February 2025 Blog

Science and Judaism: Where has the dialogue got to? Daniel Langton    One’s imagination goes off in all sorts of directions when one thinks of Science and Judaism. There is the phenomenon of the contribution of Jewish scientists to modern science and its understanding, such as those of Freud, Franklin, Einstein, Bohr, Feynman, Sagan, and Gould. There is the fascinating question of how an ancient religio-legal system, the halakhah, has been applied to science, from medical ethics to technological solutions for work prohibitions on Shabbat. There is the spooky realm of kabbalah and quantum mysticism, and the spookier story still of the precursor of the morality tale of Frankenstein, the monstrous golem. There is the tragic history of the murderous application of race science during the Nazi genocide.