Biblical and Talmudic botanist Jon Greenberg, Ph.D., author of TorahFlora.org, will be speaking, teaching classes, and leading Torah tours of
botanical gardens in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
Pennsylvania this summer.
The schedule of Torah Flora events for this summer is listed below. Details, including fees and registration for some events and directions
to the event locations, are available on the Events page of
Torahflora.org.
Plans are also underway for speaking tours in Florida and
the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area in December and February. Please
contact Dr. Greenberg at jon from torahflora.org if you are interested in arranging a program for your group
or community or to receive e-mail announcements of future Torah Flora events and publications.
Torah Flora Weekend in the Berkshires, July 15-17, 2011
Three events, all within about a 30-minute drive of each other:
Friday, July 15, 2011, 10:45 AM
Passover and Peter Rabbit, Olive trees and Social Security: How Insights from Nature, Science, and Agriculture can help us Understand and Appreciate the Torah
Lecture-demonstration and lunch at Hevreh of the Southern Berkshires
270 State Rd. (Route 23), Great Barrington, MA
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires
Friday-Saturday, July 15-16, 2011
Shabbat at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT
* Friday night lecture on Nature and Torah with samples of the original maror
* Shabbat afternoon Torah tour of the Retreat Center’s nature trail
In the event of rain on Shabbat afternoon, Dr. Greenberg will speak instead about how biology took 1500 years to catch up to the understanding of mushrooms in halachah and Kabbala.
Sunday, July 17, 2011, 10:00 AM
Torah tour of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, West Stockbridge, MA
Sunday, July 24, 2011, 1:30 PM
Biblical botany tour of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for the deaf and hearing-impaired and their families
July 31, 2011, 10:00 AM
Torah tour of The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY.
August 11-16, 2011
A Healthier Planet, A Healthier You: Two six-part programs at Block and Hexter Vacation Center, Poyntelle, Pennsylvania.
* Series 1: Nutrition for a Healthy Retirement
* Series 2: Environmentalism: Part of a full Jewish life?
August 17-18, 2011
National Jewish Retreat
Hyatt Regency Hotal, Old Greenwich, CT
Four Talks:
* Passover: Insights from botany, food history, and barbecue physics
* Freud: “Anatomy is destiny"
Greenberg: “Botany is theology!”
* Enemies, a love story: Torah and science from conflict to partnership
* Lessons from the olive tree for Jewish unity, families, and the Social Security
system (followed by varietal olive tasting)
