B’OR HA’TORAH Volume 21 (2011)

Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD, is an associate clinical professor of medical ethics at the Hebrew University–Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, published in seven volumes in Hebrew (two editions) and three volumes in English (translated by Dr. Fred Rosner), for which he was awarded the Israel Prize in 1999. Professor Steinberg is a senior pediatric neurologist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He directs the Medical Ethics Unit at Shaare Zedek. Head of the editorial board of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, and Editor-in-Chief of the Talmudic Micropedia, he is also director of Yad Harav Herzog, and a member of national and international societies of child neurology, medical ethics, and Jewish medical ethics.

In Israel, Professor Steinberg is the co-chairman of the National Bioethics Council, chairman of the Dying Patient Committee, chairman of the Organ Transplantation Committee, chairman of the Altruistic Live-Organ Donations Committee, member of the Brain-Death Criteria Committee, member of the Status of the Fetus and Pre-Embryo Committee, and chairman of the Pathological Specimens Committee.

He is the author and editor of 40 books and public reports in 59 volumes, and over 280 articles and chapters in scientific journals and books on Jewish medical ethics, general medical ethics, the history of medicine, medicine and law, and pediatric neurology. He has given over 4,000 expert witness opinions in court cases on pediatric neurology and medical ethics. 

steinberg@szmc.org.il

Dr. John D. Loike serves as Director of Special Programs in Columbia University's Center for Bioethics and facultyin the Department of Physiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. His research focuses on the role of immune cells in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. He serves as the course director of Crossroads in Bioethics, Bioethics for Biomedical Engineers at Columbia College. He is the codirector for a graduate-level course called Atherosclerosis and the Mechanisms of Disease. Dr. Loike also is the creator and managing editor of Columbia University’s Journal of Bioethics and directs a summer internship program called Biomedical Cross-Cultural Education Programs (BioCEP). He has over 100 publications in major scientific and bioethical journals, has coauthored several books, and is a frequent speaker at many professional events in Jewish communities in the US and around the world. Currently, he is coauthoring a book with Rabbi Professor Moshe Tendler on the halakhic perspectives of bioethics, to be published by Yeshiva University Press in 2016.

jdl5@cumc. columbia.edu

Rabbi Professor Moshe D. Tendler, noted authority on medical ethics and the relationship of medicine and science to Jewish law, is rosh yeshivah at the Yeshiva University–affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and professor of biology at Yeshiva College, and holds the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Chair in Jewish Medical Ethics at Yeshiva University.

Rabbi Tendler was ordained at RIETS in 1949 and received Yoreh Yoreh in 1953 from Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, of righteous memory. He earned a PhD in biology from Columbia University in 1957. He has served on the Medical Ethics Task Force of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, for which he edited the Compendium of Medical Ethics. For nine years he served as its chairman. For decades he chaired the Bioethical Commission of the Rabbinical Council of America. A former president of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists and current member of its board, Rabbi Tendler is author of Pardes Rimonim (a text on Jewish family life); co-author with Professor Fred Rosner, MD, of Practical Medical Halachah, a primer for physicians; and author of Care of the Critically Ill—Responsa of Rav Moshe Feinstein; as well as many articles on science and religion in leading publications. He is frequently consulted by the media and public officials on ethical issues.

Tendler@YU.edu

Professor Fred Rosner, MD, MACP is the former director of the Department of Medicine of Mount Sinai’s Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, New York, and professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. He was also visiting professor of medicine at his alma mater, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and is board certified in his specialty of hematology. Among his many awards are the American Medical Association’s Isaac Hays, MD, and John Bell, MD, Award for “Leadership in Ethics and Professionalism;” the Bernard Revel Memorial Award from the Yeshiva College Alumni Association for “Distinguished Achievement in the Arts & Sciences;” and the Lawrence D. Redway Award for Excellence in Medical Writing from the Medical Society of New York.

Listed in a number of prestigious Who’s Who publications, Dr. Rosner has been an international authority, visiting professor, and lecturer on medical ethics. He is a member of the professional advisory board of the Kennedy Institute for Ethics of Georgetown University. He is the founding and former chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee of the Medical Society of the State of New York, and former cochairman of the Medical Ethics Committee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York as well as coeditor of its popular Compendium on Medical Ethics.

Dr. Rosner reviews manuscripts for nineteen professional medical journals and serves on the editorial board of three of them. He has published thirty-eight books, written chapters by invitation in several dozen books, and is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Judaica and the Encyclopedia of Bioethics. His bibliography has nearly one thousand items. He is author of eight widely acclaimed books on Jewish medical ethics, including Modern Medicine and Jewish Ethics (Ktav, 1991); Medicine and Jewish Law I, II and III (Jason Aronson, 1990 and 1993); Pioneers in Jewish Medical Ethics (Jason Aronson, 1997); and Biomedical Ethics and Jewish Law (Ktav, 2001). Other books include: an English translation of Julius Preuss’s classical reference work, Biblical and Talmudic Medicine (reprinted in 1993); and the Encyclopedia of Medicine in the Bible and the Talmud (Jason Aronson, 2000). Dr. Rosner translated Avraham Steinberg’s three-volume Encyclopedia of Jewish Medical Ethics, published by Feldheim in 2003. A world authority on Maimonides, Dr. Rosner is the translator and editor of Moses Maimonides’ Medical Writings (seven volumes published by the Maimonides Research Institute, Haifa); A Medical Encyclopedia of Moses Maimonides (Jason Aronson, 1998); and The Medical Legacy of Moses Maimonides (Ktav, 1998).

