The Seventh Miami International

Conference on Torah & Science

ABSOLUTE STANDARDS IN AN AGE OF RELATIVITY

12-15 December 2007
The Shul of Bal Harbour, Miami, Florida

Local Organization
Miriam Gitman, The Shul of Bal Harbour
9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside, FL 33154, USA.
Tel:  (305) 868-1411 ext. 7319     Fax: (305) 861-2426    
MGitman@theshul.org
There is no registration fee.

Abstracts and Biographical Sketches
Keynote Lecturers

Professor Nathan Aviezer

Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Israel; Research Professor of the Royal Society of London

“Seeing the Reflection of G-d in Nature”

Sir Francis Bacon spoke of the two Books of G-d: the Book of His word (the Bible) and the Book of His works (Nature). Consider the Book of His works. Where can one see the reflection of G-d in Nature? Everywhere that we look! (“His glory fills the universe,” Isaiah 6:3.) We shall here present the striking evidence for the “fingerprints of G-d” in astrophysics and physiology. Scientists state: “As we identify the many peculiarities of physics and astronomy that have worked together for our benefit, it almost seems as if the universe knew that we were coming”, and “The origin of life appears to be almost a miracle, so many conditions had to be satisfied to get life going”, and “Human beings are the result of a staggeringly improbable series of events, which were utterly unpredictable and are completely unrepeatable”. These findings and their spiritual implications will be discussed.

Nathan Aviezer is professor of physics at Bar-Ilan University. Aviezer is the author of more than 100 scientific articles on solid state physics. In recognition of his important research contributions, Aviezer was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (1984) and a Research Professor of the Royal Society of London (1992). In addition to his scientific research, Professsor Aviezer has a long-standing interest in the relationship between Torah and science. He is the author of two books: In the Beginning: Biblical Creation and Science (translated into nine languages) and Fossils and Faith: Understanding Torah and Science (translated into three languages). The course, “Torah and Science,” that Aviezer teaches at Bar-Ilan University was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize in 1999. Professor Aviezer organizes an annual Torah and Science Conference in Israel. Professor Aviezer received his doctorate in physics from the University of Chicago, and subsequently held a research position at the IBM Watson Research Center.

aviezen@mail.biu.ac.il

Professor Isaac Elishakoff

Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA

“The Mathematics of Fair Division in the Mishnah”

Mathematics has never been a foreign subject to the Jewish sages, who composed many mathematical manuscripts over the millennia. To render many halakhic decisions, it was necessary, inter alia, to consider various hypothetical cases of asset allocation. Aristotle’s proportionality principle has been generalized by Jewish scholars for ruling on problems of how to divide property among contesting owners. Here we consider a problem that has occupied Jewish scholars for millennia—how to fairly divide an asset among contesting recipients.

The mathematics of asset allocation is a fascinating subject, worthy of being included in the curricula of Jewish junior and high schools, yeshivahs, and mesivtas.

Dr. Isaac Elishakoff is the J.M. Rubin Distinguished Professor of Structural Reliability, Safety, and Security in the department of mechanical engineering at Florida Atlantic University. He also teaches in the mathematics department. From 1972 to 1989 he was faculty member of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, where he became a professor of aeronautical engineering in 1984. He also served as Visiting Freimann Chair Professor at the University of Notre Dame, as well as Visiting Kioter Chair Professor at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, Visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in the USA, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. A Fellow of the Japan Society for Promotion of Science at the University of Kyoto, he was a Visiting Eminent Scholar at Beihang University in Beijing, and Distinguished Castigliano Professor at the University of Palermo, Italy, and Visiting Professor at the University Center of Ariel in Samaria. He also served as a distinguished lecturer of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is an associate editor of four international journals and general advisory editor of Elsevier Science Publishers in Oxford, England.

ielishak@me.fau.edu

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

Author and educational technologist, Toronto, Canada

Workshop on Consciousness and Daat

This workshop will provide a guided tour through Cartesian mind-body dualism, recent arguments against the materialistic model of consciousness, and the alternative provided in the treatment of consciousness in the Talmud and Kabbalah. Self-cognizance, language, and self-restraint are the keys to our understanding of human consciousness and our fulfillment as human beings.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman is a noted scholar, lecturer and author. He is director of "Ask the Rabbi" for Chabad.org and the author of several highly acclaimed books, including Bringing Heaven Down To Earth, Book I and Book II. His most recent creation, "KabbalaToons" starring Rabbi Infinity, presents deep but practical lessons in Jewish thought in animated form.

Rabbi Freeman is also an expert, consultant, and lecturer in the field of educational technology, having held posts at the University of British Columbia and Digipen School of Computer Gaming .Since 2000, he  has been on the educational advisory council of Vivendi Interactive in recognition of his work in early childhood user interface.

TzviFreeman@sympatico.ca

Yaacov (Jack) Hanoka, PhD

Physics, Vice President of Evergreen Solar, Marlboro, MA, USA

“Noah’s Flood Brought Up To Date”

In the lobby of the visitor’s booth for the southern rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona there is a plaque telling an ancient Indian story of how the world once was flooded and all people perished except for someone who had built a giant canoe. It is also narrates that when Spanish explorers came to the Americas and met the indigenous Indians of Central America, they were amazed to discover that these Indians also had a tradition of a flood story. Indeed, it has been said that all the ancient civilizations of the world had some sort of flood story.

Many of the earliest students of geology, particularly in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, believed that the flood associated with Noah was responsible for the present geologic features of the Earth. But their understanding of what actually happened during this flood did not stem from any knowledge of the traditional Jewish sources.

