Sep 16, 2005 -- A major conference, “Creating in God’s Image: Ethical Challenges in Stem Cell Research and In-Vitro Fertilization,” recently held in Israel, was co-sponsored by Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, Bar-Ilan University, Columbia University’s Center for Bio-Ethics, and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Organizations. The two-day conference featured leading Israeli and American scientists, doctors, and rabbinic leaders, who examined the ethical implications of medical research using human stem cells and the Jewish position on In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Rabbi Moshe Tendler, professor of biology and the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Professor of Jewish Medical Ethics at YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, both took part. Rabbi Tendler’s lecture, “The Sovereignty of Torah Law in an Amoral Society,” stressed the Jewish community’s responsibility to embrace scientific issues rather than retreat from them. “It is a shame that clergymen are ignoring scientific advancement and human suffering, which could lead to a failure to take decisions on matters of life and death,” he said. Rabbi Tendler called on rabbis to take a stand on ethical matters in medicine in order to benefit patients. On the controversial topic of stem cell research, Rabbi Tendler took a strong stand in favor of human embryonic stem cell research. “It is a mitzvah, just like saving people in a life-and-death situation.” “Halakhic Aspects of In-Vitro Fertilization Treatment” was the topic of Rabbi Brander’s presentation. “We need to cultivate knowledgeable rabbis as fast as scientists are developing new capabilities so that we can respond to the increasing number of difficult medical ethics issues as they arise,” he said. “We cannot shy away from our responsibilities in this arena.” YU has plans to launch a program, the first of its kind outside Israel, that will address issues regarding gynecological procedures and their interface with Halakha (Jewish law) as well as issues of infertility. The program will be coordinated with Machon Puah, an Israel-based institute dedicated to finding halakhic solutions to fertility issues, and will entail intensive training of a group of married rabbinical students or newly ordained rabbis. This joint program will offer a special joint ordination from Machon Puah and YU’s Center for the Jewish Future. YU also plans to open a clinic to advise couples on halakhic issues of fertility that will be operated jointly by Dr. Eddie Reichman, a rabbi, emergency medicine physician, and professor at YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Rabbi Brander.