History of
The Miami Internations Torah & Science Conference

The founder and major organizer of the Miami International Torah and Science Conference is Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar of The Shul, a world-renowned speaker himself and keynoter at the Miami International Torah & Science Conferences. Rabbi Lipskar initiated the Torah and Science Conference in 1987 together with Professor Herman Branover, world pioneer in magnetohydrodynamics and editor-in-chief of the B’Or Ha’Torah Journal of Science, Life and Art in the Light of the Torah. They have been joined by Professor Nathan Katz of Florida International University, the founder and director of its Program in the Study of Spirituality.

At the time of the first Miami Torah & Science Conference, the Lubavitcher Rebbe wished the organizers outstanding good fortune. He also circled the word “relativity” in the conference’s subtitle and noted that Einstein’s research leading to the Theory of Relativity was connected from its inception with the nature of light. The concept of physical light providing a measure of absoluteness to the physical world can be compared to another level of total absoluteness: the light of the Torah commandments, a light we invoke by kindling the Chanukkah candles.

Thus the first Miami Torah & Science Conference was held during Chanukkah of 1987 at the Sheraton Hotel of Bal Harbour. Its proceedings were published in 1990 by Feldheim Publishers under the title Fusion: Absolute Standards in a World of Relativity. An abbreviated version of the conference lectures was published in a booklet, Absolute Standards in a World of Relativity, distributed by the London Friends of SHAMIR.

The second Miami Torah & Science Conference was held on December 24-26, 1989, at the Sheraton Hotel of Bal Harbour. (No proceedings were published.)

The third conference was held on December 14-16, 1999, at the Florida International University Kovens Conference Center. It featured discussions on the ethical problems of cloning and genetic engineering of human beings. The written papers were published in B’Or Ha’Torah volume 12E (2001), and B’Or Ha’Torah volume 13E (2002).

The theme of the fourth conference (December 18-20, 2001) was “Time, Space, and Being.” The venue remained the same and the papers were published in 14E (2004) and B’Or Ha’Torah 15E (2005).

The theme of the fifth conference was “Looking for Links between the Divine, Human, Natural, Artificial, and Virtual.” The conference took place on December 16-18, 2003, at the FIU Kovens Conference Center. Its proceedings were published in volumes 16, 17, and 18 of B’Or Ha’Torah (2006 and 2007).

The sixth conference was held on December 13-15, 2005, at Florida International University’s Kovens Conference Center. Within the theme of “Unity, Duality, and Multiplicity” provocative discussion was held on how Jewish schools should respond to the Intelligent Design versus evolution debate. These papers were published in volumes 17, 18, and 19 of B’Or Ha’Torah (2007).

On December 12-15, 2007, at The Shul of Bal Harbour an abundance of perspectives were presented in response to the theme of the seventh conference, “Through the Two-Way Looking Glass: Looking at Nature through the Torah & at Torah through Nature.” The first part of the papers was published in B’Or Ha’Torah volume 19 (2009). The abstracts and presenters’ biographies of the Torah & Science Conferences can be found at www.borhatorah.org.