I was asked to write a blog post for “Sinai and Synapses” about my being both a rabbi and a scientist.
When I was five years old, I received a Newtonian reflecting telescope as a Hanukkah present from my parents. I was already fascinated by astronomy, and with my father’s help, I assembled a model of the solar system later that year which I brought to kindergarten for show and tell. My parents were proud to nurture the interest of a budding scientist. Had I expressed an equal interest in Judaism as a career path, I doubt there would have been the same positive response. Nice Jewish boys did not grow up to be rabbis in my suburban Chicago neighborhood. This is not to imply that Judaism was unimportant in our lives, only that the rabbinate was not a conceivable occupation for a baby boomer, and spirituality was downplayed. In my household, Judaism was approached from a rationalist perspective. I remember my dad studying natural explanations for the ten plagues and referring to Midrash derisively as bubbe meises, old wives’ tales.
I eventually went off to college and attended the California Institute of Technology. By the end of my four years, most of my practice of Judaism had disappeared, replaced by a single-minded devotion to physics as the guiding force of my life. It wasn’t until I came to Los Alamos for the completion of my thesis work that my attraction to Judaism was kindled. Finding myself in a town where I knew absolutely no one, I realized that one way to meet people might be at the synagogue. In relatively short order, my naturally strong singing voice and familiarity with the Shabbat liturgy from years of (mostly) unenthusiastic attendance at Hebrew school resulted in my assuming increasing responsibilities in the largely lay-led congregation, and within five years I was serving as hazzan at High Holiday services.
My ability to master a complex subject, honed by over a decade of physics training, served me well as I dove into the sea of Jewish learning. To my surprise, Judaism was not childish; the material which was taught to me as a child was simply age-appropriately childish. Physics has provided me with a set of tools to examine the natural world, and Judaism has helped give meaning to what I see. The beauty of a rainbow is not diminished by pondering the equations governing the refraction of light, for example, and reciting the blessing upon seeing the rainbow elevates the experience and helps ground me in a universe which manifests Divine splendor. Furthermore, physics says virtually nothing about how to interact with other people, while Judaism offers incredible wisdom on human relationships.
I consider myself truly blessed to have pursued two passions simultaneously, and my primary focus as a rabbi has been to introduce adult Jews to the wonders of Judaism as viewed from the eyes of a left-brain physicist. Sadly, I had no trouble securing the domain name www.physicsrabbi.com; it seems that few people experience firsthand the compatibility of the two professions. But if you are scientifically-minded and want to learn more about Judaism, please don’t hesitate to write to me at physicsrabbi@gmail.com. (I didn’t have trouble getting that address either).