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B’OR HA’TORAH JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, LIFE AND ART IN THE LIGHT OF THE TORAH
A peer-reviewed journal on the interrelationship of Judaism, science and technology, psychology, the arts, and social issues, B’Or Ha’Torah illuminates a range of topics from the cosmology and ecology of Genesis; the creation ex nihilo vs. evolution and faith vs. reason debates; the views of halakhah (Jewish law) on stem cell research and genetic engineering; and the soul-mind-brain-memory-body connection. Rabbis and religious Jews with no science background as well as professionals in all fields with no Torah background can enjoy this inspiring publication in hardcopy and digital formats.
To receive a free PDF file of an individual article, send the author, title, and volume number to:
bht@jct.ac.il
This offer is limited to three articles.
Shimon Lerner
One of the most exciting recent scientific discoveries was the discovery of gravitational waves at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatories (LIGO) in Louisiana and Washington. This multimillion-dollar project, with a collaboration of over 1,000 multinational researchers, finally registered its first detection of a gravitational wave, confirming the actual existence of gravitational waves, which had been speculated since Einstein’s paper just over 100 years ago. The importance of this discovery was immediately recognized by the scientific community at large, quickly earning three of the observatory’s conceptualizers and designers the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. This article outlines the importance of this discovery and suggests how to view it from a Jewish, faith-based perspective.
See the three images including artists’ conceptions of gravitational waves on the inside front cover of this volume.
Professor Yaakov Friedman
How should an observant Jewish scientist view astronomy? I do not think that he should spend time on what has happened at the time of creation and speculate how things happened based on the assumption (used in astronomy) that the universe owas created according to the laws of nature. Rather, remembering that God does not do anything without a purpose, he should use his scientific knowledge and intellect to unravel the mysteries and reveal the hints of the heavenly lab. Such activity helps to discover and test new laws of nature which could improve our life and strengthen our belief in God. I present my personal experiences in using astronomical observations to construct and verify an extension of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. This theory has the potential to explain microscopic behavior as well and has applications to quantum computing.
Daniel Turgeman
Our fundamental understanding of matter has been revolutionized in the past century. This revolution reached a climax in 2012 with the discovery of the Higgs boson — the proof of the mechanism that generates particle masses. The conclusion, with regard to our understanding of matter, is that there is no such thing as “matter.” The first section of this article is devoted to explaining the scientific theory, while the second section delves into the theological meaning of this new paradigm. The science content below was published in a previous article in Hebrew by Daniel Turgeman, "Light, Matter, and the Higgs Boson." 2016. Galileo Journal for Science and Thought, vol.210, March, pp. 20–27.
Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg, MD
Are we allowed to assist infertile couples to have children? There is a host of options available and more new techniques that will become available in the future. I am going to discuss the issue of the female factor of infertility that requires an egg donation and/or a surrogate mother. I shall also refer to Mitochondria Replacement Therapy. In every case, the question will be asked, “According to halakhah, who is the mother of the child?”
Rabbi Professor Moshe Dovid Tendler
The decision by the medical profession in England to permit MRT-mitochondrial replacement therapy crossed the “red line” of gene therapy, allowing alterations of the germ plasm of a human. Previously, only somatic cells were subjected to genetic modification, and in this framework any deleterious re-combinations would not impact on all future generations.
MRT can impact on the 12,000 women in the US who have defective mitochondria causing heart, liver, and respiratory disease. MRT replaces the defective mitochondria with healthy donor mitochondria, without impacting on the genetic traits that are controlled by nuclear genes. MRT thus allows these women to bear genetically related children free of mitochondrial disease without resorting to donor ova.
Clinical trials are now underway for the maturation of MRT as a viable cure. If it could be concluded from animal studies that any risk to volunteers is minimal, halakhah would encourage participation in FDA-sponsored studies. A powerful genome-editing technology, CRISPR/Cas 9, has made it easy to insert, remove, or edit genes in sperm, ova, and embryos, potentially curing genetic diseases or enhancing desirable traits.
