"Every Jewish scholar of medical
ethics will be eternally
in his debt for his pioneering work"
Born in Koenigsberg, Germany - now Kalingrad,
Russia - Immanuel Jakobovits was the son of the Orthodox rabbi of Koenigsberg.
The Jakobovits family fled Germany in the face of the rising Nazi menace,
arriving in London in 1936. Immanuel Jakobovits entered the Yeshiva
Etz Chaim where he received his ordination. Rav Jakobovits had an early
interest in mathematics though he ultimately followed family tradition,
pursuing a career in rabbinics. In the early 1950's, after being appointed
Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rav Jakobovits chose to dedicate his academic
career to medical ethics. It was in Ireland that he met and married
Amelie Munk, herself the daughter of a prominent rabbi, who became his
lifelong partner and energetic companion in all his endeavors.
Early articles by Rav Jakobovits discussed issues related to halachic
problems at the beginning of life. He produced an early review of the
history of medical practice in Jewish law and literature. A landmark
article published in 1958 in the premier issue of Tradition presented
the halachic attitudes to autopsies in the context of a comparative
and historical analysis. His magnum opus, Jewish Medical Ethics, was
published in 1959. His father-in-law, Rabbi Elie Munk of Paris, writes
in the foreword to the volume: "The vast subject of medico-moral
conflict ... which have not ceased, over the generations, to beset the
moral conscience of humanity, are treated in the light of the eternal
truths whose authentic source is the biblical revelation." Jewish
Medical Ethics was the first book to both review the diverse Jewish
views and opinions of medical practice and stress the ethical and universal
dimensions embedded in the rulings. His emphasis on the universal aspects
of medical ethics has exposed the world to the timeless perfection of
Jewish ethical thought. He also wrote extensively on the application
of traditional Jewish teachings vis-à-vis the importance of self-reliance
and personal moral responsibility in the wider modern world. It was
this contribution that led Margaret Thatcher in 1987 to recommend that
the Queen elevate him to the House of Lords, the first Chief Rabbi to
be so.
In 1957, a group of New York industrialists decided to form their own
synagogue on the southern stretches of Central Park. Rav Jakobovits
was invited to interview as the synagogues first Rabbi and was immediately
hired. Membership quickly grew from the initial dozen founders to hundreds
of members and within several years of its founding, the Fifth Avenue
Synagogue came to be regarded as one of the foremost Orthodox synagogues
in America. In 1967, Rav Jakobovits was appointed Chief Rabbi of the
United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth. In 1981,
he was knighted Sir Immanuel by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He later
developed a close, personal relationship with the Queen and other members
of the royal family.
The past five decades have seen a remarkable maturation in the field
of Jewish medical ethics. The growth is reflected in the Encyclopedia
Judaica of 1972 where Rav Jakobovits authored more than a dozen articles
on the subject. A solitary entry appeared in the Jewish Encyclopedia
of 1906. Numerous university-based centers for the study of Jewish medical
ethics have been founded in recent years, most notably the Jakobovits
Center for the Study of Jewish Medical Ethics at Ben Gurion Medical
Center in Beer Sheva. While Chief Rabbi of England and, later, as a
member of the House of Lords, the opinions of Rav Jakobovits were sought
by religious leaders, academics and medical professionals from around
the world. Rav Jakobovits was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize
for Progress in Religion in 1991. Until his death in 1999, he lectured
at numerous medical, rabbinic and medico/rabbinic conferences.
