The Religious Right's Instrusions on Family Privacy: How Jews See It

Conversation with Rabbi Ariel Stone of Congregation Shir Tikvah, Portland, Oregon

By JewsOnFirst, March 2, 2006

In a conversation with JewsOnFirst, Rabbi Ariel Stone said: "Jewish tradition teaches that alienation is exile from each other, and when we are exiled from each other, the presence of God is exiled from us. When I'm involved in issues like the end of life or gay marriage, I've really felt that this is where God is. This is bringing God closer." Please click here to read our conversation.

Oregon Rabbi Supports State's Death with Dignity Law, Testifies in Support of Similar Legislation

Testimony of Rabbi Ariel Stone of Congregation Shir Tikvah, Portland, Oregon, April 13, 2005.

In April 2005, Rabbi Stone testified before the Vermont State Legislature in support of that's state's "Death with Dignity" legislation (H-168), which is still under consideration. (Click this link for the current status of the bill.) She began:

In my position I have occasion to counsel both my own congregants and others who turn to me in their struggles with terminal illness. As a Rabbi it is my duty to guide, but not to dictate, the final decision made by those with whom I counsel. If someone chooses to exercise her right under Oregon's aid-in-dying law and she qualifies to use it, I have, and will continue to, offer my full support of that decision, and help as I am able in the realization of that choice. This is my sense of the ethical imperative of my religious tradition.

I would like to briefly share with you my sense of the religious "Culture of Life" as Judaism teaches it. Unlike American law, Jewish legal and wisdom literature speak not of rights, but of the human responsibilities and privileges which flow from our sense that life is a gift to be honored. Two verses set up our dialectic: "choose life" from the book of Deuteronomy, and Ecclesiastes' "there is a time to be born, and a time to die."

To read Rabbi Stone's complete testimony (a PDF document), click here.

You may also want to read her comments to Science & Theology News on January 19, 2006, after the Supreme Court upheld Oregon's Death with Dignity law. She concludes: "It has never made sense to me that faith would stop at dying. God brought us into this world, why shouldn't God have help to take us out. It just doesn't make sense otherwise. I want the same loving hands to help me out that helped me in, and I see God in both of those acts." Click here for the full report.