Kosher Medicine and Medicalized Halacha: An Exploration of Triadic Relations Among Israeli Rabbis, Doctors, and Infertility Patients

American Ethnologist, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 662–680, November 2010

19 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2012 Last revised: 28 Aug 2012

See all articles by Tsipy Ivry

Tsipy Ivry

University of Haifa - Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Date Written: November 12, 2010

Abstract

Drawing on my ethnography of rabbinically mediated fertility treatments for observant Jewish couples in Israel, I illuminate two simultaneous processes: the koshering of medical care and the medicalization of rabbinic law. My findings show how hands-on rabbinic interventions transform doctor–patient relations into rabbi–doctor–patient relations and introduce a network of power relations into clinical practice, at times empowering and at times disempowering patients. This case prompts a reconsideration of scholars’ tendency to view biomedicine in hegemonic terms.

Keywords: assisted conception, religious Judaism, Israel, power relations, authoritative knowledge, medicalization

Suggested Citation

Ivry, Tsipy, Kosher Medicine and Medicalized Halacha: An Exploration of Triadic Relations Among Israeli Rabbis, Doctors, and Infertility Patients (November 12, 2010). American Ethnologist, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 662–680, November 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2130455

Tsipy Ivry (Contact Author)

University of Haifa - Department of Sociology & Anthropology ( email )

Israel

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