לימודי רפואה

Dear Rabbi Dr. Halpern,

Shalom, my name is Simcha Herrmann and I am a medical student at the Sackler School of Medicine American program. I was given your contact information by Rav Yoel Katan who said you would be the best source of information for my situation. I am in my last year of school and I am faced with the difficult decision of what field I want to pursue.

Just a short background of who I am. I studied at Shaalvim for 2 years and then did my undergraduate degree at Yeshiva College. After college I continued learning at Yeshiva University where I received Smicha. I then went on to medical school at Sackler. During my clinical rotations I sort of liked everything but figured I would probably go in to pediatrics and do some sub-specialty off it. I had never given much thought to a career in Obstetrics and Gynecology. However, my last rotation was in Ob/Gyn and I kind of fell in love with it. One of the main aspects I liked was the multi dimensional aspect of the field. That combined with the unique aspect of bringing life into the world totally sold me. Then I thought about the role a frum person knowledgeable in halacha can play in this field and it seemed like a great match.

Obviously that’s one side of it. The other side and the reason that I am writing to you is because of many halachik obstacles involved this field. The way my program is set up is that we go back to America for our residency training. Do you know the situation of Ob/Gyn in America? Is it possible to be an Ob/Gyn and to conform ones practice to halacha. In regard to abortions, from what I understand is that during residency training one can get exempt from performing them based on ones religious or ethical values. The big problem I see is with contraception. Is it 100% a lifneu iver problem to give contraception to Jews? Can one set up a practice where they don’t freely dispense contraception. What are other halachik issues that come up? Are there sub-specialties off of Ob/Gyn that don’t have as many halachik problems? (MFM, reproductive endocrinology…)

If you have time I would very much appreciate if you could help me sort out these issues. I very much want to pursue a career in this field if it is halachikly feasible. I understant there will be obstacles, but how difficult will these obstacles be?

Thank-You very much,

Simcha Herrmann