Bonayich Educational Services expresses its appreciation to the Binah Yitzrit Foundation for its generous assistance in the establishment of this course website.
Science and Torah – Compatible or Contradictory?
- Is the world less than 6000 years old (Torah) or 14 billion years old (Science)?
- Was each type of animal the result of a separate act of Divine creation (Torah), or are all animals the result of gradual evolution over hundreds of millions of years (Science)?
- Are human beings a unique species, created by G-d only a few thousand years ago (Torah), or did human beings evolve from prehistoric apes during the past seven million years (Science)?
These are some of the questions that trouble anyone interested in an integrated approach to science and faith! Our program – Torah and Science, an Investigation – provides direction for thought on these issues, based on the findings of science, and on the writings of authoritative Torah giants including the Rambam, the Malbim, the N’tziv and Rav Kook.
Torah and Science – An Investigation” has been prepared jointly by a leading scientist and famous expert in Torah and Science – Professor Nathan Aviezer, a specialist in Jewish Thought – Rabbi Ezra Hayman, and two senior educational consultants – Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Hayman and Rabbi Scot A. Berman, to provide the first fully-integrated curricular response to this area of inquiry. The seven interactive, computerized units include the following features:
- Primary sources in Torah and Science
- Multimedia
- Teacher’s guide
- Value laden learning
- Critical and higher-order thinking
- Assessment tools provided on request
- Flexibility to be used as independent study units or in a blended learning environment for secondary or post-secondary educational institutions
What's Inside the course
The teaching unit includes the following features:
- Primary sources in Torah and Science
- Seven interactive and independent computerized modules
- Engaging, interactive, project-based work for educational institutions
- Registered students have access to program leaders for questions and discussion
- Multimedia
- Teacher’s guide with additional study resources for educational institutions
- Specially designed resource website
- Value laden learning
- Critical and higher-order thinking
- Assessment tools provided
- Flexibility to be used as independent study units or in a blended learning environment.
These are some of the questions that trouble students! Our program – Torah and Science, an Investigation – provides answers that are based on the findings of science, and on the writings of authoritative Torah giants including the Rambam, the Malbim, the N’tziv and Rav Kook. Our program will prepare the student for the intellectual challenges to faith that he/she will encounter.
Torah and Science – An Investigation” has been prepared jointly by a leading scientist and famous expert in Torah and Science – Professor Nathan Aviezer, and two senior educational consultants – Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Hayman of Bonayich Educational Services and Rabbi Scot A. Berman, to provide the first fully-integrated curricular response to this challenge. The teaching unit includes the following features:
The 7 modules of the program
1. Orientation to Science and Torah
Module One: How Science and Torah may be integrated into one unified whole.
- Investigation # 1 The Centrality of Science
- Investigation # 2 The Limitations of Science
- Investigation # 3 The Misuse of Science
- Investigation # 4 The Centrality of Torah
- Investigation # 5 The Boundaries of Torah
2. The Creation of the Universe
Module Two: The remarkable agreement between the Torah account of Creation and the modern scientific “Big Bang” theory for the origin of the universe.
- Investigation # 1 Cosmology and the “Big Bang” Theory
- Investigation # 2 The Primeval Light-Ball
- Investigation # 3 The Torah’s Account of Creation
3. The Development of Planet Earth
Module Three: The close agreement between the Torah description for the development of our planet and the latest findings of science.
- Investigation # 1 Water Below and Water Above
- Investigation # 2 Dry Land and Plant Life
- Investigation # 3 The Sun, the Moon and the Seasons
4. Evolution, Darwin and the Torah
Module Four: The relationship between the Torah account of the formation of the
animal kingdom and the scientific principles of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
- Investigation # 1 Darwin, Neo-Darwinism and Evolution: Fact and Theory
- Investigation # 2 Different Approaches to Evolution
- Investigation # 3 The Animal Kingdom
5. “G-d Created Man in His Image”
Module Five: The Torah word adam (“Man”) is understood by all Torah commentators
to mean a being with צלם אלוקים who appeared suddenly a few thousand years ago.
This spiritual being is not the same as the physical species Modern Man (Homo sapiens) who is discussed by scientists and who appeared much earlier.
- Investigation # 1 Modern Man
- Investigation # 2 The Neolithic Revolution
- Investigation # 3 “Adam” and the Creation of Man
6. The Time Scale Problem
Module Six: Approaches of leading Torah commentators to the time scale problem –
“Six Days of Creation” of Torah vs. a multibillion-year-old universe of Science.
- Investigation # 1 The Age of the Universe
- Investigation # 2 Approaches to the “Time Scale Problem”
- Investigation # 3 Maimonides
- Investigation #4 Reading Deeper Meaning in B’reshit
7. The Anthropic Principle
Module Seven: The recent scientific discovery that the universe appears to
have been specifically designed to permit the existence of life in general,
and of human life in particular.
- Investigation # 1 What is the Anthropic Principle
- Investigation # 2 The Anthropic Principle and the Torah
Our Team
Professor Nathan Aviezer
Nathan Aviezer is professor of physics and former chairman of the physics department of Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Aviezer is the author of more than 140 scientific articles on condensed matter physics. In recognition of his important research contributions, Aviezer was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Hayman
Born in Los Angeles, California, USA, in 1952, Rabbi Dr. Hayman achieved his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Classics, Semitic Civilizations and Philosophy, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude. After preparatory studies in rabbinics at Yeshivat Hakotel, Jerusalem from 1973 to 1975, he completed rabbinical ordination at the Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, New York in 1978 and, concurrently, a Master of Arts in Talmudics and Semitic Languages from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University.
Rabbi Ezra Hayman
Rabbi Scot A. Berman
With over 30 years in the fields of Jewish education and Jewish communal life, Rabbi Scot A. Berman has a vast range of experience. He has served in many educational capacities including elementary, secondary, university, and adult education. His experience also includes formal and informal education, teaching, administrating, mentoring, and serving the diversity of the Jewish religious streams and constituencies.
