Organ Donation and the Divine Lien in Talmudic Law

This book offers a new theory of property and distributive justice derived from Talmudic law, illustrated by a case study involving the sale of organs for transplant. Although organ donation did not exist in late antiquity, this book posits a new way, drawn from the Talmud, to conceive of this modern means of giving to others. Our common understanding of organ transfers as either a gift or sale is trapped in a dichotomy that is conceptually and philosophically limiting. Drawing on Maussian gift theory, this book suggests a different legal and cultural meaning for this property transfer. It introduces the concept of the 'divine lien', an obligation to others in need built into the definition of all property ownership. Rather than a gift or sale, organ transfer is shown to exemplify an owner's voluntary recognition and fulfilment of this latent property obligation.

'The combination of insightfulness, comprehensiveness, subtlety and creativity that is manifested page after page, left me utterly breathless.' Rabbi Saul Berman, Yeshiva University, New York, 'Madeline Kochen's interpretation of Jewish legal principles opens a new window onto the ethics of organ donation. Her illuminating take on Talmudic property law suggests a new kind of transaction that is neither a sale nor a gift. Solving contemporary problems with ancient wisdom, Kochen argues that God may give the gift of life but we have the power to imitate God by saving lives while enabling others to redeem their claims on us. A stunning achievement.' Joseph William Singer, Bussey Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, 'With immense learning and in fascinating detail, Madeline Kochen explores what Jewish law says and what it might say about organ donation. But she is after a bigger prize: her book points toward a radically innovative theory of private property and distributive justice.' Michael Walzer, Institute for Advance Study, Princeton University, 'Madeline Kochen is both an excellent jurist and an excellent Talmudist. In her book, Organ Donation and the Divine Lien in Talmudic Law, she takes on a major topic of great contemporary significance in a fashion that will enable the Talmudic tradition on these matters to take its place within contemporary moral and legal discourse.' Daniel Boyarin, Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California, Berkeley

Madeline Kochen, a former Law Professor at the University of Michigan, is a public interest lawyer and a Talmudic scholar, with a PhD in religion and political philosophy from Harvard University, Massachusetts. After representing indigent defendants on appeal at the Legal Aid Society, she worked as an attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, where she eventually founded and directed the NYCLU Reproductive Rights Project. Kochen has also taught at Harvard and at Stanford Law School, where she was an Assistant Dean. Her publications have appeared in Aramaic Studies in Judaism and Early Christianity, The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, the New York Law Journal and the Jewish Law Association Studies. Kochen has also served as a board member at the Michigan and Arizona ACLUs.