Isaac Elishakoff is the Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering at Florida Atlantic University. He also teaches in the mathematics department there. From 1972 to 1989 he was a faculty member of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, where he became a professor of aeronautical engineering in 1984. He is a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a Foreign Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He is an associate editor of four international journals and general advisory editor of Elsevier Science Publishers in Oxford, England.

elishako@fau.edu

Editor-in-chief of B’Or Ha’Torah, Joseph S. Bodenheimer is a full professor of electro-optics at the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev) and president emeritus of this unique college. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University in physics. He did postdoctoral studies in laser spectrometry at Kings College, London University, and discovered two previously unknown phase transitions and also developed a new spectrometric technique.

In 1982, Professor Bodenheimer was appointed head of the electro-optics department of the Jerusalem College of Technology. In 1989 he was elected rector and subsequently, up until 2009, was president of JCT. Under his leadership, JCT expanded dynamically to become a world-class institute, supporting Israel’s position as a global hi-tech superpower while combining Torah and academic studies.

Professor Bodenheimer has endeavored to make Israel a world leader in the field of optical engineering through his students and applied research. Awarded substantial research grants from institutes and foundations throughout the world, he has published over eighty papers and holds eleven patents in a broad range of electro-optical devices and systems. He has served as consultant for numerous high-technology companies in Israel and the United States and as a member of several national scientific committees.

Professor Bodenheimer sets aside time for daily Talmud study, and gives regular shiurim. A founding member of the California chapter of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, he is a member of the Zomet Institute for Halacha and Technology, a member of the board of Nishmat Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, and the president of Ramban Synagogue in Katamon, Jerusalem.

Fascinated by the combination of science and technology with Jewish studies and ethics, Joseph Bodenheimer is a life-long Zionist leader who loves working with young people, especially his own extensive family. He and his wife, Rachel, have eight children and many, many grandchildren.

ysefb@jct.ac.il

Raphael Yehezkael, PhD (formerly Haskell) was born in Bombay, received a university education in London, and later moved to Israel. He worked for many years in the Computer Sciences Department of the Jerusalem College of Technology. Though retired, he is still involved in the Flexible Computation Research Laboratory (Flexcomp Lab) of JCT. He comments, “I am fortunate to have worked at the Jerusalem College of Technology, which encourages Torah and science activity.”

rafi@jct.ac.il

Judith S. Bendheim Guedalia, PhD, was born and educated in the United States and came to Israel in 1980. Since 1990 she has been the director of the Neuropsychology Unit, chief psychologist, and member of the Trauma Team (MCE) Emergency Room of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. She is a licensed psychologist, a supervisor and specialist in medical, rehabilitation, and developmental psychology, and a certified EMDR therapist as well as a diagnostician for autistic spectrum disorders (ADOS). Dr. Guedalia was on the founding staff of the first hostel for haredi abused youth. As cofounder and cochair of Nefesh-Israel (a networking organization for Torah-observant mental health professionals), she has cochaired eight international conferences in Israel and many workshops. She was elected to the board of the Medical Psychology Division of the Israel Association of Psychologists. A frequent lecturer on developmental neuropsychology, acute stress and post-traumatic stress interventions, and the synthesis of psychology and Jewish thought, she writes a monthly column for The Jewish Press, America’s largest independent Jewish weekly, and is a member of the B’Or Ha’Torah International Advisory Board. Dr. Guedalia lives in Jerusalem with her husband and family.

Born in Romania, Professor Vera Schwarcz is a China historian and poet. She earned her BA from Vassar, MA from Yale, and PhD from Stanford. The author of eight books on Chinese and Jewish history, including the prize-winning Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory; The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919; Time for Telling Truth Is Running Out: Conversations with Zhang Shenfu; Place and Memory in Singing Crane Garden; and the forthcoming volume: Colors of Veracity: A Quest for Truth in China, and Beyond (Hawaii University Press, 2014). She has also written five books of poetry, among them:  In the Garden of Memory (with paper art by Holocaust survivor Chava Pressburger), Brief Rest in the Garden of Flourishing Grace; Chisel of Remembrance and Ancestral Intelligence: Improvisations and Logographs. Schwarcz holds the Freeman Chair in East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Her work won a Guggenheim fellowship and is featured on the web at between2walls.com.

vschwarcz@wesleyan.edu

Editor-in-chief of B’Or Ha’Torah, Joseph S. Bodenheimer is a full professor of electro-optics at the Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev) and president emeritus of this unique college. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University in physics. He did postdoctoral studies in laser spectrometry at Kings College, London University, and discovered two previously unknown phase transitions and also developed a new spectrometric technique.

