Appendix G. 
249 
Jewish tradition considers the fetus as "the thigh of its mother." 
Moreover, says Dorff: 
As it happens, modem science provides good 
evidence to support the Rabbis’ imder standing. As 
Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits noted long ago, the 
Rabbis’ "forty days” is, by our obstetrical count, 
approximately fifty-six days, for the Rabbis counted 
from the woman’s first missed menstmal flow, while 
doctors today count from the point of conception, 
which is usually about two weeks earlier. By 56 days 
of gestation by obstetrical count the basic organs 
have already appeared in the fetus. Moreover, we 
now know that it is exactly at eight weeks of 
gestation that the fetus begins to get bone stmcture 
and therefore looks like something other than liquid. 
Indeed, the Rabbis probably came to their conclusion 
about the stages of development of the fetus because 
early miscarriages indeed looked like “merely water,’’ 
while those from 56 days on looks like a thigh with 
flesh and bones. (16) 
The contrast with Catholic teaching could hardly be more 
striking. Not only are Jewish views of the status of the early embryo 
notably different, but Jewish tradition claims scientific validation for 
its view of the embryo, just as Catholic tradition does. Not 
surprisingly, therefore, where Dorff answers both questions posed by 
the responsum in the affirmative. Catholic tradition would answer 
both negatively. 
’These differences are significant and must be attended to, but it 
is worth asking whether focusing on these differences does not 
obscure important similarities. Consider some of the similarities. In 
sketching the Jewish view of stem cell research, Dorff notes that 
certain theological commitments are central. He lists at least three 
that would be strikingly similar to Catholic and other Christian 
theological commitments. 
• Our bodies are not ours; they belong to God and God 
commands that we seek to preserve life and health. 
• All human beings, regardless of ability or disability are 
created in the image of God and are therefore to be valued as 
such. 
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