Recent scientific discoveries have indicated massive flooding in the area of the Bosporus. Serious scholars have suggested a connection of this with the biblical Flood.

This paper will attempt to integrate  the Torah description of the Flood, accounts found in older civilizations, history of this idea, and recent scientific findings into a single coherent narrative.

Dr. Yaacov Hanoka has a PhD in solid state physics and has worked on solar cells for the past thirty-two years. He has seventy publications and fifty-six patents in this field. He is a founder and vice president of Evergreen Solar. He and his wife Bina, of blessed memory, have five children, three of whom work in Habad Houses in the United States. Active in programs for Jewish college students, Dr. Hanoka writes and lectures on Torah and science.

hanoka@evergreensolar.com

Yakir Kaufman, MD

Neurology, Herzog Memorial Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel

“Practical Applications of Soul-Body Health and Faith”

People often ask how they can apply the medical perspective on the interrelationship between body and soul to improve their lives. If a person is emotionally upset, he or she cannot be reached spiritually. The best method for attaining emotional well-being is that of Conscious Awareness, developed by Yemima Avital.

Yemima Avital was born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1929 of a rabbinic family. She studied psychology and literature at Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion universities. She founded the Ha’Maayan Institute in Israel, where taught her method of Conscious Awareness until her death in 1999. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson, was very impressed by Yemima’s wisdom and ability to help people change for the better.

Yemima saw that every human being contains two parts: a good essence and unnecessary burden. The unnecessary burden can be feelings of anger, of being threatened, or any negative pattern. When we allow the good essence to grow to its normal, natural state, the unnecessary burden will diminish.

The cornerstone of change is the ability to be constantly non-judgmentally cognizant of one's actions and thoughts. Thus, if a person feels in a state of free will, he or she can become free of unnecessary burdens and subconscious traits adopted during childhood. These traits continue to affect every aspect of our lives even as adults although the original childhood threats have vanished. True free will cannot be achieved when one is in a state of inner turmoil or conflict but only when the uneasy psychological being is at peace and in a state of inner peace.

The key tool used here is identification. There is no warfare or conflict between the good inclination and the evil inclination. In this sense, Conscious Awareness complements and streamlines the hasidic approach.

Yakir Kaufman was born in Haifa and received his MD from the Hebrew University Hadassah Faculty of Medicine in 1994. In 1995 he become a resident doctor at the department of neurology of the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. Dr. Kaufman is a member of the Israeli Neurological Society and a junior member of the American Academy of Neurology. He spent two years in Toronto, Canada, as a Fellow in the Behavioural Neurology Program at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and the Rotman Institute. Since his return to Jerusalem in 2004 he has joined the medical staff of the Herzog Memorial Hospital and teaches Judaism and Medicine at the Hebrew University Hadassah medical school. At Herzog Hospital Dr. Kaufman has founded The Center for Brain Health, which integrates conventional and alternative medicine, using also a spiritual approach, placing the patient at the center of the healing process. His areas of research include psychoneuroimmunology and the link between spirituality and health.

ykaufman@herzoghospital.org

Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar

The Shul of Bal Harbour and the Aleph Institute, Miami, USA

“G-d and Creation: Immanence and Transcendence

The Kabbalistic and Maimonidean Models”

The necessary influence of transcendent energies to modify one’s natural characteristics or the nature of one’s characteristics—defining nature, nurture, habit, behavior and their origin in chemistry, genetics, environment, psychology, and essence.

Since receiving ordination from the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn in 1968, Sholom D. Lipskar has worked as an emissary for the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In 1973 he founded the Landow Yeshiva Center in Miami Beach, Florida. He has served as its principal and dean of its elementary, academy, and high school studies, and was directly responsible for training its rabbinical students. In 1981, he founded The Shul in Surfside, Florida. As its head rabbi he is both the spiritual leader and educational programmer for all ages. Also in 1981, Rabbi Lipskar founded the Aleph Institute and the Educational Academy for the Elderly, both based in Surfside. The Aleph Institute is a non-profit national humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for Jews in limited environments, including prisoners and military personnel and their families. Rabbi Lipskar has created alternative punishment philosophies and developed unique educational opportunities for the general public in the field of treatment of closed populations. Rabbi Lipskar is the founder and chief organizer of the Miami International Torah and Science Conferences.rabbilipskar@theshul.org

David Medved, PhD

Chief Technical Officer of MRV Communications, Jerusalem, Israel

“Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)”

In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, two radio astronomers at the Holmdel Facilities of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, were engaged in the difficult work of measuring diffuse radio waves from our galaxy, the Milky Way. Their radio telescope picked up an unexpected source of radio energy . R.H. Dicke of Princeton University recognized the annoying hissing sound as a “message from the edge of the universe.”

Subsequent measurements using satellites have confirmed that this Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) is a red-shifted remnant of the Big Bang. After the initial moments of the Big Bang, light was trapped inside the stew of ions and free electrons and was only able to ‘escape’ when the temperature dropped below 3000 degrees K, allowing atoms to be formed. Astrophysicists consider that approximately 400,000 years after time zero, as the universe inflated and expanded, and the temperature dropped from 10¹² degrees K to 3000 degrees K, the trapped light could be emitted.

The Cosmic Background Explorer Mission, launched by NASA in 1989, has provided significant confirmations of this model. In 2001, the Wilkinson Microwave Anistrophy Probe with the capability of measuring differences in the CMBR to a millionth of a degree was launched. The WMAP results have “updated” the value of the age of the universe to 13.7 billion years.

If the early universe had been perfectly uniform, then Days Three, Four, Five, and Six of Genesis would not have happened. (There would be no galaxies, sun, or Earth.)

