Reproducing Jews: A Cultural Account of Assisted Conception in Israel

Body, Commodity, Text

by Susan Martha Kahn

There are more fertility clinics per capita in Israel than in any other country in the world and Israel has the world's highest per capita rate of in-vitro fertilization procedures. Fertility treatments are fully subsidized by Israeli national health insurance and are available to all Israelis, regardless of religion or marital status. These phenomena are not the result of unusually high rates of infertility in Israel but reflect the centrality of reproduction in Judaism and Jewish culture. In this ethnographic study of the new reproductive technologies in Israel, Susan Martha Kahn explores the cultural meanings and contemporary rabbinic responses to artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, egg donation, and surrogacy. Kahn draws on fieldwork with unmarried Israeli women who are using state-subsidized artificial insemination to get pregnant and on participant-observation in Israeli fertility clinics. Through close readings of traditional Jewish texts and careful analysis of Israeli public discourse, she explains how the Israeli embrace of new reproductive technologies has made Jewish beliefs about kinship startlingly literal. Kahn also reveals how a wide range of contemporary Israelis are using new reproductive technologies to realize their reproductive futures, from ultraorthodox infertile married couples to secular unmarried women. As the first scholarly account of assisted conception in Israel, this multisited ethnography will contribute to current anthropological debates on kinship studies. It will also interest those involved with Jewish studies.

Genres: Jewish, Science, Anthropology, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2000

Reviews

[Dinah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was fascinating in the worst way. Israel obviously holds a funny place in my heart -- I have an innate fondness towards it, being the home of a lot of lovely memories, while at the same time having innumerable hangups over the place on a rational level. This book addresses a lot of them, at the cross-section of some of the issues I hold dearest -- feminism, single-parenthood, the value of mothers, gay rights and, of course, babies. In a culture that values the production of tiny Jews above all, many of our American hangups about in-vetro fall away. But is that the right justification? Is it justification at all? I liked this book, and can only assume it will have continued relevance in my life, and the lives of anyone who is Jewish or single or wanting of children.

[Emmanuel Magdalene · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think this book would have been vastly improved by an examination of israel's demographic aims and how this is manifest in state-subsidised assisted conception. i think because it doesn't acknowledge the zionist factor, the book only calls israel a 'pro-natalist' society without actually being able to explain why. i think this is an excellent examination of the jewish aspect of assisted conception in israel, but it is severely limited by a lack of attention paid to the zionist aspect.

[Suzette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very compelling book about a woman's right to choose and, what options are made available to her in Israel. Very well written ethnography....

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly about what it says it’s about, good combination of anecdotes and textual analysis as well as introducing politics and ethics in an accessible way.