Social egg freezing (SEF) is a new reproductive technology that is increasingly used within ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, stirring tensions between tradition and modernity. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews, this study examined how ultra-Orthodox singles who employ SEF engage in social negotiations over gender- and body-related norms. Findings show that participants successfully assimilated SEF by establishing facts on the ground and discreetly spreading information while actively avoiding tensions that may threaten religious tradition. SEF did not push participants into modern individualism or dissolve their strong connection to the community. However they did modify social boundaries and articulated social criticism.

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This article focuses on perceptions of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox population in Israel-a religious minority-regarding guidelines enacted by the Israeli Ministry of Health (MOH) during the country\'s second wave of COVID-19, and ways the community coped with the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with 30 ultra-Orthodox individuals revealed five major discourses reflecting participants\' perceptions. Three discourses objected to MOH guidelines, while the other two aligned with them. The study\'s findings also indicate a lack of cooperation between the ultra-Orthodox population and state health authorities, emphasizing the need to implement culturally adapted health interventions. Study limitations are discussed, and future research recommendations are provided.

According to Jewish law/ethics, continuous life-sustaining therapy may not be withdrawn after its introduction, unless the patient has improved and no longer has a medical indication for the treatment. We report the case of an 88-year-old Orthodox Jewish patient, on invasive mechanical ventilation, with severe anoxic brain injury after multiple cardiac arrests. Although the patient\'s son informed the palliative care team that his father did not want to be in pain or to linger in a vegetative state when terminally ill, the mechanical ventilation was keeping him alive with a poor neurological prognosis. Additionally, the patient had previously stated his wish to observe Orthodox Jewish principles regarding end-of-life care. After extensive discussion, the family Rabbi clarified that it would be acceptable to withdraw mechanical ventilation if there were a \"reasonable expectation\" he would breathe on his own for a \"reasonable amount of time.\" Thus, if the patient\'s death were to occur, it would not be an immediate consequence the normal ventilator weaning process. Following intermediation by the hospital Rabbi, the definition of what would be a \"reasonable expectation\" and \"reasonable amount of time\" was established by the family Rabbi as \"over 50%\" and \"on the order of hours,\" respectively. Following pulmonary consultation, the patient underwent palliative extubation and, 12 hours after the procedure, died comfortably surrounded by the family. In conclusion, the collaborative and interdisciplinary work among the family Rabbi, hospital Rabbi, and the various medical teams allowed the development of a plan that met all of the patient\'s personal and religious wishes and beliefs.

The recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provided some insight into manifestations of child sexual abuse within an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. This paper extends the analysis by the Royal Commission (RC) to another Australian ultra-orthodox community that of Adass Israel, whereby a former school headmistress allegedly abused multiple students and then fled to the State of Israel in 2008. That case is unusual given that both the perpetrator and victims were female. Attention is drawn to a number of components similar to the RC findings pertaining to the particular vulnerability of children within ultra-orthodox communities given the absence of sex education and entrenched patriarchal authority, the reluctance of such communities to report child sexual abuse (CSA) allegations to secular authorities and associated cultural and religious factors, the failure of community leaders within or beyond Australia to support or compensate CSA survivors, and the absence of formal child protection protocols. Additionally, some conclusions are drawn about the key role played by advocacy groups such as Jewish Community Watch in exposing the global travel of child sex offenders, and the problematic legal protection provided to many such offenders by the State of Israel\'s Law of Return.

In the European Union, slaughter without stunning is allowed for religious slaughter to obtain halal and kosher meat. Especially in the case of Jewish slaughtering, cuts which are not deemed as kosher are sold to regular market without any specific labelling. This survey, conducted in Tuscany in 2016, aimed to quantify the carcasses rejected in relation to the type of religious slaughter. 656 bovines were slaughtered without stunning: 538 (82%) for halal and 118 (18%) for kosher. All carcasses slaughtered by the Islamic procedure (dhabiha) were considered halal, while 77.1% of carcasses slaughtered by the Jewish procedure (shechita) did not pass the approval. Carcasses were rejected after chest cavity inspection (50%) and after the lungs control (50%). This study provides an important insight in this field and postulates how to amalgamate the concepts of freedom of religion, as enshrined by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, with consumer rights and animal welfare.