Tractate Hagiga 12a records a debate among the first and second century CE Talmud Sages on the nature of the light that was created on Day One. Rabbi Elazar said, “The light the L-rd created on the First Day enabled Adam to see from one end of the olam to the other.” Olam can be translated as “universe” or the “infinity of space and time.”

This relativistic concept was elaborated upon by the Maharal of Prague at the end of the sixteenth century. It is tempting to identify the relative uniformity of the CMBR as the remnant of that light. Rabbi Elazar goes on to state that this light was subsequently hidden and “saved” for the righteous. The Talmud narrative continues: “This issue is debated by the…[early Sages]…some say that this light originated from the luminaries that were created on the First Day but which were only placed in the heavens on the Fourth Day.”

Genesis 1:4 states, “…and G-d separated between the light the darkness.” Darkness is separated as a specific creation—not just the absence of light. Isaiah 45:7 says, “He Who forms the light and creates the darkness.” In that sense, light and darkness were separate; they were mixed together in the hot soup of quarks and gluons and then photons and electrons. The CMBR is therefore the earliest direct evidence available to us on the baby universe.

David Medved completed an MA and PhD in physics at the University of Philadelphia while working as a research engineer at Philco and publishing papers in professional journals on his work on optics. When the first sputnik was launched, he transferred to work in a new division at General Dynamics, where he was appointed a group leader in physics research on ballistic missiles.

NASA selected him to serve as Principal Investigator on the Gemini Project, responsible for the design of the ion and electron particle detectors for the Agena satellite and the plan of the trajectory of the Gemini spacecraft’s dress rehearsal for the Apollo moon mission. Dr. Medved was accepted as one of the final twenty out of 5000 applicants for the Scientist-as-Astronaut program. He left NASA to become a scientist-entrepreneur. He established MERET Inc., a pioneer in the design, fabrication, and installation of short-range fiber-optic communications systems, which operated for twenty years until it was sold to AMOCO.

After he immigrated to Israel, Dr. Medved founded the Jerusalem Optical Link Technologies (JOLT) on the campus of the Jerusalem College of Technology. Specializing in recondite wireless optical communications, JOLT was acquired by MRV Communications in 2000. Dr. Medved currently serves as Chief Technical Officer of MRV alongside his service with the Jerusalem College of Technology. His book Secrets of Science in the Bible is being published by The Toby Press. (And, yes, he is the father of popular TV personality and national radio talk show host Michael Medved, as well as three other wonderful sons.

dmedved@mrv.com

Professor Joseph Seckbach

Biology (Emeritus), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Editor-in-Chief of book series on Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, Springer Publisher, Dordrecht, NL

“Genesis, Evolution, and Astrobiology”

How should religion relate to the scientific approach to the beginning of universe and the origin of life? This paper agrees with Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook that religious faith should not reject or avoid scientific theories, since each discipline is aimed in a different direction. The Torah is neither a scientific record nor a mechanistic description recording the formation of the universe. Some rabbinic authorities (Rabbi Shlomo Avineri, for instance) say that some of the early chapters of Genesis may be understood allegorically. Some scientists could say the same about the scientific explanations of the origin of the universe and the formation of life, because they are still enigmatic theories not based on solid facts.

Extremophiles and astrobiology—two new fields of science—reveal fingerprints of G-d throughout our planet and beyond, possibly even to the extent of extraterrestrial life. The extremophiles living in distant, harsh environments on Earth expand our knowledge about the diversity of organisms and also serve as models for microorganisms thriving in extraterrestrial places.

Astrobiology concentrates on the possibilities of life on moons and planets of our solar system and further away.

Within the parameters of the above data, on the basis of scientific investigations, we conclude  that all events of the universe and the various forms of life on Earth and on extraterrestrial places were designed by A-lmighty G-d.

Professor Joseph Seckbach is the initiator and chief editor of the Cellular Origins, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology (COLE) book series, and author of several chapters in this series. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago (1965) and spent his postdoctoral years in the biology division of Caltech in Pasadena, California. Then at the University of California at Los Angeles he headed a team searching for extraterrestrial life. Dr. Seckbach was appointed to the faculty of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he conducted algal research and taught biology courses. He spent his sabbatical periods in Tübingen (Germany), UCLA, and Harvard. From 1997 to 1998 he served as the first appointee for the Chair for the Louisiana Sea Grant and visiting professor in the department of life sciences at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Among his many publications are books and scientific articles on plant ferritin, cellular evolution, acido-thermophilic algae, and life in extreme environments. Dr. Seckbach is the coauthor (with R. Ikan) of the Chemistry Lexicon (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1991, 1999). Volumes he edited include the Evolutionary Pathways and Enigmatic Algae (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994), Proceedings of Endocytobiology VII Conference (Freiburg, Germany: 1999) and the Proceedings of Algae and Extreme Environments (Trebon, Czech Republic: 2001). The list of books in the COLE series may be viewed at www.springer.com/series/5775. His forthcoming volume (with coeditor R. Gordon) is G-d Did It, Eh? Science versus Intelligent Design. Dr. Seckbach’s recent interest is in the field of enigmatic microorganisms and life in extreme environments.

seckbach@huji.ac.il

Special Guest

Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD

Children’s Neurology, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel; Medical Ethics, Hebrew University; Israel Prize; Editor of the Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics

“Stem-Cell Research—Scientific, Ethical and Jewish Legal Aspects”

Embryonic stem cells are pluri-potential cells that can differentiate into most types of cells of the body.

The dramatic therapeutic potential of stem-cells appears to cure many devastating and life-threatening degenerative disorders. They also appear to have the life-saving potential to create organs for transplantation. Considering these prospects, there would have to be very compelling and forceful ethical and/or religious arguments to ban stem-cell research; otherwise, it should be promoted and encouraged.

