Qabbalat Shabbat with Guest Scholar Dr. Howard Smith

Gather with us onsite or online for Qabbalat Shabbat. All are welcome to join this service full of prayer, meditation, and music!

We welcome guest scholar Dr. Howard Smith for a weekend of dynamic study. During our Shabbat together, Dr. Smith's talk titled New Astronomical Discoveries: Puzzles and Opportunities for Science and Religion will focus on how NASA’s JWST telescope results, combined with other recent data, confirm our general understanding of the big bang universe - but also highlight some egregious discrepancies. We will consider what we know and what we don’t know about the cosmos, and their implications for science and religion.

Questions? Call 617-566-3960 or email info@tisrael.org.

About Dr. Howard Smith

Dr. Howard Smith is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. His research emphasizes the origins of stars and galaxies using infrared techniques, and he has over four hundred published articles. He has been recognized by Harvard for his excellence in teaching. He has been the principal investigator on many national and international space missions, grants, and programs. Dr. Smith was previously the chair of the astronomy department of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington where he played a key role in developing museum galleries, education programs, videos, and IMAX movies, including the Academy Award nominee “Cosmic Voyage.” A traditionally observant Jew, he has lectured on religion, science, cosmology and Kabbalah to people from all religious faiths or atheistic perspectives and to those who normally have only a passing interest or knowledge in science or Jewish mysticism. His widely acclaimed book, "Let There Be Light: Modern Cosmology, a New Conversation Between Science and religion" (New World Library) and his many journal articles and newspaper OpEd articles can be accessed at his website. 

Other Learning Sessions

Torah Study with Guest Scholar Dr. Howard Smith, Saturday, April 6, 9:00 a.m.

Aliens!? The Truth is we are Alone in the Universe with Guest Scholar Dr. Howard Smith, Sunday, April 7, 10:00 a.m.

This project is part of a national program entitled "Scientists in Synagogues," 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.