Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
Neanderthal converts?
Sveta:
Regarding Neanderthals I agree with Muman. I think of great apes and their ability to use tools (granted not as advances as Neanderthal tools) and even some ritual practices of apes..yet they are not like us. Similar but not like us. To convert, one must have the neshama already (at least some people believe so) and the sincere understanding of what it means to be a Jew. It's so serious to do so, will a Neanderthal have the understanding to accept the yoke of heaven. I don't see a cloned Neanderthal having the knowledge of how to keep kosher how will it keep any Mitzvot, who will it marry.
Will a converted Neanderthal be a "Bat/Ben Avraham Avinu"? He will be called up to the Torah? He or she will go to the mikvah?
Come on, in all honesty.
In regards to cloning, my personal opinion is that it's wrong. I do not believe that we are actually creating life, however. I think of it as a paper in a copy machine. The original paper is already made. Someone made the paper and put writing all over it. We cannot create a new one but we can put it in a machine and COPY it. Still it is wrong. Regarding how will someone gain a soul? No one can know unless we witness such an even, which I hope will not happen.
We can assume, I assume that somehow if science tries to clone a human it may not survive being born, it will not make it past a certain stage or life. If it does, then I would assume that an empty mass of body may come to this world as a cloned "human" but without a full existence. Perhaps HaShem will still love this poor creature anyways maybe granting it a soul? But honestly, I believe that there will be some major roadblocks that scientists will never be able to replicate in human cloning.
Rubystars:
Animals don't build fires and cook with them. Animals don't make complex tools. I'm not talking about banging a rock to open a nut here, I'm talking very sharp knives used with precision, hand axes, spears, etc.
No animal is smart enough to attach a spear tip to the end of a pole.
No animal deliberately makes fires to cook with or for warmth.
No animal wears clothing
Neanderthals were definitely a type of human.
Cato:
--- Quote from: Rubystars on March 29, 2010, 12:36:06 PM ---Animals don't build fires and cook with them. Animals don't make complex tools. I'm not talking about banging a rock to open a nut here, I'm talking very sharp knives used with precision, hand axes, spears, etc.
No animal is smart enough to attach a spear tip to the end of a pole.
No animal deliberately makes fires to cook with or for warmth.
No animal wears clothing
Neanderthals were definitely a type of human.
--- End quote ---
Exactly. And, for others, let me repeat: if you were needing to survive in the middle of one of the 10 recent European glaciations, would you prefer to be in the company of a native Neanderthal family, or a bunch of present-day cannibals from the Congo??
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