The Jewish-religious aspects of stem-cell research vary according to the different sources of stem-cells. Deriving stem-cells from:

Adults: poses no Jewish-religious problems, provided appropriate informed consent was obtained. However, these stem-cells have only limited applications.

Cord-blood: poses no Jewish-religious problems (except for drawing the blood on Sabbath and other holy days). However, these stem-cells have at the moment only limited applications.

Aborted fetuses: is permissible only if the fetus was spontaneously miscarried, or was aborted for a legitimate Jewish-religious cause (i.e., danger to the mother). Aborting a fetus for the sake of retrieving stem-cells is forbidden since it can be compared to murder.

In-vitro fertilized ovum: if it was performed only for the sake of creating stem-cells is forbidden, because the sperm obtained for the procedure was not emitted for the sake of procreation.

In-vitro fertilized ovum: if it is destined to be implanted in a womb for the purpose of creating a fetus is forbidden, because this fertilized egg has a potential to become a human being.

In-vitro fertilized superfluous eggs: is permissible, since a fertilized egg has no Jewish-religious legal standing, hence its destruction has no legal resemblance to killing.

Cloned egg: if it is created for non-reproductive purposes is permissible, since cloning per se is not a forbidden act, and retrieving stem-cells from such creation serves  the noble purpose of saving lives.

Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD is an associate clinical professor of medical ethics at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, published in seven volumes in Hebrew (two editions) and three volumes in English (translated by Dr. Fred Rosner), for which he was awarded the Israel Prize in 1999. Professor Steinberg is a senior pediatric neurologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He directs the Medical Ethics Unit at Shaare Zedek. Head of the editorial board of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, he is also vice-director of Yad Harav Herzog, and a member of national and international societies of child neurology, medical ethics, and Jewish medical ethics.

On a national level in Israel, Professor Steinberg is a member of the National Bioethics Council, the chairman of the Dying Patient Committee, the chairman of the Organ Transplantation Committee, the chairman of the Altruistic Live-Organ Donations Committee, a member of the Brain-Death Criteria Committee, a member of The Status of the Fetus and Pre-Embryo Committee, and the chairman of the Pathological Specimens Committee.

He is the author and editor of twenty-seven books in forty-four volumes and 238 articles and chapters in scientific journals and books on Jewish medical ethics, general medical ethics, the history of medicine, medicine and law, and pediatric neurology. He has given over 2500 expert witness opinions in court cases on pediatric neurology and medical ethics. 

Rabbi Professor Moshe Tendler

Dean of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), Professor of Biology at Yeshiva College, and the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Jewish Medical Ethics at Yeshiva University, USA

“The Role of Science Instruction in the Torah Curriculum of Our Yeshivot”

Our Yeshivot must present a unified, coherent curriculum to our youth. The goal of a yeshivah education is to transmit the truths that

a. Elokim, our G-d, is the G-d of creation

b. Hashem ordained for us a code of conduct, our Torah, that is in full consonance with the requirements for successful living in our abode, the physical world.

c. Our G-d of creation is also the active force that oversees the affairs of all the inhabitants in this world that He created.

Sadly, most yeshivah curricula are inherently schizoid! The lessons taught during the afternoon secular studies are often at odds with the Torah instruction of the morning. In most yeshivot this conflicting message to the students does not invoke any special concern. Some Yeshivot have reduced their secular studies to minimize such conflict, leaving their students deficient in their understanding of both Torah and the world they will soon enter as adults.

An axiom of our faith is that there is no dichotomy between the truths of our Torah and the facts that comprise our physical world since both are ordained by Hashem/Elokim.

This paper presents numerous examples on the interface of Torah and the sciences that affirm this axiom. The facts of science (not the theories) are often critically necessary for understanding Torah law. Therefore, a Torah curriculum must include a companion study of the sciences.

Inaccurate scientific facts and/or failure to understand the instructions of the Torah lead to the false impression that the two are in conflict.

Rabbi Professor Moshe D. Tendler, noted authority on medical ethics and the relationship of medicine and science to Jewish law, is the rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva University-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), professor of biology at Yeshiva College, and the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Jewish Medical Ethics at Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Tendler was ordained at RIETS in 1949 and earned a PhD in biology from Columbia University 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 and Halakhah. For six years he served as its chairman. He is also chairman of the Bioethical Commission of the Rabbinical Council of America. He has been a member of the board of directors of Americans for Medical Progress, Inc. and is a member of a  number of ethics commissions. A former president of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, Rabbi Tendler is author of Pardes Rimonim (a text on Jewish family life); Practical Medical Halakhah; Care of the Critically Ill—Responsa of Rav Moshe Feinstein; as well as many articles on science and religion in leading publications. He is frequently consulted by the media and public officials on ethical issues.

doctortendler@aol.com

Professor Emeritus Eliezer (Eduardo) Zeiger

Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

“How to Teach Torah and Science as One”

There is increasing interest in a convergence between Torah wisdom and scientific knowledge, considered the highest expression of the "wisdom of the nations."

Kabbalah and hasidic philosophy offer a methodological breakthrough based on a precise characterization of parallels between Torah and science, such as the relationship between the Lurianic kabbalistic model of Creation and the current understanding of the origin of the universe offered by contemporary physics. This type of analysis has recently been applied to several major scientific disciplines. In each discipline, the analysis uncovers key parallels that allow us to move in both directions between the Torah and the scientific domains. This creates a true communication between Torah and science and, as a result, Torah knowledge clarifies understanding of science and scientific knowledge helps us to understand Torah.

