Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

The library received recently two books on the relation of Judaism and science. Old Wine New Flasks: Reflections on Science and Jewish Tradition by Roald Hoffmann (a Nobel-prize winner scientist (Chemistry) and a poet, philosopher, playwright) and Shira Leibowitz Schmidt (Israeli engineer, mother, and teacher) is a unique book both its content and its format. It shows how science and religion intertwines with each other to help shape human understanding. The book discusses “how authority is conferred and contested, what it means to be impure, whether humans have aright to dominate the environment, and the difference between natural and unnatural.” Those who are used to the style of academic books are in for a surprise. The body of this tome includes letters, emails, a play, transcripts and even autobiographical segments. In short the authors address the questions in holistic ways, non-linear fashion, similarly to the complex nature of the subject topic itself. Some would call this style Talmudic as on any given page a number of topics are discussed at various length. Lest I forget I have to mention that the book is often humorous and playful; a joy to read if you can follow the mental travels of the authors. The chapter title are intriguing, don’t you think so?

• Is Nature Natural?
• A Sukkah from an Elephant
• You Must Not Deviate to the Right or the Left
• Bitter Waters Run Sweet
• The Flag That Came out of the Blue: A Play in Three Acts and Two intermezzi
• Signs and Portents: No Parking in the Courtroom
• Pure/impure
• Camel Caravans in the Pentagon

In case you are wondering what the title refers, it is a quote from the Mishnah (Avot 4:29), “Look not at the flask, but at what it contains. There may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask that has not even new wine in it.”

The other book’s scope, connecting science and religion is less ambitious, but equally riveting. Miryam Wahrman, in Brave New Judaism: When Science and Scripture Collide, draws on her expertise in both biotechnology and Jewish law to apply the ancient precepts of Judaism to thoroughly modern medical situations. The topics addressed are best covered by showing the chapter titles again,

• Introduction: Bioethics and the Jewish Spectrum Fruit of the Womb
• Be Fruitful and Multiply: Male Infertility Embryonic Stem Cells: When Does Life Begin? Bone of My Bones and Flesh of My Flesh:
• Human Cloning
• The Seven Deadly Diseases
• Designer Genes, Designer Kids Chosen Children: Sex Selection
• TAG A CAT: Jewish Genes and Genealogy I Judging Genes
• Kosher Pork: Brave New Animals
• Treife Tomatoes: Brave New Plants : When Science and Scripture Collide

In each of these chapters, she introduces us where science stands now and what might be possible in the future. She also shares what classical Jewish sources (can) say about these topics. She cites hundreds of sources and not just from science and halacha, but also from popular press to convey common approach on these issues. It is a thought-provoking, comprehensive survey that does not necessarily provide clear cut answers, but helps to ask the right questions.