Leading molecular biologists have protested gene editing of humans since any errors will persist for all time in the human genome. In addition, they are concerned that this technique will be used for genetic enhancement or “designer babies,” rather than for medical cures. Despite these concerns, halakhah would favor continued research with its potential to cure genetic diseases, even if a modicum of risk exists. Other new discoveries in immunotherapy will be discussed.
Dr. Michael Szycher
What is the Jewish position on organ transplants in general and on heart transplants from deceased donors, artificial hearts, and artificial heart-part implants in particular? Most of the possible answers lack consensus because they deal with multifaceted and interrelated religious, medical, ethical, societal, and philosophical approaches, such as the definition of the moment of death. The very definition of the heart itself is also a subject for discussion.
While working on the development of an artificial heart, my team and I encountered a complexity totally unexpected from a medical standpoint. At the beginning of the 1980s the medical community widely believed that developing an artificial heart would be a simple affair, since the heart was considered only as a “pump.”
We were forced to rewrite the books on hematology, hemodynamics, cardiovascular technology, implantable electronics, cardiac telemetry, the role of coagulation in bacterial infection, and so on. This led to the inference that life is too complex to be explained by random chance, as proposed by evolutionary theory.
As a result, 45 percent of my scientific team and I, who had proudly professed to be secular at the start of the program, became instilled with a belief in God. We found that science alone cannot explain the totality of the world.
Professor Joseph S. Bodenheimer
This paper explores various expressions of Divine dialogue as they relate to humans, essentially differentiating us from all other created beings. The highest form of communication is with the Almighty, but the unique gift of the human mind enables dialogue with other humans too. Meaningful human communication constitutes a powerful manifestation of our divine spirit, and must be recognized as such. But it also gives us the moral responsibility for what we choose to communicate, and how we communicate with each other. Often communication does not achieve the result desired by the communicator, not only because of misunderstanding but also by intent. The Torah warns us against the negative potential of misused social communication. There is no fundamental reason why not to use modern communications devices for sacred dialogue, on condition that the technology does not distort the spiritual significance of meaningful communication.
Professor Nathan Aviezer
We learn about the creation of the world in two chapters of Genesis. The first chapter narrative (“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth…”) is followed by a very different second-chapter narrative (“These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created…”). Biblical critics claim that these two narratives were written by two different authors and later joined by an anonymous editor to form the book of Genesis. Biblical critics also point to the different expressions for God in the two narratives. They claim that the two different names of God further support their thesis of two different authors.
Various explanations have been proposed for the two creation narratives by those who remain faithful to a single Divine Author. We here propose a new explanation which answers the following questions.
Daniel A. Drubach
The existence and role of meditation in the practice of Judaism, as well as its relationship to prayer, is an area of much debate. Part of this stems from a lack of agreement about the meaning, practice, and purpose of meditation, and specifically meditation within a Jewish context. Adding to the confusion is the tendency to consider prayer and meditation as the same process. This paper proposes that Mishnah Brakhot 5:1 and Talmud Brakhot 32b present convincing evidence for a vital role of meditation in the practice of Judaism and support the opinion that meditation and prayer are different (albeit harmonious) processes. Furthermore, a neuroscience approach demonstrates that meditation and prayer are distinct cognitive processes, the former nonverbal while the latter a highly verbal task. Finally, we discuss recently discovered brain functional networks (including the default and salience networks) which play a fundamental but distinct role in both meditation and prayer.
Simcha Gottlieb
In the Mishneh Torah the great physician, philosopher, codifier, and commentator Maimonides guarantees that a person who follows his guidelines for healthy eating and other behaviors will never need a doctor. I suggest that the reason why Maimonides could make such a guarantee in the Mishneh Torah while being much more cautious in his medical writings is that he is concerned not only about what and how we eat but why we eat, for what purpose. Maimonides introduces the Mishneh Torah with the statement that the purpose of all life is to know God. Following Maimonides’ practical guidelines in the context of striving to know God in our every action will enrich and lengthen our lives. But how can finite humans know the infinite God? Correlating Maimonides’ characterization of God as “the Knower, the Knowledge, and the Known” with three levels of daat and three stages of hasidic meditation during prayer helps us solve these questions.
