ways to increase the likelihood of having a male child (give lots of charity, bid farewell to the Sabbath with wine, not beer). This sage advice serves as a starting point for a modern-day discussion on whether Jews have the right to choose their child’s sex thanks to technological advances such as in vitro fertilization and PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis), according to Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future. He delivered a shiur (lecture), “Playing God: Can I Choose My Child? PGD and Genetic Screening—A Torah Perspective,” Feb. 1 at the Wilf Campus. His talk was sponsored by the CJF Dinner and Learn program and Special Projects, Yeshiva College Student Association, and the university’s Medical Ethics Society. “Science is a gift that provides a means for us to partner with God,” he told some 200 students from YU’s undergraduate and graduate schools as well as from Columbia and NYU. “But when does the role of being God’s partner end and playing God begin?” he asked. Rabbi Brander guided his audience through several rabbinic sources that deal with halakhic issues including when an embryo is considered human, what constitutes abortion, and whether it is permissible to destroy fertilized eggs. He built a case for using technology, but only when techniques such as gene-testing or fetal reduction are intended to prevent disease or disability. “We don’t have the right to decide the gender of our children because that’s not partnering with God. It’s overstepping our bounds. We do have that right when it comes to reasons of health,” he concluded. The shiur was the inaugural event for the spring semester of the Medical Ethics Society, which raises awareness of medical ethical issues and sharpens moral judgment to deal with the challenges they present.