Scholar in Residence
Rabbi Benjamin Blech - July 13-20, 2008
Rabbi Benjamin Blech, recently ranked #16 in a listing of the
50 most influential Jews in America is a renowned educator,
religious leader and lecturer, not to mention author of eleven
highly acclaimed best-sellers.
Blech, a tenth – generation rabbi, is a Professor of
Talmud at Yeshiva University in New York City, where he has been
lecturing since 1966. He is currently the
Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Oceanside congregation in
Oceanside, New York.
Amongst his many works, he is the author of "Understanding
Judaism" and "If God Is Good, Why Is The World So Bad?", while
his book: "Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed",
was chosen by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations as "the
single best book on Judaism in our generation".
His latest work, just released internationally after Pesach and
already on the New York Times best seller list, has caused much
a stir around the globe. The book: ‘The Sistine Secrets:
Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican’
has received particular interest, especially following the
best-sellong noval: ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. Blech’s book,
which is completely non-fictional and based on accurate
historical facts, reveals to the world fascinating Jewish
secrets hidden deep in the Vatican and previously unknown.
This groundbreaking book, just launched in April, coincides with
the 500th anniversary of the commencement by Michelangelo of his
work on the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.
Following a personal audience with the late Pope John Paul II,
Rabbi Blech was instrumental in securing the loan of precious
Jewish manuscripts for exhibition in Israel. He is presently
involved in further negotiations for the return of valuable
Judaica held by the Vatican that may well prove to be of
historic significance.
Blech captivates widely diverse audiences. He has appeared
on USA national television, including on the Oprah Winfrey Show;
and written for Newsweek, The New York Times and Newsday.
For years he has lectured and served as Scholar-in-Residence in
Jewish communities and for group programs around the globe and
has been active on behalf of countless Jewish causes. Amongst
the posts that he has filled include past president of both the
National Council of Young Israel Rabbis, as well as the
International League for the Repatriation of Russian Jewry.
Rabbi Blech has also served as officer for the New York Board of
Rabbis as well as the Rabbinical Council of America.
Rabbi Blech, a recipient of the American Educator of the Year
Award is an unusually eloquent and gifted speaker, as well as a
profound contemporary theologian and religious spokesman who has
made a major impact on the many thousands of people he has
addressed.
Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Halperin - August 17-24, 2008
Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Halperin M.D. born in Jerusalem, obtained his Rabbinical ordination from the esteemed Ponevezh yeshiva in 1966 where-after he taught at numerous rabbinical academies including the Rabbinical College of the Golan Heights, where he served as a Dean.
In 1974, Rabbi Dr. Halperin obtained his Mathematics & Physics B.Sc. degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem followed by an MD degree at the Hebrew University & Hadassah Medical School in 1987 and then an LL.B. degree at Uno Academic Campus in 2005.
Between 1986 and 2000, he practiced medicine at numerous medical centers throughout Israel, and as one of Israel′s leading experts in the field of fertility served as the director of the Jerusalem Medical Center for Impotence & Infertility.
In the field of medical ethics, Rabbi Dr. Halperin is a Founding Member of the Israeli Society for Medical ethics, and a member of numerous national and international ethics committees.
Dr. Halperin is the chief editor of Assia, the Hebrew quarterly review of medical ethics and Jewish law, the ASSIA Books series, the JME Books series and various professional books on Jewish medical ethics and halacha. For 18
years, until 2004, he was also the chief editor of the English international journal
of Jewish Medical Ethics.
Dr. Halperin has both lectured and chaired at over 250 international academic conferences in Israel and abroad and in 1989, 1991 and 1994, he was awarded prizes for his dissertations on various medical & ethical topics.
Rabbi Dr. Halperin has authored more than 200 original articles and is not only considered a world expert in the fields of Medical
Ethics and Impotence & Infertility Medicine, but also an internationally renowned scholar and Rabbi of esteem with a close association with the late rabbinic luminary
- Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt'l and many other leading world Jewish personalities.
An extremely interesting and entertaining speaker as well as tremendous scholar,
on this cruise we look forward to hearing Rabbi Dr. Halperin's lectures, shiurim and real life stories in the many diversified fields at which he has been at the international forefront for over two decades.