Rus Devorah Wallen
In private communications as well as public addresses, Rabbi Menaħem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, discussed an array of holistic health issues At times he recommended very specific therapies or techniques that predated current medical treatments. One example is value-free therapeutic meditation to relieve stress and bring peace of mind (see Ophir 2012–2013 and Landes 2014–2015).
As an observant therapist inspired by the Rebbe’s call for new therapies, I developed rabbinically approved meditations for my patients. Today, research on the benefits of meditation abounds, and medical professionals around the world use many formats of meditation to alleviate anxiety, stress, and other ailments.
However, despite their proven benefit, many of the available methods contain subtle Eastern religious elements. Lack of access to the value-free meditation methods the Rebbe recommended exposed thousands to practices violating Torah law.
Norman Goldwasser
Although there are many positive uses of the internet, there are also many toxic effects of internet addiction that unfortunately plague the Torah-observant community. The damage that is done by this type of activity can be antithetical to Jewish values. Exposure to pornography can lead to inappropriate sexual activity, child abuse, and marriage dysfunction. The problem must be recognized and solved by proper parental supervision, guidance in school, use of filters and safeguards, and seeking spiritual and professional help for healing and recovery.
Professor Menachem Feuer
Jewish Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
Biographies of great individuals are always the subject of debate. What is remembered, how is it remembered, and does the account have veracity? There is potentially always a kind of suspicion or cynicism that surrounds a biography because writing has a life of its own and words can always be interpreted in different ways. The fact that writing (graphos) clashes with living memory presents a challenge which can undermine any biographical project and the message of a life (bios). Even archived memory is subject to radical doubt (see Derrida 1989, pp. 37–38)
Based upon a presentation at the Eleventh Miami International Conference on Torah and Science at The Shul of Bal Harbour,Surfside, Florida, December 14, 2015
Emmy Leah Stark Zitter
The most significant “test” recounted in the Torah is the story of God’s testing of Abraham, called in Hebrew ạkeidat Yitshak (the Binding of Isaac). Told in sparing detail, this story is perhaps too deep and puzzling to be completely comprehended by human thought or explained in human language. Viewing the story through the lens of contemporary pedagogical theories of assessment, however, suggests new interpretations and meanings in the archetypal tale. I begin with an overview describing today’s assessment theories, defining terms such as formative and summative assessment, washback, and assessment as learning. I then apply these ideas to the story of Abraham’s test, working with and relating to the stance of classic commentators on the subject. Finally, I use my conclusions about the meaning of Abraham’s test to discuss the relationship between ideas of our times and their connection to the timeless text of the Torah. I conclude that applying secular thought in the ideas of the Torah, while a delicate and complex process, can be a useful and even necessary way to understand the relevance of a timeless text to a humanity bound in time.
Dr. Shimon Lerner teaches physics at the JCT Lev Academic Center. Born in New York, he moved with his family to Israel while he was a young boy. Upon graduating high school, he entered the Atudah program of the IDF, studying for a degree in electro-optics at Machon Lev and afterwards serving as an officer.
He received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the field of condensed matter physics, under the supervision of Professor Yuri Feldman. During his formative years he studied Torah with Rabbi Natan Bar Haim of JCT and with Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, of blessed memory. Residing in Jerusalem with his wife and children, he regularly teaches a variety of topics in both halakhah, and Torah and science in his local synagogue. He now teaches at the JCT Lev Academic Center, where he sees it as both a mission and a privilege to impart to his students the methods of critical scientific thinking.
Professor Yaakov Friedman of the Jerusalem College of Technology was born in the town of Munkatch in the former Soviet Union. His father was one of the leaders of the local Jewish community. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Moscow University in 1971 just prior to his aliyah.
He spent a year at Yeshivat Tomkhey Tmimim Kfar Habad to upgrade his spiritual education, received his PhD in mathematics from Tel Aviv University, and served eight years at the University of California Los Angeles and Irvine as a faculty member and researcher. Upon returning to Israel he served at the Jerusalem College of Technology as lecturer, rector, and vice president for research and head of research authority. He initiated and acted as research and development director of several hi-tech startups and companies. The Lubavitcher Rebbe directed him to continue a career in science as a step for preparing the world for the messianic era.
