Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, the first Israeli scientist to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, recently spoke about his relationship with religion.

Prof. Chiechanover said that his first connection with religion was chazzanus and the moving Yamim Noraim tefillos.

Later in his speech, he said, “The second connection was during the Yom Kippur War. I was a combat medic amid the war battles and I had a religious friend. We started discussing what to do on a battlefield when there is only one medic. Today, I’m sure that the doctors in the Strip are grappling with the same question. You have 10 serious and light casualties, whom do you treat first? If you treat the light casualties, the serious casualties will die but if you treat the serious casualties, the lightly injured will become serious. How you do triage the casualties?”

“So we said we’ll go to some Rav in Bnei Brak. My friend knew some Rav in Bnei Brak, HaRav Zilberstein, and we asked him. First of all, his welcome was amazing. He said to us, ‘Rabbosai, this is a shaila for the Sanhedrin – it’s a question of life and death.'”

“We didn’t go to the Rav to guide us morally. Everyone has his own, doctors and people have their own morals – we wanted him to tell us what the halacha says. For us, the Rav was a judge. How do judges work? With precedents. Every issue that comes up for judgment always has a precedent.”

“The Rav told us it would take several days and he would also consult with the Av Beis Din HaElyon who was his father-in-law, HaRav Elyashiv. He gave us a written response several days later. based on halacha, on precedents, etc. He said that the response is only for you since it’s life and death, only for doctors, and I don’t want non-professionals or non-health professionals to interpret it incorrectly.”

“It found favor in our eyes and we came later with another shaila – slowly 50 years passed. Today, it’s 50 years later and we gather once a month for 50 consecutive years [at halacha in medicine conferences] – and he turned into the greatest posek on halachos in the medical field. He’s essentially also the spiritual father of the Mayanei HeYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak and seven volumes of his piskei din were published recently.”

“And what drew me to this was not only his wisdom and knowledge, but the fact – and I’m not a religious Jew in the simple meaning of the word – that there is no modern shaila – from genetic disease through gene modification – that has no halachic precedent. The literary wealth of halacha is simply unfathomable.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)