PRESS RELEASE
Stem-Cell Research
in Jewish Law, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in the Talmud,
Extremophiles, & Teaching Science in the Yeshivah
The Seventh Miami International Conference on Torah & Science
12-15 December 2007
The Shul of
Bal Harbour, 9540 Collins Avenue in Surfside, Florida
For information: www.borhatorah.org
Miriam Gitman of The
Shul, tel. (305) 868-1411, fax (305) 861-2426,
MGitman@theshul.org
Ilana Attia of B’Or
Ha’Torah, tel./fax 972-2-642-7521, info@borhatorah.org.
Professor Rabbi
Avraham Steinberg MD, a leading authority on the position of Jewish law
on stem-cell research, the status of the embryo, the dying patient, and
other controversial issues, will be the special guest of the Seventh
Miami International Conference on Torah and Science. Steinberg will
deliver a keynote address on Wednesday evening, December 12, on
“Stem-Cell Research—Scientific, Ethical and Jewish Legal Aspects.” He
will explain how in Jewish law the permissibility of stem-cell research
depends on the source from which the stem-cells are taken. On Thursday
from 11:30 AM to 1 PM Professor Steinberg will answer questions on
Jewish medical ethics at a Meet the Expert Session and at 2:15 PM he
will participate in a panel on “Should Science Be Taught in the Yeshivah?”
An associate clinical professor of medical ethics at the Hebrew
University-Hadassah Medical School and a pediatric neurologist at the
Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Steinberg was awarded the
Israel Prize in 1999 for his monumental Encyclopedia of Jewish
Medical Ethics.
Questions for the
Meet the Expert session with Professor Steinberg should be sent in
advance to
info@borhatorah.org.
Limit your question to 200 words and give your name and cell phone
number. In the Subject line write Meet the Expert.
Other lecturers
include chemist and physicist Dr. David Medved, who was principal
investigator for the NASA Gemini project and one of the twenty finalists
out of 5000 applicants for the Scientist-as-Astronaut program. Father of
TV and radio personality Michael Medved, he will compare the phenomenon
of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation with the astounding insight of
Rabbi Elazar cited in the Talmud that the light created on the first day
of Genesis enabled Adam to see from one end of the world to the other.
Professor Joseph Seckbach, editor-in-chief of the Springer Publications
series on Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology,
will look for fingerprints of God in the two new fields of extremophiles
and astrobiology.
Among the popular
experts returning to this year’s conference include Royal Society of
London physicist Professor Nathan Aviezer, biologist and yeshivah dean
Rabbi Professor Moshe Tendler of Yeshiva University, UCLA biologist
Professor Emeritus Eliezer Zeiger, and psychoneuroimmunologist Yakir
Kaufman MD. With Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, Dr. Kaufman will lead a workshop on
the concept of consciousness in the Talmud, Hasidism, and Western
thought.
Held every other year
and organized by Rabbi Sholom Dovber Lipskar of The Shul of Bal Harbour;
Professor Herman Branover and Ilana Attia, editors of the B’Or
Ha’Torah Journal of Science, Life and Art in the Light of the Torah;
and Professor Nathan Katz, head of the Center for the Study of
Spirituality of Florida International University, this year the
conference is held at The Shul of Bal Harbour, 9540 Collins Avenue in
Surfside, Florida. There will be a Shabbaton and a closing Saturday
night session. Registration is free.