His research is in pure and applied mathematics, statistics, and theoretical and experimental physics. He is currently developing a new extension of Einstein's Theory of Relativity and testing it at the best synchrotron radiation facilities in Europe. This theory can provide a new insight in understanding microscopic behavior and a breakthrough in quantum computing.
Daniel Turgeman is currently working on his doctorate in the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics of the Weizmann Institute of Science. His research is part of the ATLAS collaboration and focuses on searches for signs of Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics in data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. He has coauthored papers searching for evidence of extra-dimensions, lowscale gravity and micro black holes in the most energetic events available at the LHC. This includes a search for strong gravity in multijet final states produced in pp collisions at s√=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC (https://arxiv.org/abs/1512.02586) and a search for low-scale gravity signatures in multi-jet final states with the ATLAS detector at s√=8TeV (https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.08988).
Currently he is independently developing a novel technique for discovering other BSM signals (e.g., R parity violating supersymmetry). His MSc was done in the quantum optics lab in the BINA Center for Nanotechnology, Bar-Ilan University, where he had completed a BSc with honors. While at Bar-Ilan he was an instructor for the quantum mechanics 1 and 2 courses. He now lectures at the Davidson Center for Science Education. Turgeman’s formal Torah education consists of studies at the Higher Yeshivah of Tel Aviv Maaleh Eliyahu and rabbinical studies at the Higher Institute of Torah at Bar-Ilan. Other Torah and science publications by him include “Solution to the Parasha of Creation,” to be published in Megadim, Herzog College Press. Married, with four children, he lives in Nitsan.
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
Rabbi Professor Moshe Dovid 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 he 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 Yadin Yadin 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 the author of Pardes Rimonim (a text on Jewish family life); coauthor 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.
A successful serial entrepreneur, Dr. Michael Szycher has conceptualized, financed, taken public, and run three public companies and founded a fourth over the last forty years. As chairman and/or CEO of companies he has been responsible for public offerings, acquisitions, product introductions, and spinouts. He obtained an MBA from Suffolk University and a PhD in medical sciences from the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Szycher has a long history of being awarded government contracts and grants. He developed a state-of-the-art battlefield wound dressing for the US Army, an artificial heart for the National Institutes of Health, and an antimicrobial catheter for military and civilian use. He has served as chairman of government review committees and is considered an international expert on polyurethanes. He wrote Szycher’s Handbook of Polyurethanes, which has become the industry’s standard reference.
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.
Nathan Aviezer is professor of physics and former chairman of the Physics Department of Bar-Ilan University. The author of more than 140 scientific articles on solid state physics, Aviezer was honored by his colleagues by being elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and Research Professor of the Royal Society of London.
In addition to his scientific research, Aviezer has a long-standing interest in the relationship between Torah and science. He is the author of three books: In the Beginning (translated into nine languages); Fossils and Faith (translated into four languages); and Modern Science and Ancient Faith (recently published). Aviezer teaches a course at Bar-Ilan University on Torah and science, which was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize. Aviezer is one of the organizers of an annual Torah and science conference which attracts hundreds of participants from all over Israel.
Born in Switzerland and raised in the United States, Professor Aviezer received his doctorate from the University of Chicago and subsequently held a senior research position at the IBM Watson Research Center in New York. In 1967, Nathan and his wife, Dvora, made aliyah. Living in Petah Tikvah, the Aviezers have four children and many grandchildren.
aviezen@mail.biu.ac.il
Daniel Drubach, MD, completed training in neurology and psychiatry at the University of Maryland and went on to complete a fellowship in neurorehabilitation there. He was head of the Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program and codirector of the Coma Emergency Program at the University of Maryland for several years. He then joined the Behavioral Neurology Division at Mayo Clinic, where he has worked for the past seventeen years. He is active in the training of medical students as well as residents and fellows. He has written extensively on the neuroscience of music, meditation, language, religion, and many other topics. He also has published several articles discussing how the application of newly discovered neuroscience concepts can help us answer existential questions about free choice, empathy, mystical experiences, and other phenomena. He has lectured on this subject at multiple academic facilities. His main interest, however, is the interface between Judaic precepts and neuroscience. He is deeply convinced that the study of Judaic works can help us understand the brain, and vice versa.
