Department of Religious Studies, Florida International University
Professor Nathan Katz, Professor and Chair

The Shul of Bal Harbour and The Aleph Institute of Miami, Florida
Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar

B’Or Ha’Torah Journal of Science, Art & Modern Life in the Light of the Torah
Professor Herman Branover, Editor-in-Chief; Ilana Attia, Managing Editor

The Fifth Miami International Conference
on Torah & Science

ABSOLUTE STANDARDS IN AN AGE OF RELATIVITY

16-21 December 2003
The Kovens Conference Center
Florida International University, Miami, Florida

• Click here to view the ABSTRACTS of the invited keynote speakers of our 2003 conference
• Click here to view the BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES of the keynote lecturers of our 2003 conference
• Click here to view the ABSTRACTS of the contributing lecturers of our 2003 conference
• Click here to view the ABSTRACTS of the poster lecturers of our 2003 conference

 

Followed by a Shabbaton at The Shul of Bar Harbour

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16

8:00 PM - 10:30 PM

CHAIR: MR. PETER KALMS

Greetings:

Professor Nathan Katz, Department of Religious Studies, Florida International University

Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, The Shul of Bal Harbour and The Aleph Institute

Professor Herman Branover, B'Or Ha'Torah Journal of Science, the Arts and Modern Life

Mr. Jacob Solomon, Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Rabbi Yakov Fellig, Chabad of South Dade

Linking to Nature and Beyond

Rabbi Abraham Twerski, MD
Keynote Speaker: Psychiatry

Founder and Medical Director Emeritus of the Gateway Rehabilitation Center, PA, USA

"How Do Prayer and Faith Affect Health?"

Professor Roald Hoffmann
Keynote Speaker: Chemistry

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA (Nobel Prize, 1981, chemistry)

"Natural/Unnatural”

Professor Nathan Aviezer

Keynote Speaker: Physics

Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"Have Scientists Discovered G-d?”

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17

9:00 AM - 10:50 AM
Virtual and Mathematical Links

CHAIR: PROF. NATHAN KATZ

 

Professor Oren Stier

Keynote Speaker: Religious Studies

Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

"Uplink to the Divine: Judaism and Cyberspace”

Tsvi (Victor) Saks, PhD

Mathematics

IBM, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

"Can Machines Think?

Professor Isaac Elishakoff

Mechanical Engineering, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

Elliot Pines, PhD

Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics

Senior Silicon Infrastructure Engineer, Telasic Communications, El Segundo, CA, USA

"The Value of an Irrational Number pi in Scripture and Science: Attempts of Rational Reconciliation”

 

Coffee Break 10:50 AM - 11:10 AM

11:10 AM - 1:10 PM

Torah-Health Link

CHAIR: PROF. ISAAC ELISHAKOFF

Professor Fred Rosner, MD FACP

Keynote Speaker: Medicine

Queens Hospital Center, NY, USA

"Maimonides the Physician”

Rabbi Aaron Glatt, MD

Keynote Speaker: Medicine

Associate Dean, New York Medical College;Chairman of Medicine, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, Bronx; Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Anshei Chesed in Hewlet, NY, USA

"Liver Transplantation from a Living Donor”

Aaron Rabinowitz, PhD

Psychology

Emeritus, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"Torah Spirituality and Psychotherapy”

 

Lunch 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM

Poster Session 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM in the lobby

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM

Hasidic Workshop in the auditorium

CHAIR: YAKIR KAUFMAN MD

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

"The Liver and the Metabolic System”

Minha 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM

2:30-4:20PM

The Golden Link: Jewish Geriatrics

CHAIR: RABBI BARRY KINZBRUNNER, MD

Michael Gordon, MD, FRCPC

Keynote Speaker: Medical Geriatrics

Head of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada

"Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation in the Elderly: Clinical, Ethical, and Jewish Perspectives”

Rabbi Sholom Lipskar

Keynote Speaker: Spiritual and Community Leadership

The Shul of Bal Harbour

Pamela Elfenbeim, PhD

Keynote Speaker: Geriatrics

Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

"The Impact of Torah Study and Prayer on the Health of Older Adults”

Robert Bergman, MD

Geriatric Medicine

Medical Director of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens, Miami, FL, USA

"The Problem of Meaning in Long Term Care”

Poster Session 4:20 PM - 5:30 PM in the lobby
 

Dinner 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM

8:00 PM - 10:30 PM

The DNA Link

Rabbi Professor Moshe Tendler

Keynote Speaker: Talmud, Biology, Medical Ethics

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, New York, USA

"Genetic Predestination and Free Will”

Professor Eliezer Zeiger,

Keynote Speaker: Biology

University of California, Los Angeles, USA; CEO of the Torah Science Foundation

"Kosher Evolution”

Professor Miryam Wahrman

Keynote Speaker: Biology

William Paterson University, NJ, USA

"Kosher Pork and Treife Tomatoes: Genetically Modified Plants and Animals”

Professor Marvin Gold

Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Emeritus, University of Toronto, Canada

"Genetic imprinting and Gene Silencing: Hazal Proclaimed Epigenetics a Long Time Ago; Just Recently We Discovered It’s Biochemistry”

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18

9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Links to Motion, Evolution, and Emotion

CHAIR: PROF. HERMAN BRANOVER

Professor Ruvin Ferber

Physics

University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

"Links between Creation and Laws of Motion: Maimonides and the Foundation of Physics”

Yaacov (Jack) Hanoka, PhD

Physics

Vice President of Evergreen Solar, Marlboro, MA, USA

"Monkeying around with Hominid Evolution”

Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd, PhD

Environmental Consultant

Toronto, Canada.

