Teaching Hot Topics

Anyone who wants to broach sensitive issues with today's teens (or even adults) will appreciate this compelling resource. Fifteen chapters on such "hot topics" as abortion, euthanasia, school violence, cloning, the death penalty, and sexuality include a comprehensive overview of each topic, as well as intriguing scenarios highlighting how Jewish responses to these issues have changed over time. Text study passages, overviews of both Traditional and modern Jewish views and attitudes, and listings of related virtues (middot) and commandments (mitzvot) for each topic promote discussion and understanding of Judaism's approach to grappling with some of today's most highly charged subjects.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
PART I: Body, Health, and Medicine
1. Abortion
2. Cloning
3. Euthanasia
4. Harmful Behaviors: Smoking, Alcohol Abuse, and Over-/Undereating
PART II: Civil and Political Issues
1. Ethics of Business
2. Death Penalty
3. School Violence
4. Ethics of War
PART III: Citizens of the Planet
1. Animal Experimentation
2. Consumerism: How Much Is Too Much?
PART IV: Sexuality
1. Foundations of Sexual Ethics
2. Masturbation
3. Birth Control
4. Homosexuality
5. Sex Outside of Marriage