For example, a kabbalistic analysis of Genesis uncovers central evolutionary principles in the Torah. This analysis shows that some aspects of the scientific theory of evolution are correct, but the theory is clearly in error when it postulates the origin of life and its diversity from random mutations and natural selection.

The most far-reaching consequence of an integration of Torah knowledge and scientific understanding is that it strengthens our faith because we understand better the working of the Creator when scientific knowledge complements, rather than contradicts, Torah knowledge. More important, when Torah illuminates scientific knowledge, it greatly refines our relationship with truth. When integrated into our consciousness, this unification extends to the domain of the heart, and replaces the sense of fragmentation prevalent in the world, with a sense of unity. This perception has the profound consequence of getting us closer and closer to God, the ultimate Oneness.

These advances in the unification of Torah and science are brought together in current efforts to launch a Torah Science University.

Eliezer (Eduardo) Zeiger is a professor emeritus of plant biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of more than one hundred scientific articles and the coauthor of three editions of the textbook Plant Physiology, published by Sinauer. His research studies the use of light by plant cells as an environmental signal, and the control of gas exchange in leaves. Brought up in an observant Jewish home in Argentina, he lived as a secular Jew in his youth and early adulthood, until he returned to Jewish observance after completing his professional education.

Professor Zeiger is a founder and the CEO of the Torah Science Foundation, an organization devoted to the unification of divine and secular wisdom. He has written several articles on the relationship between Torah and science and has lectured on the subject throughout the world.

zeiger@biology.ucla.edu

Contributing Lecturers

Mikhail M. Agrest, PhD

Computer Science, Physics, College of Charlestown in South Carolina, USA

“Principle of Complementarity”

It is neither possible nor necessary to choose between science and religion. Both are essential. During the last century the Soviets went to great expense to discredit Judaism and to force talented youth to become atheists. My father, the mathematician Rabbi Professor Matest M. Agrest was one of the few yeshivah students coerced into Communist frameworks who managed to secretly continue observing and learning the Torah. His strength of survival and scientific productivity influenced the outlook of other high caliber scientists. He intrepidly upheld the Bible, prohibited by the Soviets even to be mentioned. He developed scientific theories and hypotheses inspired by Jewish and particularly hasidic philosophy that had great international impact. In this presentation, I shall describe my father’s principle of complementarity.

Mikhail M. Agrest received an MS in mathematics and mechanics from the Leningrad State University and a PhD in physics and mathematics from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He conducted research at the Institute for Analytical Instrumentation of the Academy of Sciences for almost twenty years. In 1992, he joined the physics and astronomy department of the College of Charlestown in South Carolina. A member of the South Carolina Academy of Science, the North American Membrane Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the South Carolina Science Council, he is writing a biography of his father, Matest Agrest. Mikhail absorbed love of physics and mathematics, philosophy and religion, as well as humanism in its positive sense from age two, when he would bounce on the knees of Andrei Sakharov, deep in discussion on these issues with Matest.

http://www.cofc.edu/~agrestm

Agrestm@cofc.edu

Professor Zev bar-Lev
Linguistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
“Defending G-d: A Neo-Traditional Analytic Approach”

The recent outbreak of books debunking G-d (by Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins, and others) has elicited little more than bland testimonials from believers that miss the relevant philosophical arguments. Here I develop a ‘neo-traditional’ stance, based on a linguistic-analytic approach but parallel to kabbalistic insights. A basic claim is the existence of a non-physical dimension of reality, needed as much in science as in religion.

Humans can “get their minds around” entities in non-physical reality only with the help of metaphors (as defined in cognitive linguistics), whether the metaphor of G-d as “judge” or the familiar “billiard-ball solar system” model as a metaphor for atomic structure. Further parallels between scientific and religious thinking are noted here, including the important role of “wishful thinking” in science as well as religion, as well as a conceptual parallel between Ockham’s Razor in science and the “personal” nature of G-d as asserted in Judaism (and represented specifically in the top level of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah).

In ethical theory, I note missing links in the proposed “naturalistic” philosophy of the debunkers. My conclusion is that rejecting G-d is parallel to refusing to use electric lights because of imaginary philosophical “problems” with the existence of photons.

Zev bar-Lev, professor emeritus at San Diego State University, received his PhD at Indiana University in 1969, and has taught at Indiana University, Syracuse University, and Ben-Gurion University. Many of his research publications focus on key-consonants in Hebrew and Arabic, and the structure and teaching of Hebrew and other languages, but recent publications also touch on Critical Discourse Analysis, and Kabbalah and scientific method. He is founder and director of the Language Bazaar. The other languages he has discussed include Russian and Chinese.

Murray D. (Moshe) Kuhr, MD, MPH, FAAP

Private neonatal practice, Suffern, NY, USA

“The Holy Act: Spirituality through Intimacy and the Fulfillment of its Essential Mitsvah–Emulatio Dei”

In The Guide to the Perplexed, Maimonides supports Aristotle’s view that the sense of touch and related functions are animalistic, with “nothing human about it.” It follows that in Maimonides’ medical writings he almost begrudgingly allows for marital relations as a health necessity, warning against frivolity and excess. [Medical Writings 4:202]

This is not the prevailing view of all our sages. The Rishonim responded to Maimonides by stating that intimacy is holy, a magnificent opportunity for religious experience. The Or Ha’Hayyim Ha’Kadosh in the early eighteenth century based his view on his interpretation of why a woman is considered tameah (ritually impure) after childbirth. According to him, tumah (ritual impurity) fills the space previously occupied by a mitsvah. If so, then what mitsvah is lacking after childbirth? A woman is not obligated to fulfill the commandment to be fruitful and multiply. The answer, he says, is Deuteronomy 28:9, “walk in His ways” (emulatio Dei). As G-d is merciful, we must be merciful. As He creates life anew, we must create life anew.