"Evolution: Myths and Facts”

Menachem (Malcolm) Kovacs, PhD

Sociology

Montgomery College, MD, USA

"Human Links to G-d—Real and Imagined: Spiritual and Sociological Perspectives”

 

Coffee Break 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM

11:20 AM-1:00 PM
Neural Hyperlink to G-d?

CHAIR: PROFESSOR ELIEZER ZEIGER

Brian L. Lancaster, PhD

Keynote Speaker: Neuroscience

Senior Lecturer, Liverpool University; Chair, Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, UK

"The Roots of Thought: From Neuroscience to the Mind of G-d”

Yakir Kaufman, MD

Keynote Speaker: Neurology

Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel; Fellow at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada

"Psychoneuroimmunology, Spirituality/Religiosity, and Health”

Lunch 1:00 PM -2:30PM

Poster Session 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM in the lobby

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM

Hasidic Workshop in the auditorium

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman

"The Brain and the Nervous System”

CHAIR: YAKIR KAUFMAN, MD

Minha 2:15 PM-2:30 PM

2:30 PM - 4:20 PM

Soul Linkage

CHAIR: BRIAN L. LANCASTER, PhD

 

Professor Carlos Warter, MD

Transpersonal Psychiatry

University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

"The Human Genome Approach”

Professor Sam Spero

Mathematics and Computer Education

Emeritus, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland OH, USA

"The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Project and the Power of Prayer”

Irene Lancaster, PhD

Jewish Studies

Manchester University and Cambridge University, UK

"Abraham ibn Ezra: 'Memory as Potency’'”

Professor Zecharia Dor-Shav

Education and Psychology

Emeritus, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"The Ontology of Ego, Language, and Freedom of Choice”

 

Poster Session 4:00 PM –5:00 PM in the lobby

Dinner 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

 

8:00 PM -10:15PM
Healthcare Link

Panel
Should spirituality and faith be integrated into healthcare? How would you apply this in your practice?

MODERATOR: YAKIR KAUFMAN, MD
Yakir Kaufman, MD

Aaron Rabinowitz, PhD

Shoshanah Rabinowitz, OT

Professor Fred Rosner, MD

Professor Carlos Warter, MD

10:15 PM -10:30 PM

Conclusion of Conference

Professor Herman Branover

Keynote Lecturers

 

Professor Nathan Aviezer

Physics

Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"Have Scientists Discovered G-d?”

 

Prof. Rabbi Aaron Glatt, MD

Medicine

Associate Dean, New York Medical College; Chairman of Medicine, Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, Bronx; Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Anshei Chesed in Hewlet, NY, USA

"Liver Transplantation from a Living Donor”

 

Michael Gordon, MD, FRCPC

Medicine

Head of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada.

"Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation in the Elderly: Clinical, Ethical, and Jewish Perspectives”

 

Professor Roald Hoffmann

Chemistry

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA (Nobel Prize, 1981, chemistry)

"Natural/Unnatural”

 

Yakir Kaufman, MD

Neurology

Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel; Fellow at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada

"Psychoneuroimmunology, Spirituality/Religiosity, and Health”

 

Brian L. Lancaster, PhD

Neuroscience

Senior Lecturer, Liverpool University; Chair, Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society, UK

"The Roots of Thought: From Neuroscience to the Mind of G-d”

 

Rabbi Sholom Lipskar

Spiritual and Community Leadership

The Shul of Bal Harbour and The Aleph Institute, Surfside, FL, USA

Pamela Elfenbeim, PhD

Geriatrics

Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

"The Impact of Torah Study and Prayer on the Health of Older Adults”

 

Professor Fred Rosner, MD, FACP

Medicine

Queens Hospital Center, NY, USA

"Maimonides the Physician”

 

Professor Oren Stier

Religious Studies

Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

"Uplink to the Divine: Judaism and Cyberspace”

 

Rabbi Professor Moshe Tendler

Talmud and Biology

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

"Genetics and Free Will”

 

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski

Psychiatry

Founder and Medical Director Emeritus of the Gateway Rehabilitation Center, PA, USA

"How Do Prayer and Faith Affect Health?”

