Jewish Perspectives on Reproductive Rights

Reproductive health issues, including abortion and contraception, have been highly visible on the political stage in recent years. Yet, ethical questions about reproduction are ancient. Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, Shulamit Reinharz Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University, explores how Jewish texts, Jewish law, and contemporary Jewish ethics inform these challenging and profound questions.

This event, sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies at UNC Asheville, will be at 7 p.m. on April 4, in the Blue Ridge Room of the Highsmith Student Union.

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute (HBI) at Brandeis University is a research institute focused on Jewish Women’s and Gender Studies. 

Joffe also directs the HBI Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and Law, which explores conflicts between women’s rights and religious law, and teaches in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies department. Her research focuses on gender issues at the intersection between secular and religious law. She is the author of three books: “Women’s Rights and Religious Law,” “The Polygamy Question,” and “Gender, Religion, and Family Law: Theorizing Conflicts Between Women’s Rights and Cultural Traditions.”