A simple reading of Genesis 1:27 shows that the first human whom G-d created in His image was male/female. Rashi on Genesis 2:18 comments that G-d subsequently decided that the lower worlds are not best served by a lone, intelligent androgynous creature and therefore split the human into separate male and female beings. In Genesis 2:24, G-d tells man to “cleave to his wife and be one flesh.” This oneness refers to the unity of G-d. The marriage union results in the reconstitution of the image of G-d.

How can the marriage union result in such a lofty spiritual attainment? The matter is discussed at length in Raavad’s treatise on the laws of family purity, Baaley Ha’Nefesh, in the section entitled “The Holy Gate,” and in Iggeret Ha’Kodesh (which is sometimes attributed to Nahmanides). These two works agree that the mechanism is the intent during the act, but have widely divergent approaches to the nature of that intent.

Moshe Kuhr received his MD from the University of Chicago in 1965 and his MD from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971. A member of  the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, Dr. Kuhr has published nineteen articles in professional medical journals and presented at seven medical conferences. Living in Monsey, he has a private neonatal practice in Suffern, New York. He has a book manuscript on the Maharal ready for publication.

maharal@optonline.net

Mois Navon

Computer design engineer, Mobileye Vision Technologies, Israel

Lecturer, Ptil Tekhelet, Israel

“Rav's Beautiful Ratio: An Excursion into Aesthetics”

The Talmud Sage Rav (Sura, ca. 200 CE) teaches that when tying tsitsit (ritual fringes) there is both an upper limit and a lower limit for the amount of braiding, as well as an ideal—“beautiful”—amount given in the form of a ratio of braided to unbraided sections. Embedded within these dry details lies the key to understanding the profound nature of aesthetics within Jewish thought. To what extent does Jewish law demand this ratio to be met and why? If the sole reason is simply “beauty,” of what concern is aesthetics to halakhic imperative?

By answering these questions, an appreciation of the depth of Rav’s teaching can be obtained—an appreciation that touches upon the very essence of the human quest to encounter the Divine. This excursion into aesthetics includes a discussion of the positions of Plato, Pythagoras, Hume, Kant, Rabbi Eliezer Berkovitz, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and others, as well as an investigation into the number phi, known as the Divine Proportion.

Mois Navon is a member of the Ptil Tekhelet Association, where he lectures extensively on the topic of tekhelet, manages the association’s question and answer forum both halakhically and technically, and writes numerous articles on the subject. In addition, he has published articles on Jewish topics in The Torah u-Madda Journal, Jewish Thought, Jewish Bible Quarterly, Alei Etzion, and Chidushei Torah. He also maintains an outreach class on Jewish thought, and gives talks on biblical commentary.

As a computer design engineer whose professional experience in research and development of digital hardware spans over twenty years, Navon has worked for notable companies such as IBM, NASA’s JPL, and News Corporation’s NDS. He is currently developing image-processing ASICs for Mobileye Vision Technologies to improve automotive safety.

Navon received his degree in computer engineering with a minor in art history from UCLA in 1985. He is presently enrolled in the Rav Aharon Soloveitchik semikhah program at the Mercaz Ha’Rav Yeshivah in Jerusalem, which enables working professionals to learn towards rabbinic ordination.

Professor Yehuda (Eric) Palmer, MA

Senior Human Resources Consultant, City of Fort Worth, Texas, USA

“Does G-d Love the Good because It Is Good? Divine Command Theory and the Relationship between G-d and Morality”

Two central meta-ethical questions in moral theory are: “What is the source of morality?” and the broader question, “Why be moral?” Divine Command Theory provides perhaps the most promising religious answer to these questions by proposing that G-d is the source of the moral law. But most versions of Divine Command Theory fail to advance a Torah-consistent answer to these questions because they make an assumption that only or primarily makes sense within the context of secular moral theory. This assumption is a moral realism according to which the moral law exists independently of G-d. This inadvertently makes G-d almost superfluous to moral theory by relegating His role to that of intermediary: G-d perceives the moral law and transmits it to us. From a Torah perspective this fails to adequately answer the meta-ethical questions for two reasons: first, because G-d’s role should not be simply epistemological (G-d conveys to us the moral law) but also ontological (G-d determines the moral law). And second, because by relegating G-d to the role of intermediary, Divine Command Theory answers the question how humans come to know the moral law, but fails to address the question of the ultimate source of morality. Advancing a meta-ethics that posits G-d as the ontological source of morality provides a Torah-consistent model of the moral law, but brings with it a surprising implication for meta-ethics: it implies a G-d centered moral relativism where (to turn Socrates on his head) G-d doesn’t like the good because it is good; rather, the good is good because G-d likes it.

Yehuda Palmer works as a senior human resources consultant in Fort Worth, Texas. He is completing his doctorate in philosophy at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he received his MA in philosophy and was an adjunct professor of philosophy from 1996 to 2001. His areas of specialization are ethical theory, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of law.

Alexander Poltorak, PhD

Physics, CEO of General Patent Corporation, Suffern, NY, USA

“Randomness as a Mechanism for Divine Providence”

It is commonly accepted that randomness is the antithesis of Providence.

