I was wondering | Imamother

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Forum -> Judaism -> Halachic Questions and Discussions

I was wondering

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amother

Salmon

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:19 pm

I was speaking with a colleague who is Jewish but not religious. She mentioned that she was an egg donor. This made me wonder. If the donee mother is not Jewish, would the child born be considered halachically Jewish, since his or her genetic mother is Jewish?

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:24 pm

Im 99% sure that the baby is jewish if the mother carrying the baby is jewish.

amother

Papaya

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:43 pm

http://www.aish.com/atr/Surrog.....e=yes

According to this, if the egg donor isn't Jewish, the baby isn't Jewish and would need conversion (even if the birth mother is Jewish).

amother

Orchid

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:48 pm

Machloket.

For this reason - If I (obv. Jewish) used a non-Jewish surrogate - the baby would need a conversion, but it would be the "light version" (Giyur le’chumra), atleast in my town.

BadTichelDay

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:57 pm

There are 3 different halachic opinions:

1) the Jewish/non-Jewish status of the child depends on the birth-mother.

2) the Jewish/ non-Jewish status of the child depends on the egg donor.

3) Both. That is, only if both the birth mother and the egg donor are Jewish, the child is Jewish.

It depends on which Rav you ask.
Machon Puah deal with these questions extensively.

If you want to browse a general overview, just put "egg donation halacha" through google.

Chana Miriam S

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 6:12 pm

Our friends had a Jewish egg and a non Jewish carrier. The baby was given a Beirut l’chumra even though they were not actively religious because the vaad ha rabbanim were not willing to take a chance that a Jewish baby wouldn’t be acknowledged as such.

amother

Rose

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 6:21 pm

Our Rav holds that the woman who carries is a mother and therefore she will determine Jewish status of the baby. However, he advises that the donor should also be Jewish because it’s a machloket and some consider donor or both being a mother, so to satisfy the strictest opinion, both donor and carrier should be Jewish. I second PUAH being the right resource for this. They have advisors who can explain in great details. These are real life situations that people sometimes have to reserve to.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Jan 17 2019, 11:15 pm

OP here, thanks for the responses. It seems that the responses, and also what I've googled, address the issue from the point of view of a Jewish couple looking to have a baby.

I was curious about the point of view of the child. Assuming that neither the woman who carries the baby and gives birth, nor the father, are Jewish but the egg donor is. Would this child be considered halachically Jewish? His DNA would show up as 50% Jewish through his biological mother.

amother

Linen

Fri, Jan 18 2019, 12:56 am

Someone was just telling us about someone they know who found a Jewish woman married to a non-Jewish man to carry her pregnancy. I am not sure why they cared that the woman was married but that was the psak they received.

I wonder how much there's concern regarding siblings, for people who donate more than once. Are they halachically siblings?

jerusalem90

Fri, Jan 18 2019, 1:14 am

amother wrote:

I'm guessing they didn't care whether she was single or married to a non-Jew (halachically single), but the important thing was she not be married to a Jew because of possible mamzerut concerns.

AFAIK most orthodox egg donation organizations recommend anonymous donation which means that the child will never know who the donor was or who half siblings are. Personally that viewpoint bothers me and as I think the child would be better off knowing, but that's IMO.

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