Selected communities will get $5000, plus mentorship and guidance

Sinai and Synapses is excited to announce the opening of applications for the fifth round of its project Scientists in Synagogues, funded primarily by the John Templeton Foundation. Through a competitive application process, fifteen synagogues will receive $5000 for programming in their community on science and Judaism, along with guidance and mentorship for the winning communities. The project will be run in consultation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest scientific organization, through their Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion (DoSER) program, and with the help of Sinai and Synapses’ fiscal sponsor, Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Applications will close on March 24, 2023.

This project will allow communities to explore, enhance and then showcase the variety of ways in which scientists integrate their work and ideas with Jewish thought and practice.

Through grass-roots programming, relationship-building, and exploration of critical issues, it will continue to show the Jewish community how to integrate science and Judaism in meaningful and productive ways, and present findings for future studies, programming, and ideas in the scientifically-rich Jewish community. Previous synagogues have explored topics such as truth in both mathematics and Judaism, particle physics and Genesis, the role of memory in Jewish tradition, and the connection between genetics and free will. Speakers have included 

Through the first four rounds of this project, which started in 2016, 49 synagogues have been selected, and have reached over 20,000 people in live programming. The selected synagogues have reflected the diversity of the Jewish community, and included Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, pluralistic and independent communities, coming from fifteen states, plus Canada and Israel. 

“The interplay of science and religion continues to be in the forefront of the public discussion,” said Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman, Founding Director of Sinai and Synapses. “The relationship between fact and interpretation, and between information and communication, requires a grounding in expertise, a clarity of message, and a level of trust. Scientists in Synagogues will allow communities to dive deeply into the issues that they see as most crucial, most inspiring, or most pressing for them. As it has for the nearly 50 communities that have participated before, it will encourage deep relationship-building, engender awe and majesty, and spur curiosity.”

More information, along with the application itself, can be found here.

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Contact:
Rabbi Geoffrey Mitelman
Sinai and Synapses
646.853.4421
[email protected]

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