Just as the deterministic "giant clock universe" of Newtonian physics left no room for Divine Providence, so too, the randomness of Quantum Mechanics (QM), leaving everything to chance, is thought to be at odds with Providence. Likewise, random mutations involved in evolutionary processes are believed to contradict the purposefulness of creation and the guiding hand of the purposeful Creator. This paper challenges these notions. First, we review the concepts of General Providence (hashgahah klalit) and Specific Providence (hashgahah pratit) as they are expounded in Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and Hasidism. Following Wigner, we segregate all natural phenomena into two categories: patterns (usually described by differential equations of natural laws) and random phenomena (corresponding to initial conditions associated with these differential equations). We posit that deterministic laws of nature represent General Providence, while randomness is a perfect mechanism for Specific Providence. We recall that random processes, such as pur (lottery), which plays a central role in (and is the root of the names of) Purim and Yom Kippur, are viewed in Jewish thought as vehicles for Divine Providence. In this light (without addressing Darwinian evolution in general), random mutations appear to be a perfect mechanism for the guiding hand of the Creator as manifested through Specific Providence.

Alexander Poltorak was born in Krasnodar, Russia, in 1957. Devoting his studies at the Kuban State University in Krasnodar to Einstein's theory of relativity and gravitation, Poltorak published several papers in this field and wrote his doctoral thesis on a solution to a long-standing "energy problem" in the Theory of General Relativity.

Accused of Jewish nationalist dissident activity, Poltorak was stripped of his academic degrees. In 1982 he immigrated to the USA. He served as an assistant professor of biomathematics at Cornell University Medical College, where he conducted research on mathematical modeling of brain-flow circulation and on Positron Emission Tomography. He also served as an assistant professor of physics at Touro College and adjunct professor of law at the Globe Institute of Technology.

Poltorak has served as US co-chair of a Subcommittee of the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council. He is now chairman and CEO of General Patent Corporation. He has coauthored two books and authored numerous papers on intellectual property law and economics.

While still in Russia, Alex and his wife Leah became interested in religion as an outgrowth of their inquiry into science and they became Torah-observant. Later, in Italy, on their way to America, Rabbi Hirsh Rabisky introduced them to Habad Hasidism. Dr. Poltorak has been active in Jewish education, writing articles on Judaism for the Russian-Jewish press, cofounding and editing Yevreyski Mir, the first Russian Jewish weekly newspaper in the US, and hosting weekly radio programs on two Russian radio stations. He taught Jewish studies at Touro College and lecturers frequently throughout North America on Jewish mysticism, religion, and science. His articles and a book, A Light unto My Path, are published on Chabad.org.

apoltorak@gpci.com

Leah Poltorak, MS

Biology, Ryogen Company, Suffern, NY, USA

“A Curious Genetic Foresight of the Talmud Sages”

A well-known talmudic passage states that parents can pray for the gender of their unborn child only during the first forty days of pregnancy. At first blush, this appears to be contradictory to the basic facts of reproductive biology. Isn’t the gender of the embryo determined at the moment of conception? A more careful analysis reveals that the chromosomal makeup of the fertilized egg: XX or XY is not the only factor determining the embryo’s gender. In fact, it takes approximately forty days from the time of conception for the gender to become irreversibly determined.

One can only wonder at the prophetic insight of the Talmud Sages, who pinpointed the precise timeframe for the formation of gender—long before the science of genetics was developed.

Leah Poltorak earned an MS in biophysics from Tbilisi State University, Georgia. She also completed her PhD coursework in molecular biology at the Moscow Institute of Virology. She works now as the Executive Vice President of Ryogen, a genetic company in Suffern, New York. Leah and her husband Alex live in Monsey, New York. They have five children.

Professor Vera Schwarcz

History and East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA

“Truth Consciousness: Inner Landscapes of Authenticity in Jewish and Chinese Traditions”

The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. (Proverbs 12:19)

Being sincere the mind is illuminated; being illuminated one becomes sincere. (Zhong Yong ancient Chinese classic)

Both Jewish and Chinese traditions center on a truth-consciousness that presupposes an individual mind capable of examining and overcoming its own prejudice. In both cultures, there is great emphasis on the practical consequence of truth-consciousness, on how one redefines moral action and the authentic personality. In the Torah world view as well as in Confucianism, truth is something that is hard won, difficult to name and to attain.

Key differences between the concept of Jewish emet and of Chinese zhen will be explored. The Jewish view of “truth” for example, affects the totality of human consciousness, moving from alef through tav. It demands that a person consider truly all angles and then risk a further connection to G-d’s own perspective, where the “lip of truth” finds its ultimate guarantee. In the non-theological world view of Confucianism which centers on concepts of “nature” (tian) and an organicist view of the dao there is nonetheless a strong emphasis upon the moral prerequisites for genuine knowledge. The seeker for zhen has to examine the inner landscape of the mind along with the reality of the world beyond. Only where there is a harmonious, hard-won accord between these two realms does genuine truth prevail.

In both Jewish and Chinese culture there are extensive debates about the locus of truth consciousness: Is it innate? Acquired? Both? Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler writes about the universality of the sensitivity toward authenticity—that can easily be deflected by personal interest and self-deceit. Confucian thinkers similarly posit an inborn capacity for sincerity, for cheng, that is repeatedly corroded by political power and a petty-minded quest for profit. Some Western scholars examining Chinese tradition and language have argued that there was no concept of “truth” in China precisely because there was such a strong demand for practical moral action. By contrast, evidence is provided for a sustained, nuanced engagement with “zhen li” from pre-imperial times through the communist regime of the present.

By looking at Jewish and Chinese views of embodied veracity, the aim is to illuminate both emet and zhen and show how they provide a much needed corrective to the corrosive relativism of our times.