 

Professor Miryam Wahrman

Biology

William Paterson University, NJ, USA

"Kosher Pork and Treife Tomatoes: Genetically Modified Plants and Animals”

 

Professor Eliezer Zeiger

Biology

University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA; CEO of the Torah Science Foundation

"Kosher Evolution”

Contributing Lecturers

Robert Bergman, MD

Geriatric Medicine

Medical Director of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens, Miami, FL, USA

"The Problem of Meaning in Long Term Care”

Professor Zecharia Dor-Shav

Education and Psychology

(Emeritus) School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"The Ontology of Ego, Language, and Freedom of Choice”

 

Daniel A. Drubach, MD

Neurology and Psychiatry

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

"The Awareness of God and Neuronal Habituation”

 

Professor Isaac Elishakoff

Mechanical Engineering

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
 

Sharon Moalem, PhD

"The Epigenetics of Tshuvah"

Genetics, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
 

Elliot Pines, PhD

Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics

Senior Silicon Infrastructure Engineer, Telasic Communications, El Segundo, CA, USA

"The Value of an Irrational Number pi in Scripture and Science: Attempts of Rational Reconciliation”

 

Professor Ruvin Ferber

Physics

University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

"Links between Creation and Laws of Motion: Maimonides and the Foundation of Physics”

 

Professor Marvin Gold

Medical, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology,

(Emeritus) University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

"Genetic imprinting and Gene Silencing: Hazal Proclaimed Epigenetics a Long Time Ago; Just Recently We Discovered It's Biochemistry”

 

Aryeh (Arnie) Gotfryd, PhD

Environmental Consultant

Toronto, Canada

"Evolution: Myths and Facts”

 

Yaacov (Jack) Hanoka, PhD

Physics

Vice President of Evergreen Solar, Marlboro, MA, USA

"Monkeying around with Hominid Evolution”

 

Menachem (Malcolm) Kovacs, PhD

Sociology

Montgomery College, MD, USA

"Human Links to G-d-Real and Imagined: Spiritual and Sociological Perspectives”

 

Irene Lancaster, PhD

Jewish Studies

Manchester University and Cambridge University, UK

"Abraham ibn Ezra: 'Memory as Potency'”

Aaron Rabinowitz, PhD

Psychology,

(Emeritus) Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

"Torah Spirituality and Psychotherapy”

 

Tsvi (Victor) Saks, PhD

Mathematics, IBM, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

"Can Machines Think?”

 

Professor Sam Spero

Mathematics and Computer Education,

(Emeritus) Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland OH, USA

"The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Project and the Power of Prayer”

 

Professor Carlos Warter MD

Transpersonal Psychiatry

University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

"The Human Genome Approach’

Poster Lecturers
Matest Agrest, Dr. Sci.

Astronomy and Mathematics

(Emeritus) Academy of Sciences of the USSR

Mikhail Agrest, PhD

Physics and Astronomy

College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA

"The Real Mirror Image on the Tablets of the Ten Commandments-The Real Mirror World”

David Devor

Technology Development,

(Retired) Dvorkovitz and Associates, Jerusalem, Israel

"Science as Applied Kabbalah”

Rabbi Barry Kinzbrunner, MD

Medical Oncology

National Medical Director of Vitas Healthcare Corporation, Miami, FL, USA

Bryan Kinzbrunner

Rabbinical Student

RIETS, Yeshiva University, NY, USA

"Does Jewish History Show G-d's Intervention in the World?”

Yaacov Lefcoe, MA

Psychology

University of Toronto, Canada

"Shiura: The Psychological Measure of G-d”

Tzvi (Steven) Pearlstein MD

Orthopedic Surgery

Boca Raton, FL, USA

"Is the Foundation of the House of Medicine Solid?”

Elliot Pines, PhD

Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics

Senior Silicon Infrastructure Engineer, Telasic Communications, El Segundo, CA, USA

"Sometimes Sum, Times Sometimes”

Shoshanah Rabinowitz

Occupational Therapy

Jerusalem, Israel

"Occupational Therapy and the Torah Lifestyle”

Avi Schnurr, MSc

Physics

TRW Space and Electronics, Los Angeles, CA, USA

"Non-Transient Time in Physics and Torah”

Emanuel Segal PhD

Physics

Rafael Armament Development Authority; Adjunct Professor of Quality Assurance and Reliability, Technion, Israel

"Do the Laws of Nature Prevent Repentance?”

Arthur Sokoloff, DDS
Dentistry

Miami, FL, USA

"The Links between Traditional Torah Judaism Rooted in Western Culture and the Three Philosophy/Religions of the Far East”

Professor Semyan Spivak

Mathematics

Bashkir State University, Russia

"Actuarial Analysis of Jewish Demography”

Professor Yossef (Marcio) Zukin

Industrial Design

PUC-Rio, Brazil

"True, Natural, and Virtual Realities”

For information on our other conferences:

• Click here for the complete program of the third conference.
• Click here for the complete program of the fourth conference.

• Click here to view the abstracts of the invited keynote speakers of our 2001 conference
• Click here to view the abstracts of the contributing lecturers of our 2001 conference

 

More information on the Third Miami International Conference

and its proceedings in issues 12E and 13E of B’Or Ha’Torah may be found at

http://www.borhatorah.org