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19
5770 / 2009
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD, explains that Jewish law permits research on embryonic stem cells because the Talmud states that in its first forty days the embryo is not yet a human being. Biologist Leah Poltorak sharpens the focus and shows that new genetic research supports the opinion in the Talmud that the determination of male gender takes forty days; and of female gender, eighty days.
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18
5769 / 2008
There are surprising points of agreement and conflict between rabbis and psychologists. For instance, 500 years ago Jewish law prescribed the importance of treating trauma early, while today’s psychologists have just caught up with this idea. When Sigmund Freud concentrated on analyzing childhood trauma, he did not take into consideration the contributing effect of violent anti-Semitic oppression on his Jewish patients.
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17
5768 / 2007
To reconcile evolution with creation, UCLA professor of biology Eliezer (Eduardo) Zeiger discards the propagandistic elements of neo-Darwinian theory and uses the more durable model of the Kabbalah, reaching a new definition of “species.” The coauthor of a major university textbook on plant physiology, Zeiger is using this paper from BHT 17 as the conceptual base for writing a biology textbook for Jewish high schools.
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16
5767 / 2006
How can we reconcile the complex dilemma of genetically predetermined behavior versus the Torah axiom of human free will? A geneticist describes how his discovery of the role of methylation in the formation of DNA supports the claim of the Talmud Sages that some traits are inherited solely from the mother, others solely from the father. How can the frail elderly in nursing homes find meaning in life?
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15
5766 / 2005
A leading expert on relativity explains how his equations show that there is no contradiction between physics and the biblical claim that the universe was created in six days. Time moved more slowly in the past when the universe was smaller. A neuropsychologist interprets the Torah laws on the suspected adulteress as revealing G-d’s empathy and compassion for the childless woman.
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14
5765 / 2004
A neurologist explains the Jewish aspect of psychoneuroimmunology: the interrelation of soul and body. An MIT physicist turned evolution researcher and cancer therapy researcher revises his critique on Darwinian theory. Have Jews stigmatized themselves by cooperating with too many genetic studies? A psychiatrist defends the Torah ban on homosexuality.
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13
5764 / 2003
The largest volume of B’Or Ha’Torah contains big ideas: G-d’s retroactive Big Bang; the age of the universe; the human observer and the system of reference; and the concepts of infinity in Torah and mathematics. Was Noah’s Flood caused by the asteroid impacts? Why is rock dating an unreliable method to measure the date of the Earth? Richard Dawkins is brought to task, as well as both the proponents and opponents of Torah Codes analysis.
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12
5763 / 2002
In volume 12 B’Or Ha’Torah becomes the publisher of the written papers from the Miami International Conferences on Torah and Science. Ground is further broken by the main topic: genetic engineering and the possibilities of cloning human beings. Professor Fred Rosner, MD, MACP, and biologists Rabbi Professor Moshe D. Tendler and Professor Miryam Wahrman join the BHT family of authors.
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11
5768 / 2007
Careful study of the Torah text provides penetrating views on the relationship of time and space and the origin of the universe. The major parallel between String Theory and basic concepts of Kabbalah is that both Judaism and science seek unity and recognize hidden channels of energy. The sad life of gadfly Enlightenment philosopher Solomon Maimon, who reformulated Kant’s dualism of human cognition, is also highlighted.
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10
5768 / 2007
The BHT panoramic survey of ecology includes the history of rain and a useful selected bibliography of classic Jewish laws on environmental protection. A physicist demonstrates how the mezuzah on our doorpost combines the holiness of time, space, and motion. How does Pascal’s Law of Hydrostatics teach us that a person must translate his potential talents into action?
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9
5768 / 2007
Professor Herman Branover, founder and editor-in-chief of B’Or Ha’Torah, reviews what he learned from the Lubavitcher Rebbe on science and technology in the light of the Torah. From the first Miami conference on Torah and science, a biologist explains how Torah is to science as Elokim is to Havaya. Should a terminally ill patient be told the truth? Why is euthanasia forbidden by Jewish law?
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8
5768 / 2007
B’Or Ha’Torah broadens and deepens its discussion on Jewish medical ethics. Professor Yehudah Levi, who founded the electro-optics department at the Jerusalem College of Technology and authored major textbooks as well as many Torah-and-science books, writes on can Torah be observed in outer space, and is the Torah capitalist or socialist. Prof. A.M. Hasofer writes a rejoinder questioning the implications and conclusions of Torah Code research.
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7
5768 / 2007
Short information-laden papers by the late Rabbi Professor Avraham Kushelevsky, expert in nuclear medicine and one of the major early peer-reviewers for B’Or Ha’Torah, review the changing relationship between religion and science. Mathematician Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh begins his prolific career of profoundly discoursing on TorahScience with his first article in BHT on the mathematical structure of the Torah.
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6
5768 / 2007
The Codes in the Torah debate in B’Or Ha’Torah is initiated by mathematician Professor Daniel Michelson. A colleague of Dr. Doron Viztum and Dr. Eli Rips, Michelson supports their conclusion that the codes found by reading the Hebrew letters of the Torah text at equal intervals are divinely-planted messages. Codes can be found in all kinds of texts, but the frequency and significance of the codes found in the Torah defy the laws of probability.
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5
5768 / 2007
In NYU physicist Dr. Avi Rabinowitz’s paper on geocentrism he analyzes the positions of Sefer Yetsirah, Hisdai Crescas, the ancient Greek philosophers, Maimonides, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, the Church, Kepler, Einstein, Reichnbach, Mach, Godel, and Ozsvath and Schucking, searching for physical and spiritual answers to the questions what is space and what is a center.
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4
5768 / 2007
In the first Torah and science paper she ever wrote, molecular biologist Sarah Yehudit (Susan) Schneider grapples with evolution, proposing that there are two interpenetrating interdependent processes: the biological evolution of physical form and the metaphysical evolution of consciousness. Today Schneider conducts a correspondence course, writes books, and teaches internationally on Torah, science, and spiritual development.
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3
5768 / 2007
The distinguished Australian statistician Professor A.M. Hasofer reviews the two papers of Dr. Lee Spetner in BHT 2 showing mathematically that even the most generous age of the universe given by cosmologists does not allow enough time for the mutations necessary to have enabled biological evolution to have taken place. Hasofer adds comments and statistical proofs of his own. Mathematician Professor Paul Rosenbloom evaluates what we cannot know.
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2
5768 / 2007
The famous birthday issue for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, containing mainly seed papers written by members of his Torah and science study group, such as Pentagon physicist Rabbi Dr. Naftali (Norman) Berg, solar energy physicist Yaacov (Jack) Hanoka, NASA exobiologist Professor Velvl Green, and Aristotelian philosopher Professor Yitzchok (Irving) Block. The Rebbe had urged them to publish a journal and gave B’Or Ha’Torah its title and a blessing.
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1
5768 / 2007
The maiden voyage of B’Or Ha’Torah contains seminal papers by the late Professor Alvin Radkowsky, the chief scientist of the first American nuclear submarine and pioneer in safe nuclear energy; the late Gedaliah Shaffer, a descendent of the Tsemah Tseddek and former president of Automated Information Systems; and McGill University professor of reproductive medicine, Yakov (James) Brawer.
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