Science Meets Judaism

HOW LONG IS FOREVER?
with Dr. Michael Dine and Rabbi Melanie Aron

Modern elementary particle physics has made major strides in recent years, as our guest physicist, Dr. Michael Dine, can attest from his own groundbreaking work. New theories about supersymmetry, the landscape concept, and the stability of the universe go far beyond the Standard Model. Dr. Dine will offer us a glimpse into the strange new world of physics and the implications of alternate theories for the ultimate fate of the universe. Speaking publicly together for the first time, Dr. Dine’s spouse, Rabbi Melanie Aron, will respond with a Jewish perspective on questions of eternity. How does rabbinic midrash about the divine creation and destruction of universes resonate today? Would the discovery of sentient life on other planets change our religious understanding of the place of humanity? And more generally, does it matter, when we pray, whether we think of God or the universe as eternal?

Read the Washington Jewish Week article, Science Will Meet Judaism at Kol Ami.

“Scientists in Synagogues” is a grass-roots initiative run by Sinai and Synapses in consultation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion, and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, along with other individual donors.