This article deals with reporting patterns of sexual abuse in males in a religious-cultural context through a case study of ultra-Orthodox Jewish (Haredi) men who were young victims of sexual abuse. The study is based on in-depth interviews with 40 Haredi men. The results indicate that sexual abuse involving ultra-Orthodox boys was and is underreported. Moreover, the results indicate that even when such incidents were reported, the avenues for disclosure were parents, educational-religious figures, and friends. It was also found that silencing in matters related to sexuality, viewing sexual abuse in boys as a serious sin and taboo, and encouraging blind obedience-all of which characterize Haredi society-were factors in the underreporting. The results also show a strong tendency to cover up incidents of sexual abuse on an individual level, on a family level, and at the community level. The findings indicate a linkage between the religious and cultural background of male victims of sexual abuse and their reporting patterns.

The context of caregiving in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is still an uncharted field. We sought to facilitate an in-depth understanding of caregivers in Israel through their views of their position as primary caregivers, their coping mechanisms with the challenges of caregiving burden, and their unfulfilled needs.
Data were drawn from interviews with 28 participants, serving as primary caregivers for at least a year.
Three major themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) burden of care as a universal experience, (2) the faith-based spiritual meaning of caring for parents, and (3) modest needs and expectations from the formal services - a total reliance on the familial-community service system, while there is some indication of unfulfilled needs that should be addressed by the formal service system.
Intervening parties should be aware of the \'cultural color,\' and not ignore the unique difficulties this population faces. Policy-makers should acknowledge the patterns of non-formal services used in this community.

Pituitary gigantism is a rare endocrine disorder caused by hypersecretion of growth hormone during growing period. Individuals with this disorder have an enormous growth in height and associated degenerative changes. The continued hypersecretion of growth hormone during adulthood leads to acromegaly, a condition related to the disproportionate bone growth of the skull, hands and feet. The skeletal remains studied belong to a young adult male from the Jewish necropolis of \"Ronda Sur\" in Lucena (Córdoba, Spain, VIII-XII centuries CE). The individual shows a very large and thick neurocranium, pronounced supraorbital ridges, an extremely prominent occipital protuberance, and an extremely large and massive mandible. Additional pathologies include enlargement of the vertebral bodies with degenerative changes, thickened ribs, and a slight increased length of the diaphysis with an increased cortical bone thickness of lower limbs. Comparative metric analysis of the mandible with other individuals from the same population and a contemporary Mediterranean population shows a trend toward acromegalic morphology. This case is an important contribution in paleopathological literature because it is a rare condition that has not been widely documented in ancient skeletal remains.

Circumcision of a male child was recently ruled illegal by a court in Germany on the grounds that it violates the child\'s rights to bodily integrity and self-determination. This paper begins by challenging the applicability of these rights to the circumcision debate. It argues that, rather than a sweeping appeal to rights, a moral analysis of the practice of circumcision will require a careful examination of the interests of the child. I consider three of these interests in some detail. The first is the interest in avoiding a moderate decrease in expected future sexual pleasure. I argue that even if such a decrease were to occur, it is not wholly unreasonable to think that this might actually be a good thing for the child. Second, I consider the interest in self-determination. I argue that this interest is not as strong as it might appear because the adult\'s circumcision decision is subject to a variety of biases and a significant lack of information. Finally, I consider the child\'s interest in avoiding the future costs of adult circumcision. I argue that this interest becomes much stronger in the religious case because the child is quite likely to choose to become circumcised as an adult. The likelihood of the child choosing circumcision in the religious case also reduces the extent to which infant circumcision violates his interest in self-determination. I conclude that male infant circumcision falls within the prerogative of parental decision-making in the secular case and even more clearly so in the religious case. Finally, I distinguish male circumcision from female genital cutting in several important respects and argue that we can coherently hold that male circumcision is permissible without also endorsing all forms of female genital cutting.