Nov 21, 2020
This episode sheds light on a very sinister time in history when abortion was weaponized against Jews in ghettos in Nazi occupied territories.
Decree of 1942: Pregnancy in the ghetto is forbidden. Every pregnancy must be terminated. A pregnancy may be carried to full term only by women who are in the eighth or ninth month. Beginning in September, a total ban is placed on births. Women who are pregnant will be executed.
In Lithuania on this day in Jewish history, Jewish doctors in the Kovno ghetto were forced to abide by the decree. They were told that if they terminated the pregnancies, the mothers' lives would be spared. Under duress and because of this deception, the rabbis agreed to allow this violation of the Torah's prohibition of abortion to save the mothers' lives. Tragically, the women were murdered not long afterward.
The 'save the mother's life exception' to the prohibition of abortion in Judaism is commonly misused to this day to allow killing children in the womb. In our time, a mother's life is rarely in danger from a pregnancy, yet, the lie justifies the child's destruction. Occasionally, women die from abortion, and many suffer physical damage and spiritual death afterwards.
We cite a Dvar Torah published by Bar-Ilan University in Israel that details the legalized human rights abuses against Jewish women and children during the war. Next, we visit the website of Hadassah Medical Center in Israel to read that they do 1st and 2nd trimester non-surgical abortions, revealing that the 'save the mother's life' lie remains a useful tool of death despite the well known fact that abortion very rarely poses a threat to a mother's life and the dangers of abortion to women far outweigh those of childbirth. We share Rabbi Nachman's inspiring mediation on the 35th day of the Omer count, and close the program studying Power Point slide #110 Judaism’s Mystical Tradition, and slide #103 Why Save Jewish Lives? Aired 5/14/20.
Ban on Pregnancy in Ghettos, Concentration and Death Camps https://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=18049&pt=1&pid=14327&level=0&cPath=43,14206,14211,14327,18049
Hadassah Medical Center Gynecology https://www.hadassah-med.com/medical-care/departments/obstetrics-and-gynecology-ein-karem/gynecology.aspx
Counting the Nightly Omer https://learnemunah.com/holidays/omercount.html.
For Info, Help & Healing please visit jewishprolifefoundation.org