Israeli educator combines lessons in science and Torah

by Johanna Ginsberg
NJJN Staff Writer

Rabbi Shmuel Strauss loves when non-religious kids ask if television is permitted on Shabbat, so long as it’s switched on with a timer, or “Shabbat clock.”

The short answer is “no,” but the long answer is what gets the kids’ attention. In fact, Strauss doesn’t give the short answer at all.

“I pull a television out from under the table and show them how it works. After 45 minutes, they’re not interested in the Shabbat clock because they realize the real issues are writing on the screen, closing circuits, and working to produce the images.”

That’s all in a day’s work for the director of the Lehava Institute, the education arm of the Institute for Science and Halacha in Jerusalem. The institute does not grapple with philosophical questions, such as those underlying the debate over intelligent design versus evolution. Instead, its work focuses on the practical issues of Halacha, or rabbinic law, that arise in a high-tech world.

“We deal with finding tools in ancient texts and translating what those would look like in our technological world instead of the agrarian society,” he explained.

And sometimes, gadgets are reworked to make them permissible on Shabbat. The entire undertaking requires “a belief that science and Torah are complementary,” said Strauss.

Strauss will discuss these issues as scholar-in-residence at Ahawas Achim B’nai Jacob & David in West Orange this Shabbat. He will speak Friday night at 8 on Modern Gadgets and Ancient Texts, Shabbat morning after kiddush on Electricity, Shabbos, and Technology, and Shabbat afternoon on Science in the Service of Halacha. The talks are free and open to the public.

Director of the Lehava Institute for the last eight years, Strauss has created educational programs for schools in Israel. One of his favorites, developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, is “I can too.” Through this program, students “identify a real need of a handicapped person and develop a gadget as a solution,” said Strauss. “We worked with students to identify solutions and deal with Shabbat issues when they came up. It made their Torah study more real and they became aware of others around them.”

Lehava also offers adult institutes and lectures for special interest groups. Strauss said he sees his job as making people aware of the institute’s resources. “There’s a wealth of information stored in the walls of the ISH. There has to be a mechanism for getting it back to the Jewish people,” he said.

A former educator, Strauss said he also takes pleasure in helping with research at ISH, where issues of contemporary life cross into gray areas of Halacha. Can a child sue a parent for smoking while the mother is pregnant if it caused a birth defect? What about gene therapy? Stem cell research? Is inline skating okay on Shabbat?

These matters are all part of the experience of working at ISH, not to mention the questions that arise whenever old solutions — like those that allow the observant to ride elevators and open their refrigerators on the Sabbath — have to be revisited as technology advances.

The television lesson, one often given in schools, combines a science class (learning how a TV works) with questions about the nature of Shabbat and what Halacha intends when it prohibits certain activities on the day of rest. He never answers their questions — he does, rather, encourage students to bring their questions and proposed solutions to their rabbis of choice for further explication.

Strauss’ favorite part of the lesson is “watching kids make the connections — watching their faces light up and their teachers’ faces light up when they get it.”

For more information about Strauss’ talks at AABJ&D, contact the synagogue at 973-736-1407.

Johanna Ginsberg can be reached at jginsberg@njjewishnews.com.

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