200 ATTEND OU, PUAH INSTITUTE CONFERENCE ON INTIMACY AND INFERTILITY; PARTICIPANTS WERE EDUCATED ON CAPACITY OF HALACHA TO DEAL WITH MEDICAL ISSUES
From left: William D. Petok, Ph.D., Scott Chudnoff, M.D., M.S., FACOG; Rabbi Gideon Weitzman, Director, Puah Institute
With more than 200 people attending, the Orthodox Union Department of Community Services | Jewish Community Programs presented a Medical Ethics Conference, “Clinical and Torah Perspectives on Intimacy and Fertility,” at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck. The Conference was co-sponsored by The Puah Institute, a leading Jerusalem-based organization that assists with and educates about fertility problems.
The theme was “Human Relationships and Reproduction.” Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, the site of the event, was Conference Chairman.
The program consisted of two parts: the morning segment comprised roundtable discussions for physicians, healthcare professionals and rabbis; the afternoon session, featuring the keynote address, lunch, and workshops, was open to all. The afternoon workshops were recorded and will be archived on the OU Community Services website, www.oucommunity.org.
Following the conference, Rabbi Pruzansky said, “We were delighted to host the OU-Machon Puah Conference on Intimacy and Fertility Issues. The presentations were superb and the participants in the sessions were engaged in a very fruitful dialogue. Matters were discussed with great sensitivity and yet great openness, and the community was educated as to the spiritual, physiological, and psychological dimensions — and possibilities — on infertility and intimacy matters.”
“It was most gratifying that participants realized both the profundity of halacha and its capacity to deal with medical complexities. That itself should bring some measure of comfort and hope to people wrestling with these concerns in their lives. We are all most appreciative of the expertise of Machon Puah and the professionalism of the Orthodox Union, and urge other communities to host this and similar programs to educate our community about the plethora of opportunities available.”
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