Vera Schwarcz holds the Freeman Chair of History and East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She is author of six books, including Bridge over Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory, published by Yale University Press in 1998 and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. Schwarcz is also a published poet, whose poetry has appeared in B’Or Ha’Torah 10, 13, 15, and 16. Her most recent collection of poems, In the Garden of Memory, is a collaborative exhibit with Israeli artist Chava Pressburger, which was shown in Connecticut and Prague. Place and Memory: Singing Crane Garden is forthcoming from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Professor Yossef (Marcio) Zukin

Director, Globex Utilidades S.A., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“Complex Adaptive Systems in the Light of the Torah”

In both science and business systems there is a trend towards increasing complexity, a need for flexibility, and compliance to multiple demands. Conversely, the users of the systems want increasingly simple interfaces.

A complex adaptive system using fuzzy logic can face this challenge because it adequately represents the imprecision and vagueness of soft metrics and provides a formal basis for their manipulation and computation. An object or system can be complex and simple at the same time, depending on the necessity or nature of the observer. An automobile can be a complex machine for a mechanical engineer, while being a simple device for the user who drives it.

Torah is the most complex system we have because it encompasses the entire universe. The commandment to put on tefillin is summarized in the Torah in a few words, while it is later expanded in the Talmud into many laws according to many circumstances. Winner systems can learn from the Torah that it exists in order to serve the user. No matter what the degree of complexity there is behind the curtain, it needs to offer smooth guidelines.

Dr. Yossef Zukin is a Lubavitcher Hasid, a writer and the director of Expansion of Ponto Frio, a major retail company in Brazil. Zukin obtained his doctorate with honors from PUC-Rio. He worked as a visiting research associate at the department of industrial engineering NCSU in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Dr. Zukin's main areas of research are fuzzy logic, flexibility, and Torah. He has developed more than seventy products for numerous corporations worldwide. He has written a book on industrial engineering and a book on Torah. He has published several articles for international journals, including International Journal of Production Research, Flexible Manufacturing Systems, and B'Or Ha'Torah. Having spoken in many conferences throughout the world, he is included in the 2005-2008 editions of Who's Who in the World. He is the founder and editor of "Torah-mail," an international Internet group. A counselor for Revista Esudos em Design, and a reviewer for IJPR, he is a member of the board of directors of Beit Lubavitch-Rio.

Uri Zur, PhD

Talmud, Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel

Yehuda Ashkenasy, PhD

Mathematics, Ariel University Center of Samaria, Israel

“Rabban Gamliel’s Land Surveying Tube: The Mathematics of the Sages”

Beraita 43:72 of tractate Eruvin of the Babylonian Talmud describes a special tube owned by Rabban Gamliel. Rabban Gamliel used the tube to measure distances on a plane, and, by positioning the tube at a certain angle, he also measured distances using similarities of triangles. Sages in various eras tried to interpret Rabban Gamliel’s surveying method according to the mathematical knowledge that existed during their times. Some of these attempts did not succeed.

We shall present the following methods suggested by various sages for measuring distances and ravine depth using Rabban Gamliel’s tube:

1.       The Geonim: fix the tube to an axis on a circular distance table

2.       Rabbi Hanenel and Torat Hayyim: focus the tube on the ravine bed, at the point closest to the rim of the ravine on which the surveyor stands

3.       Rashi: measure a certain distance on a plane by focusing the tube on an object positioned on the plane, then a point is observed on the ravine bed and the tube is moved backward until it focuses on that point

4.       Ben Yehoyada: focus the tube on a set distance, observe a fixed point on the ravine bed, then walk along the ravine rim until the tube focuses on that same fixed point

5.       Rabbi Yishmael ben Hakhmon: measure the width of the ravine, then point the tube towards the far end of the ravine bed, rotate the tube while maintaining its angle; observe a point on the plane, and measure the distance to this point; determine the depth of the ravine according to the similarity of triangles

6.       Maimonides: position two beams (one four cubits high and the other 3.99 cubits high) at a distance of five cubits from one another. The straight line drawn from the top of the higher beam, through the top of the lower beam, and down until it meets the ground, is 2000 cubits long. Then measure different distances by changing the heights of the beams and the distance between them.

When we compare the mathematics known to the Greeks in the sixth century BCE with the mathematical methods described in the literature of the Talmud Sages a thousand years later, we encounter a significant discrepancy. Although Pythagoras discovered his famous theorem as early as 500 BCE, the Pythgoraean Theorem was apparently unknown to our sages. From Gaonic literature, it appears that the sages were at the initial stages of exploration on the path to independent discovery of this theorem.

Dr. Uri Zur is a researcher and senior lecture in Talmud in the Department of Jewish Heritage, Ariel University Center of Samaria. He received his PhD from Tel Aviv University in 1996.

Dr. Zur’s current research interests include editorial redactions of the Babylonian Talmud sugyot, formative and logic outlines of legal sugyot, halakhic characters in the Talmud, tradition and folklore of the Jews of Yemen, and pedagogical methods for teaching Talmud in elementary schools.

Dr. Zur serves as head of the Pedagogical Committee of the Department of Jewish Heritage at his university center and is a member of the editorial board of  its journal Moreshet Yisrael. The recipient of several research grants, Dr. Zur has published several papers and is currently writing his second book on the threefold structure of sugyot in tractate Eruvin.

zuru01@barak.net.il.

Dr. Yehuda Ashkenazi received his doctorate in mathematics in the year 2000 from Bar-Ilan University. Since 1994 he has been lecturing at the Ariel University Center of Samaria (formerly the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel) on set theory, calculus, linear algebra, group theory, and ordinary differential equations. He has researched and published on the subjects of saturated graphs and of problems of mathematics education in Israeli schools. In 2006, his book on calculus, written together with Dr. Yaakov Erez, was published by Amihai.

ashkenay@012.net.il