In 1982, Professor Bodenheimer was appointed head of the electro-optics department of the Jerusalem College of Technology. In 1989 he was elected rector and subsequently, up until 2009, was president of JCT. Under his leadership, JCT expanded dynamically to become a world-class institute, supporting Israel’s position as a global hi-tech superpower while combining Torah and academic studies.

Professor Bodenheimer has endeavored to make Israel a world leader in the field of optical engineering through his students and applied research. Awarded substantial research grants from institutes and foundations throughout the world, he has published over eighty papers and holds eleven patents in a broad range of electro-optical devices and systems. He has served as consultant for numerous high-technology companies in Israel and the United States and as a member of several national scientific committees.

Professor Bodenheimer sets aside time for daily Talmud study, and gives regular shiurim. A founding member of the California chapter of the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, he is a member of the Zomet Institute for Halacha and Technology, a member of the board of Nishmat Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women, and the president of Ramban Synagogue in Katamon, Jerusalem.

Fascinated by the combination of science and technology with Jewish studies and ethics, Joseph Bodenheimer is a life-long Zionist leader who loves working with young people, especially his own extensive family. He and his wife, Rachel, have eight children and many, many grandchildren.

ysefb@jct.ac.il

Meier Schwarz was born in 1926 in Nuremberg. His father, Eliezer Schwarz—a pillar of the Jewish community, the Adas Israel synagogue (later burned on Kristallnacht), and its charity institutions—was murdered by Nazis in the street in 1937. Deprived of medicines because she was Jewish, his mother died in a hospital in 1940. His only brother, Joseph, was exterminated in Auschwitz in 1943. While still in Nuremberg, Joseph managed to send Meier in a youth transport to Palestine, where he was enrolled in the Horev school in Jerusalem in 1939. In 1941, Meier joined other young Jews from Germany (most of them orphaned by the Nazis) to establish Kibbuts Hafets Hayyim, south of Rehovot. Under spartan conditions, the young pioneers worked hard, maintained the traditions of German Jewry, and set aside time to learn Torah every evening. Part of their strict Torah observance was a meticulous performance of the mitsvot for Jews living in the Land of Israel, including tithing Jewish-grown local produce each time before eating it. Only the strictest observant Jews at the time in Palestine observed these mitsvot connected to the Land. When Schwarz started experimenting with hydroponics as a method to let the land rest every seventh (shmittah) year, people both within and outside his kibbuts refused to take it seriously.

Before he had a chance to develop his methods of soilless agriculture, Schwarz volunteered from 1946 to 1947 in the Haganah. He was sent to Europe to help smuggle the surviving remnants of European Jewry out of displaced persons’ refugee camps onto clandestine Haganah boats. In 1952, Meier and Miriam Schwarz married in a small ceremony at Hafets Hayyim. The first three of their seven children were born there. During the 1950s, in his free time after work, Schwarz started cultivating lettuce and radishes without organic soil. In 1960, the Schwarz family left Hafets Hayyim to enable Meier to fully pursue his work on soilless plant cultivation and to get a university education. At age thirty-four, still without a high school diploma or matriculation, Schwarz started his university studies. During his years of study, he taught at various high schools and conducted research. From 1960 to 1967, he was one of the chief researchers at the Institute for Negev Research in Beersheba. Experimentation on soilless agriculture in Beersheba, early 1950’s. Some of Meier Schwarz’s soilless agriculture experiments in Beersheba in the 1950’s. In 1966, he started teaching Talmud and biology at Bar-Ilan University. In 1969, he was invited to research the use of waste water at Hadassah Hospital. In 1970, he was invited by the Jerusalem College for Women to establish its natural sciences department, which he directed until 1982. In 1972, he participated in a UN delegation of agricultural scientists to the Far East. He was appointed the national supervisor of high-school biology studies in Israel in 1973. From 1978 to 1984, he conducted research at the Hebrew University, where he completed his doctorate in botany in 1983. In 1984 Schwarz served as a research coordinator for the Jerusalem College of Technology.

Professor Schwarz has published ninety scientific articles in professional publications. He has authored three technical books in English and two in Hebrew, plus six educational booklets in Hebrew and numerous Hebrew articles on shmittah, the Hebrew calendar, German Jewry, and various Torah and science topics. He has participated in many international conferences on soilless agriculture and its applications in outer space.

In his many travels throughout the world as an agricultural consultant, Schwarz returned to Germany a number of times. In 1986 he became the director of Beit Ashkenaz to research the 1,750 synagogues in Germany destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnacht in 1938. This project, which has resulted in the publication of eight books of commemoration so far, now occupies most of his time. Although his childhood family and community were cruelly destroyed, Meier Schwarz is perpetuating the memory of their deep roots.