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Torah and Science

Song of Songs: A Secret for Maimonides, An Open Book for Gersonides

Study science to fall in love with God is the message of the Song of Songs according to both Maimonides and Gersonides. Whereas Maimonides believed it was forbidden to make the hidden meaning accessible to the average person, by the time Gersonides was writing a century later, the philosophical reading of the Bible was well known. Thus, he not only explicates the text but also quotes Aristotle 49 times to make his points.

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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Biblically, How Are Babies Conceived?

Does a woman simply receive and nourish a man’s seed? Or does she also produce her own seed to conceive a child?

Prof.

Marianne Grohmann

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Gersonides’ Scientific Interpretation of the Tabernacle

Warning: Using contemporary science and philosophy to explain the Torah may soon render your interpretation obsolete.

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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Locusts: YHWH’s Army

Be it against Egypt or Israel, YHWH unleashes locusts as a divine retribution. Scientifically, grasshoppers metamorphose into locusts as a response to environmental disruption.

Dr. Rabbi

Laura Duhan-Kaplan

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Why Is Creation in the Torah?

History according to Rashi, science according to Maimonides. In Maimonides’ view, the Sages knew that hidden behind the allegorical language of the creation account is Aristotelian physics. This knowledge was lost until he (Maimonides) figured out the secret on his own.

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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Making Kiddush: Mysticism in the Age of Science

The Torah describes God creating through speech, midrash mores specifically understands creation through the letters of the aleph-bet, and the kabbalists envision it as a series of divine emanations, contractions, and primal pairings. What meaning can we find in these ancient creation myths in light of evolution?

Prof. Rabbi

Arthur Green

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Tzaraat as Cancer

Dr.

Chaim Trachtman

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Torah Min HaShamayim: Conflicts Between Religious Belief and Scientific Thinking

Dr.

Daniel Jackson

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The Torah’s Exodus

Weighing the historicity of the exodus story entails more than addressing the lack of archaeological evidence.

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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Traditional Torah Study versus Scientific Analysis

How do they differ? What are their respective goals? And why the two should not be confused.

Dr. Rabbi

Zev Farber

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