Rabbi Moses Tendler

Dr. Moses D. Tendler, noted authority on medical ethics and the relationship of medicine and science to Jewish law, serves in a dual capacity as professor of biology at Yeshiva College and as a rosh yeshiva (professor of Talmud) at the University-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

A leading expert on Jewish medical ethics, Dr. Tendler holds the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Jewish Medical Ethics at Yeshiva University. The Chair – named to honor the memory of his parents – was established in 1986 by the late Joseph Applebaum, and his wife, Leila. Dr. Tendler was named was the chair’s inaugural occupant in 1987, the first of its kind to be established at any university in the U.S.

Dr. Tendler received his B.A. degree from NYU in 1947, and a Master’s degree there in 1950. He was ordained at RIETS in 1949, and following that, earned a Ph.D. in biology from Columbia in 1957.

Since 1969, he has served on the Medical Ethics Task Force of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, for which he edited Medical Ethics, a compendium of principles on morality, ethics and Halakhah (Jewish law). For nine years he served as its chairman. He is also chairman of the Bioethical Commission of the Rabbinical Council of America. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Good Samaritan Hospital, Suffern, NY and member of their Ethics Committee. Dr. Tendler was a founding member of the National Association of Bioethical Research in Reproduction, initially founded by the American College of Obstetrics/Gynecology, and a leading ethics think tank in the field of reproduction technology.

He was president and then chairman, from 1970 to 1974, of the Board of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists. Dr. Tendler has contributed many articles on science and religion to leading publications, and is frequently contacted by the media and public officials for information and advice on pertinent ethical issues.