Well aware of Jews hav­ing once been the vic­tims of Nazi eugen­ics poli­cies, many Jews today have an ambiva­lent atti­tude toward new genet­ics and are under­stand­ably wary of genet­ic forms of iden­ti­ty and inter­ven­tion. At the same time, the Jew­ish tra­di­tion is strong­ly com­mit­ted to med­ical research designed to pre­vent or cure dis­eases. Jews and Genes explores this ten­sion against the back­drop of var­i­ous impor­tant devel­op­ments in genet­ics and bioethics — new advances in stem cell research; genet­ic map­ping, iden­ti­ty, test­ing, and inter­ven­tion; and the role of reli­gion and ethics in shap­ing pub­lic policy.

Jews and Genes brings togeth­er lead­ers in their fields, from all walks of Judaism, to explore these most time­ly and intrigu­ing top­ics — the intri­ca­cies of the genet­ic code and the won­ders of life, along with cut­ting-edge sci­ence and the eth­i­cal issues it raises.