Simcha Gottlieb, MS, is a doctor of Oriental Medicine; formerly adjunct professor at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (New York and San Diego); currently in clinical practice in an integrative setting at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. He has studied and practiced nutrition and natural medicine for more than four decades — initially as an apprentice and colleague of the renowned nutritional counselor Rabbi Meir Michel Abehsera, and subsequently as a board-certified Herbalist and Acupuncture Physician. His credentials also include many years as a pioneering writer/producer for Jewish Educational Media and chabad.org. His new book, Awesome Aging, is co-authored with his wife, Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb.
Rus Devorah (Darcy) Wallen, founder of Toratherapeutics,® is a social worker, psychotherapist, and educator who conducts workshops worldwide that improve emotional wellbeing. Her work incorporates holistic practice with techniques such as sound healing and therapeutic meditation. An alumna of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work (Yeshiva University), the University of Cincinnati College- Conservatory of Music, and Machon Alta Women’s Institute (Safed, Israel), Wallen utilizes her educational background to inspire and heal. With advanced clinical training in several areas of diagnosis and treatment, she specializes in: perinatal wellness, aging, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), advanced therapeutic ethics, and clinical supervision. As co-founder and clinical supervisor of SPARKS (Serving Postpartum families with Awareness, Relief, Knowledge and Support), Wallen speaks on perinatal issues, including postpartum depression and anxiety. Her Torah-based therapeutic methods and educational materials distill concepts from Torah and hasidic philosophy in a novel way. Wallen is most passionate about her latest endeavor of creating “kosher” healing audio recordings.
Dr. Norman Goldwasser is a licensed psychologist based in Miami Beach and Boca Raton, Florida. Originally from Newport News, Virginia, he attended high school and yeshivah at the Talmudical Academy and Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, Maryland, and then earned degrees in psychology and health sciences from Johns Hopkins University. He completed graduate training at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where he received a PhD in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology. For twenty-three years Dr. Goldwasser has been the director of Horizon Psychological Services, where he leads an interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals who work collaboratively to meet the increasingly complex community needs. He has spoken at dozens of communities and conferences in North America, as well as South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, and Israel. His areas of expertise include trauma, addictions, sexual orientation issues, marital relationships, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and adult attention deficit disorder. He has also been a practitioner and consultant in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), a dramatically successful treatment for victims of trauma.
He is finalizing two books for publication: Acquiring Resilience: A Psychological Exploration of Highly Resilient People and Breaking the Mirror: How to Overcome the Self-Absorption of Narcissism and Achieve Successful Relationships.
Dr. Goldwasser lives in Miami Beach, Florida, where he is active in campus and family-level Jewish outreach. He has seven children and twenty grandchildren.
Dr. Emmy Leah Zitter is a senior lecturer at Shaanan College and Michlalah-Jerusalem College and English Department Head at Michlalah-Jerusalem College. Her academic specialty is American literature. Recently, she has been examining the intersection between secular and Jewish knowledge and has published a study on the influence of Benjamin Franklin on Rabbi Menaħem Mendel Levin’s classic work of mussar, Heshbon Ha’Nefesh.
Dr. Zitter is mother and grandmother to a growing family living in Israel. In her spare time she writes a monthly column for Mishpacha Magazine. Dr. Zitter’s mother, Mrs. Rose Stark, was an Auschwitz survivor who lost her parents, young husband, infant son, and three married sisters and their families in one night in 1944. This background makes the topic of this essay, the binding and near sacrifice of Isaac, a very personal one. The tension between the centrality of sacrifice in our tradition, on the one hand, and the emphasis on continuing life, on the other, is fundamental to her identity. Dr. Zitter views with awe and love the insistence on continuing life that her mother, rebuilder of a Jewish family, exemplified. This essay is dedicated to the whole family, those who were murdered and those who survived in the sanctification of G-d’s Name.
