IVF, Surrogacy, and Halacha
When a baby can be conceived in a lab or carried by another woman, Jewish law faces questions its classical sources never imagined: Is IVF permitted? Who counts as the mother — the woman who provides the egg, or the one who gives birth? This 20th-century halachic issue is addressed only at the level of underlying principles in the classical sources; the canonical contemporary responsa (Igrot Moshe, Tzitz Eliezer, Yabia Omer, Minchat Shlomo) are not yet ingested in full.
The defining late-20c. and 21c. halachic debate on assisted reproductive technologies. Questions: status of sperm provider, maternity in surrogacy (gestational vs. genetic), use of donor gametes, mamzerut implications, halachic status of the child. Major poskim: R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (permissive), R. Eliashiv (more restrictive), R. Moshe Feinstein (early framing IM EH 1:71), R. Ovadia Yosef.
How it traveled
- Tzitz EliezerJerusalem · 1945modern_responsum
- Igrot MosheNew York · 1959modern_responsum
Key passages(13)
Tzitz Eliezer · Eliezer Waldenberg
Igrot Moshe · Moshe Feinstein
In Igrot Moshe Even HaEzer 1:71, R. Moshe Feinstein addresses artificial insemination within marriage, establishing foundational halachic parameters for assisted reproduction by permitting the procedu
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Igrot Moshe · Moshe Feinstein
In Igrot Moshe Even HaEzer 2:11, R. Moshe Feinstein addresses assisted reproduction by establishing that the halachic mother is the gestational carrier rather than the genetic donor, and permits certa
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Igrot Moshe · Moshe Feinstein
In Igrot Moshe Even HaEzer 4:32, R. Moshe Feinstein addresses surrogacy by establishing that the gestational mother is halachically the mother, grounding maternity in childbirth rather than genetic co
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Minchat Shlomo · Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo)
In Minchat Shlomo Tinyana 124, R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach addresses surrogacy by permitting IVF with a gestational surrogate, establishing that the birth mother is the halachic mother regardless of gen
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Tzitz Eliezer · Eliezer Waldenberg
In Tzitz Eliezer 15:45, R. Eliezer Waldenberg permits IVF with donor gametes under specific conditions, establishing that the gestational mother is considered the halachic mother and that the child do
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Tzitz Eliezer · Eliezer Waldenberg
In Tzitz Eliezer 19:40, R. Eliezer Waldenberg addresses the identity of the halachic mother in surrogacy by examining the competing claims of genetic and birth mothers, ultimately prioritizing the bir
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Tzitz Eliezer · Eliezer Waldenberg
In Tzitz Eliezer 20:49, R. Eliezer Waldenberg addresses the identity of the halachic mother in surrogacy by examining whether the birth mother or genetic mother bears primary maternal status, consider
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Tzitz Eliezer · Eliezer Waldenberg
In Tzitz Eliezer 9:51 chap. 4, R. Eliezer Waldenberg addresses surrogacy and donor gametes by emphasizing maternal status follows the gestational mother halachically, while maintaining stringent conce
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Yabia Omer · Ovadia Yosef
In Yabia Omer Even HaEzer 8:21, R. Ovadia Yosef addresses surrogacy and IVF by establishing that the gestational mother—not the genetic contributor—is halachically the mother, permitting surrogacy und
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ומה גם אם יש לו בנים ולא בנות, או בנות ולא בנים, שעדין לא קים מצות פריה ורביה, דמבעי לה למעבד כל טצדקי, כדי להשלים לקים מצות פריה ורביה. צא ולמד מלאה אמנו, שאף על פי שהיו לה ארבעה בנים, וכי עצרה מלדת,
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Bekhor Shor · R. Yosef ben Yitzchak Bekhor Shor · 1145 CE
ותאמר הנה אמתי בלהה. כלו' לא זאת אני שואלת אלא שתבא אל אמתי אולי אבנה כי אגדל את בניה ויקראו על שמי:
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Penei Yehoshua on Gittin · R. Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (Pnei Yehoshua) · 1702 CE
שם ולחלופי לא חיישינן והתנן הנותן לחמותו. ויש לדקדק דמההיא דהנותן לפונדקית הו"ל לאקשויי ברישא דגבי הדדי מיתניין בפרק ד' דדמאי והאיך נשנית ברישא וכבר תמה ע"ז הרשב"א ז"ל בפ"ק דחולין ולפי שיטתנו יש ליישב
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up IVF, Surrogacy, and Halacha. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Eliezer WaldenbergTzitz Eliezer(1945)Buy on Eichler’s→