Rabbinic Authority vs. Worldly Wisdom - A Panel Discussion - Part 1
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Meet the speakers
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber
Rabbi Dr. Daniel Sperber is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education and Talmudic studies.Sperber was born on November 4, 1940 in Gwrych Castle, Wales. He studied for rabbinical ordination at Yeshivat Kol Torah in Israel, earned a doctorate from University College, London in the departments of Ancient History and Hebrew Studies. He is currently Professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel…
Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin
Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin is the founder and director of the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh. He received his doctorate from Bar-Ilan University with a dissertation on Rabbinic Encounters with Zoology. Rabbi Slifkin is the author of numerous works on the interface between Judaism and the natural world, including The Challenge of Creation, Sacred Monsters, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, and Rationalism vs. Mysticism. Rabbi Slifkin is a popular lecturer worldwide, speaking at shuls, colleges, schools, zoos, and safaris. He writes regular articles at www.RationalistJudaism.com.
Dr. Marc Shapiro
Marc B. Shapiro holds the Weinberg Chair in Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton. A graduate of Brandeis (BA) and Harvard (PhD), he is the author of numerous books, articles, and reviews and is a popular scholar in residence at synagogues around the world. He has written Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy and The Limits of Orthodox Theology, both of which were National Jewish Book Award Finalists. Other books of his include Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox, Studies in Maimonides and His Interpreters, and Changing…
Dr. Menachem Kellner
Menachem Kellner is chair of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College (Jerusalem) and Wolfson Professor emeritus of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa. His most recent publication appeared in the latest issue of Tradition (vol. 43 [2021]: 23-52): “Today’s Perplexed: Between Maimonidean Promise and Peril.” This series is drawn from Kellner's 2016 Hebrew book, Gam Hem Keruyim Adam: Ha-Nokhri Be-Einei Ha-Rambam (They Too Are Called Human: Gentiles in the Eyes of Maimonides). His most recent…