Q. Dear Rabbi very soon we may find that we can have a being that is only one half human (only head is human) but body is artificial, or it belongs to another younger deceased human. Can we count him for a minyan?

At what point of the spinal column transplant will the transplanted be considered human and Jewish? What identity will that human have?

A. Indeed recently there was a case of a young 16-month-old Australian boy is on the mend, smiling, eating, and walking, only two weeks after his skull was separated from his spine in a head-on a car collision in which his spinal column was separated, and doctors were able to reconnect the head to the body.

Jaxon Taylor was airlifted from the site of the crash in New South Wales to Brisbane where he was seen by Australia’s “godfather” of spinal surgery, Dr. Geoff Askin. Askin said in a news report from Seven Network Australia that the force of the crash had pulled the child’s head and neck apart.

A. Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that although this type of medical surgery is still uncommon, likely as medical historical reality has been, it will Iy’H become a life saver for many.

Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is also that it is the head that really counts and not the rest of the body, however there are various important details as follows in the next questions.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a