Sacred Endings

Scientific and technological advances have created increasingly complex questions about medical care at the end of life. Sacred Endings provides a compassionate and practical halachic guide to navigating these difficult decisions with clarity and sensitivity.

Drawing on Biblical and Talmudic sources, halachic rulings, and real-life case studies, Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg and Dr. Ari Ciment address palliative care, DNR decisions, and other ethical and halachic dilemmas that arise during life's final chapter. Written for patients, families, healthcare professionals, and those seeking to understand the Torah perspective, this important work offers guidance for confronting some of life's most challenging decisions.

About the authors:
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD, is a pediatric neurologist, a rabbi, and an ethicist. He is currently the director of the Medical Ethics Unit and the chairman of the IRB at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. He also heads the Editorial Board of the Talmudic Encyclopedia.
Steinberg is the author of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics (in Hebrew and English) and Ha'refuah K'halachah (in Hebrew). He is the laureate of the prestigious Israel Prize and the Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem award (Yakir Yerushalayim). Involved with many public committees and legislations in Israel concerning medical ethics, Steinberg has discussed many modern issues in medicine with the Gedolim, including Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt"l, Rav Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, zt"l, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Waldenberg, zt"l, Rav Ovadia Yosef, zt"l, and many others. He has published many of their halachic rulings on these issues. Steinberg serves as an advisor to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and to the Knesset on medical halachic and ethics issues.

Ari Judah Ciment, MD, FCCP, is a pulmonary and critical care physician who has practiced in Miami Beach, Florida, since 2008. He serves as Fellowship Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center and as Clinical Associate Professor at Florida International University and Nova Southeastern University.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Ciment served as President of the Medical Staff and cared for thousands of critically ill patients. He has lectured nationally and published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Chest.
He is an honorary member of Hatzalah of South Florida, is the Florida Chair and Board Member of United Hatzalah of Israel, and serves on the Board of the Hebrew Academy of Greater Miami.
His published works include Pirkei Dr. Ari, Dr. Ari's Haggadah, The Coronavirus Pandemic: Historical, Medical, and Halachic Perspectives (with Rabbi Avraham Steinberg), and Breathless Tales. He lives in Miami Beach with his wife, Elissa, and their three children.
For questions or comments, please email the authors at airciment@aol.com or steinberg@yadharavherzog.net.