13-19 May

Q: What does Maimonides say is the difference between humans and animals?

ABSTRACT

The relationship between the soul and the body is one of the most fundamental philosophical problems in medicine. It is widely accepted in Judaism that a human being has two souls-'divine' and 'animal'-closely related and interacting. Genesis 9:4 relates the animal soul with the blood; the Tanya relates the divine soul with the brain. A model schematically describing the relationships between the divine and animal souls and between soul and body is proposed in this study. The model is based on one hand on concepts propounded in the Zohar and on the other hand on conclusions reached by the great neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield. Penfield saw the "brain as computer, mind as programmer." According to our model, if the brain is a computer, then both souls are programmers, and their permanent struggle for the dominant role in determining a person's behavior is the manifestation of free will.

This model may be proved by studying examples of monozygote twins, especially, conjoined twins. Monozygote twins share an identical physical and genetic constitution, but have different personalities and moral qualities. If human cloning could be accomplished, genetically the clone would have the status of a monozygote twin in respect to the person who provided the cell nucleus for the cloning. But what would his or her spiritual identity be?

Maimonides says very clearly that the fundamental and tangible difference between humans and other creatures is the human possession of free will:

Freedom of choice has been granted to every person. If one wants to direct oneself to a good path to be righteous, he is free to do so. If one wants to direct oneself to a bad path to be evil, he is free to do so. This is written in the Torah: "Behold, man has become unique…knowing good and evil" [Genesis 3:22]. This means that man's species is unique in the world and there is no other species like him in that from his own self, through his will and thought, he knows good and evil and does everything that he desires without anyone restraining him from doing good or evil.

BIO
Tobiy R. Gurvich was born in Riga, Latvia, and graduated from the Riga Medical Institute and became a clinical researcher in 1977. Since 1980 he has been assistant professor of the Chair of Internal Diseases of the Riga Medical Institute (renamed the Medical Academy of Latvia in 1990). He specializes in internal medicine and cardiology.

Dr. Gurvich has published more than ninety scientific papers, mainly in cardiology, clinical diagnostics, adolescent medicine, medical ethics, medicine in Torah, and medicine in fiction. In 1976 he won the gold medal for the best student research paper in the USSR. In 1978, 1980 & 1985 he received awards from the Riga Medical Institute for scientific achievements. In 1992 he graduated from the Free Jewish University in Riga. He is a member of the editorial board of Gesharim, the monthly newspaper of the Riga Jewish religious community. He is also a member of the Latvian Medical Society Bikur Holim and its auditing commission. Dr. Gurvich holds free reception hours as an internist and cardiologist at the Asvata Medical Center of the SHAMIR Foundation of the Riga Synagogue.

Herman Branover was born in Riga, Latvia, earned his PhD from the Moscow Institute of Aviation in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and completed a DSc degree in physics and mathematics at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. While a leading scientist at the Latvian Academy of Science, Professor Branover discovered G-d and the Torah, became a Lubavitcher Hasid, and then struggled for the right for Jews to immigrate to Israel.

After settling in Beersheba with his wife and son, in 1977 Professor Branover created the Center for Magnetohydrodynamics Studies at Ben-Gurion University. The Center engages in teaching, research, and the development of a novel MHD electricity generator. He has authored over twenty scientific books and textbooks, thirty technological patents, hundreds of professional articles, and an autobiography, Return (published by Jason Aronson).

As honorary president of SHAMIR, the Israel Association of Religious Professionals from the Former USSR, Professor Branover continues encouraging Russian Jews to observe the Torah and live in Israel. He is the initiator and editor-in-chief of B'Or Ha'Torah, published by SHAMIR. A recipient of the S.D. Bergman Prize for the development of new technology in Israel, he also received the Knesset Speaker's Award in 1991 for his work with Russian immigrant absorption. He chairs the prime minister's committee for solving immigrants' professional employment problems. He is a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences in Moscow and the Latvian Academy of Sciences, a member of the Moscow International Energy Club, and has received honorary doctorates from the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Technical University of St. Petersburg, and Yeshiva University.

branover@solmecs.co.il

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

B’OR HA’TORAH  is Published by SHAMIR
Professor Herman Branover, Editor-in-Chief