Dor Yeshorim

Dor Yeshorim (DY) ( Hebrew : דור ישרים "Sex of the Pious", Psalm 112: 2), also known as the Committee for Prevention of Genetic Diseases , is the most well-known of several organizations, especially orthodox Jews who are willing to marry, offering an anonymized comparison process based on a genetic screening of the individual for hereditary diseases.

organization

The organization was founded in 1980 by the New York Hasidic Rabbi Joseph Ekstein, who himself had lost four of his children to Tay-Sachs syndrome . Its headquarters are in Brooklyn, New York, with six employees, and the organization also has a branch in Jerusalem with three employees. For example, every year Dor Yeshorim sends representatives to private schools to which many Orthodox families send their children and explains to the teenagers that they can use simple blood tests to determine whether they are carriers of the three diseases Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis and Gaucher's disease.

background

The system was set up to comply with Jewish religious laws that, among other things, prohibit abortion. This includes examinations of prenatal diagnostics. In strictly Orthodox Jewish circles, young people looking for a spouse are only allowed to get to know one another to a limited extent. An engagement (Shidduch) often begins with a recommendation from family members or friends. Usually a professional matchmaker (Schadchen) is involved. So that future hereditary diseases of offspring can be avoided during the initiation of marriage, those wishing to marry can - each individually - undergo a genetic test as a precautionary measure so that their genetic compatibility can be compared with potential spouses.

execution

Daniel B. Shapiro, US Consul in Israel, visited the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem and Dor Yeshorim on January 10, 2012

A person wishing to marry can have a blood sample sent to a genetic engineering laboratory. Dor Yeshorim works with a few doctors for this. The participants receive an identification number from Dor Yeshorim, but no test result. The anonymity of the procedure is intended to avoid stigmatizing the respective person and their family. A matchmaker can now, before he even begins a marriage between two potential partners, give the identification numbers by telephone (this means that the matchmaker also remains anonymous) to Dor Yeshorim, who then reports whether there is a risk of a hereditary disease or not. If the result is positive, the matchmaker will avoid initiating marriage from the outset. The comparison process is chargeable and usually costs US $ 200.

If individuals have already been tested elsewhere or are already engaged or married, they can no longer use the services of Dor Yeshorim. The background to this is that Dor Yeshorim on the one hand wants to prevent both engagement and marriage of hereditary genetic bearers in advance and on the other hand, anonymity can no longer be maintained if a test has already been carried out.

methodology

Genetic tests are used to examine the genetic material for any recessive hereditary diseases. The aim is to significantly reduce the occurrence of genetically determined diseases in the offspring.

The genetic sequences that are responsible for the occurrence of certain hereditary diseases are examined . Originally it was just Tay-Sachs disease . In the course of time, the following diseases have appeared: familial dysautonomia , cystic fibrosis , Canavan disease , glycogen storage disease (type 1), Fanconi anemia (type C), Bloom syndrome , Niemann-Pick disease , mucolipidosis (type IV).

After controversies, the examination for genetic carrier of Gaucher's disease (type I) is only included in the examination if expressly requested.

criticism

The process has met with criticism from leading Orthodox rabbis, who are of the opinion that eugenics is being promoted, especially the prejudice that Jews are carriers of “bad genes”. Read only about Jewish genes instead of publishing statistics about screening in other populations like Icelanders or the Amish. There should be a sensitivity to the history of eugenics, especially at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world. Given the tragic history of suffering from deliberate ethnic discrimination, the founder of Dor Yeshorim, Rabbi Ekstein, repeatedly refused to give interviews on Dor Yeshorim.