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Rabbi Boruch Chazanow, the director of Chabad of Western Monmouth County, held a class at the Western Branch of the Monmouth County Library about the talmudic interpretation on abortion and euthanasia Feb. 5.

In Jewish law, if a man throws dishes from the top of a building, and then on the way down someone else smashes them, the man who threw them is liable, he said. On the other hand, if a man throws a man from the top of a building, and another man shoots him on the way down, the second man is liable because there were still a few seconds left to live.

"To be considered a murderer, you're not any more of a murderer than you are if you kill a young child or if you kill a senior citizen," Chazanow said. "You're equal murderers. Someone who cuts off life and destroys life has violated the infinite."

Chazanow said everything in this world was a gift from God. However, human life is immeasurable and above everything that God gave us in this world, he said.

"Life cannot be measured in quality," he said. "If you start measuring life's worth in quality, you can go down a very slippery slope."

Because life is a gift and not something that a person owns, no one has the right to take their own life, he said. Jewish law prohibits anyone from doing whatever they desire to their body.

"The concept 'it's my body I'll do whatever I want' is far from Judaism," he said. "We don't have rights over our life to do whatever we want, but we have a responsibility to take care of life."

According to the Talmud, when it comes to euthanasia, every case is different, Chazanow said. He said in Jewish law there is a major difference between not doing something to continue life and doing something to shorten life.

"To shorten life is a problem," Chazanow said.

Chazanow said according to Jewish law, concerning the decision to take someone off life support, it depends on how a person's body is reacting to his medication, and a doctor and a rabbi must be consulted about removing the person from life support. For example, if a doctor uses a defibrillator on a patient to try to revive them, the doctor isn't required to continually shock the person if they aren't responding after the first few times, he said.

From there, Chazanow moved on to the topic of abortion, and the controversial Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

"Although everyone's been convinced that abortion has been permitted in America, and Roe v. Wade permitted abortion, which is true, the court never dealt with the crux, and that is: is the fetus a living being or not?" Chazanow said.

Jewish law views the fetus as a living being, and to kill it simply because the mother and father don't want kids is not permissible, he said. However, in Judaism there are certain situations where an abortion is permissible.

"Maimonides says the reason that you can abort the child is because the child falls into the category of what we call in Hebrew rodath," Chazanow said. "Rodath means if I see someone pursuing someone else trying to kill them... I have an obligation to protect someone from being killed. [But] I'm not allowed to kill someone else to save my own life."

Rashi said if the baby is endangering the mother's life, then the baby is acting as the pursuer and the mother is permitted to abort the baby. Rashi also said there are two lives at stake, the potential life -- the baby -- and the actual life -- the mother -- and since the two can't be compared the potential life is sacrificed.

Chazanow said the Talmud states that if a woman needs a kidney and the only match is her sister, who is pregnant, the kidney cannot be taken, because of the pregnancy.

Scott Brodsky, of Eatontown, said attending the class was a great experience.

"Even though Jewish law is not cut-and-dry in these situations, in both euthanasia and abortion, I feel I've learned a lot, and know to be responsible in case I encounter any of these life situations," Brodsky said.