FIU co-sponsors Eighth Miami International Conference on Torah and Science

Israel’s minister of science and technology will deliver keynote address

WHAT: What would Maimonides say about the $10 billion particle accelerator in Geneva?  Does Jewish law allow parents to discard embryos containing genes responsible for genetic diseases or to select only embryos from which a great doctor or violinist will be born? These are some of the questions that will be discussed at the Eighth Miami International Torah and Science Conference, co-sponsored by Florida International University.  Rabbi Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Israel’s minister of science and technology, will deliver a keynote speech at the conference.

The three-day conference will also include a special Shabbat program. A Friday night dinner at The Shul’s Social Hall for the scientists and participants will feature a talk by mechanical engineer and mathematician Isaac Elishakoff of Florida Atlantic University.  The conference is sponsored by The Shul, Program in the Study of Spirituality at FIU, and B’Or Ha’Torah Journal of Science, Art & Modern Life in the Light of the Torah. Additional sponsors include American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, President Navon Program in Sephardic & Mizrahi Studies at FIU, the School of International and Public Affairs at FIU, and the Consulate General of Israel in Miami.

WHO: Daniel Hershkowitz is a community rabbi, prize-winning professor of mathematics at the Haifa Technion, and chairman of the Bayit Ha’Yehudi Israeli political party. He was appointed Israel’s minister of science and technology earlier this year.

The founder and major organizer of the Miami International Torah and Science Conference is Rabbi Sholom Lipskar of The Shul, a world-renowned speaker who will deliver the opening remarks at the Friday session. Lipskar initiated the Torah and Science Conference in 1987 together with Herman Branover, a professor and world pioneer in magnetohydrodynamics and editor-in-chief of the B’Or Ha’Torah Journal of Science, Life and Art in the Light of the Torah.

Professor Nathan Katz, founder and director of FIU’s Program in the Study of Spirituality in the School of International and Public Affairs, will also participate in the event. For a complete list of participants, please visit www.torahscienceconference.org.

WHEN AND WHERE:  Dec. 17-20 at The Shul, 9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside. All conference sessions are free and open to the public. Hershkowitz will deliver his keynote address on the opening night, Dec. 17, at 8:30 p.m.

There is a $40 charge for the Friday night dinner, which requires reservation and payment in advance. The limited-seating Sunday program is free and will take place at a different location (advance reservation required). For more information or to make reservations for the Friday night dinner or the Sunday program, please call The Shul at 305-868-1411, ext. 0.
For a complete schedule of events, please visit www.torahscienceconference.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Miriam Gitman at 305-868-1411, ext. 7319, or MGitman@theshul.org.

Media Contact: Lissette Lanza at 305-348-2232.

-FIU-

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 17 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.