Page 7 - Perspective 2022 - 11.9.22
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and long-term consequences.
As scientists, we are inclined to think of the practical, the
logical. As Jews we are required and driven to think of the
metaphysical, the divine.
The scientific method is driven by the question of “How?”
But the religious regulation of innovation asks “What?” and
“Why?” and ultimately, “What will be the outcome?”
From budding scholars in a beit midrash to the leading
scholars of the generation, Judaism has been kept alive
for thousands of years through the meticulous analysis of
text, context, and implication.
It would have taken a collaboration of scientists and
scholars to recognize that electricity is not simply fire and
that accessing electricity is not igniting a fire.
Categorizing electricity as “fire” led to a situation
that left us unprepared for subsequent technological
advancements that are debated until this day.
Many of the practical questions surrounding cell
cultured meat revolve around its leading industry executives,
who are engaged in futuristic
unprecedented nature, creating “THE VISION OF INTEGRATING
challenges for the halachic experts TORAH AND SCIENCE IS NOT NEW. technologies.
and demanding that they closely
collaborate with the people who PROFESSOR LEV PROMOTED THIS “The vision of integrating
best know the technology. Torah and science is not new.
This time, the scientist/Torah APPROACH WHEN HE ESTABLISHED Professor Lev promoted this approach
scholar can drive that conversation. when he established JCT 50 years ago,”
JCT 50 YEARS AGO” said Professor Sukenik. “The technological
developments compel us to integrate that
| WHERE TORAH AND SCIENCE MEAT vision within contemporary reality, and this is how Mada
Toratecha was conceived – to provide the professional
The halachic world faces considerable challenges when academic and halachic infrastructure to effectively
it comes to technological developments. Is lab-produced grapple with halachic challenges that will be relevant to
meat considered fleishig or parve? If it is considered parve, our daily lives in the future.”
how does the halacha view cultured meat of a non-kosher
animal? More broadly, how will future technologies affect | M ADA TORATECHA AND ALEPH FARMS:
the lives of Jews guided by halacha? PARTNERS IN HALACHIC INNOVATION
Mada Toratecha was founded by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon,
the Sulamot Organization, and President of JCT Professor That future is being developed right now at Aleph Farms.
Chaim Sukenik to address the need for scholars with both JCT’s partnership with Aleph Farms hopes to contribute to
halachic and technological expertise. Run by Rav Aviad a future of halachic integrity and innovation.
Bartov, Mada Toratecha deals with halachic matters Aleph Farms was established based on technology
arising from future technological developments such as developed by the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
meat culture, organ printing, smart homes – the offshoot in cooperation with the Israel Innovation Authority and
of The Great Electricity Debate and more. the Strauss Company in the framework of “The Kitchen”
The center integrates Torah, science, and academia, and incubator. The know-how and patents that the company
unites national-religious and Haredi rabbis with some of developed mimic the natural process of cell growth to
the best scientific minds in Israel and the world, as well as produce new tissue under controlled conditions. Tiny
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