Kosher medicine and medicalized halacha: An exploration of triadic relations among Israeli rabbis, doctors, and infertility patients

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)662-680
Number of pages19
JournalAmerican Ethnologist
Volume37
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2010

Keywords

  • Authoritative knowledge
  • Israel
  • Medicalization]
  • Power relations
  • Religious Judaism
  • [Assisted conception

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Anthropology

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