Noah J. Efron - A Chosen Calling: Jews in Science in the Twentieth Century

A Chosen Calling

Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context
Ronald L. Numbers, Consulting Editor

Jews in Science in the Twentieth Century

NOAH J. EFRON

2014 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2014
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Johns Hopkins University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Efron, Noah J., author.

A chosen calling : Jews in science in the twentieth century / Noah J. Efron. pages cm. (Medicine, science, and religion in historical context)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4214-1381-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-4214-1381-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4214-1382-2 (electronic)

ISBN-10: 1-4214-1382-5 (electronic)

1. ScienceSocial aspects. 2. Judaism and science. 3. JewsUnited StatesIntellectual life20th century. 4. JewsRussiaIntellectual life20th century. 5. JewsPalestineIntellectual life20th century. 6. Jewish scientistsSocial aspectsUnited StatesHistory20th century. 7. Jewish scientistsSocial aspectsRussiaHistory20th century. 8. Jewish scientistsSocial aspectsIsraelHistory20th century. 9. United StatesCivilizationJewish influences. 10. RussiaCivilizationJewish influences. 11. PalestineCivilizationJewish influences. I. Title. II. Title: Jews in science in the twentieth century.

Q180.55.S62E37 2014

500.892'4009041dc23 2013036532

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For Rachel, who taught me most of what matters

A Vanload of Rabbis in the Culture Wars of Kentucky

THIS BOOK BEGAN WITH an invitation to deliver the 2007 Gustave A. and Mamie W. Efroymson Memorial Lectures at the Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. For anyone who cares, as I do, about the history of Jewish life in America, HUC is a storied, almost mythological place. Begun by brilliant men whose mild manner and scrupulous scholarship masked the radicality of their ambitions (in particular, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, who turns up in of this book), HUC has graduated generation after generation of leaders of the American Jewish community. Its library alonewith a Judaica collection surpassed only by that of Israels National Libraryis a site to which I had longed for years to make a pilgrimage.

I was not disappointed. The Teutonic erudition of HUCs founders finds lavish expression among the professors that fill the founders endowed chairs and austere offices, putting me in mind of the first passage of The Ethics of the Fathers: Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua. Joshua transmitted it to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly. I spent a quiet day viewing manuscripts in the archives. And, best of all, a van was procured and a trip organized to the Creation Museum in nearby Petersburg, Kentucky, for me, Hebrew literature professor and rabbi Susan Einbinder, and seven rabbinical students.

The museum had opened only months before, stirring controversy that I had followed with fascination in Tel Aviv. From the start, the museum struck me as an odd and subversive thing, adopting the syntax of a natural history museum to undermine the very notion of a natural history museum. It was hard, at first, for me to understand what its founders and patrons had hoped to accomplish, and when I learned I would be nearby, I resolved to try to puzzle it out from up close. Doing that with a vanload of bright young Jews about to take their places at pulpits and in schools as leaders in Jewish communities around the country was an unexpected bonus.

Upon paying admission, we received with our change a brochure introducing the museum: The purpose of the museum is three-fold, it read:

First, it acts as a rallying place, calling people back to the absolute truth of the Bible. It is a place of revival, a starting point for a new reformation. Second, it is a witnessing tool. There will be those who sneer, but some will be challenged to think, and still others may come to believe. And finally, it is a valuable, unprecedented resource for information and education, enabling us to always be ready to give an answer (a reasoned, logical defense) for the hope that is within us. (1 Peter 3:15)

I knew that when it opened, the museum had been received by some as a work of arrogance and nerve. More than eight hundred scientists from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana had signed a petition condemning it for ruining with knowing misrepresentations the chances of local kids to succeed in science courses at the college level. But as I began to make my way through the exhibits, it occurred to me that thoughtless arrogance is hardly the mood of the museum. The brochure described calling people back for reformation despite sneers: this is not the program of confident crusaders. The Creation Museum did display bravado, braggadocio, and belligerence, presenting scientists as somnambulists, sheep, and charlatansintellectual three-card-Monte grifters. But, then again, bravado, braggadocio, and belligerencethe marks of disgruntled adolescentsreflect insecurity, not confident superiority. As we ambled through its halls, the Creation Museum struck me less as a fanfare of triumphalism than a whimper of insulted indignation.

This was especially so in the museums most disturbing exhibit, the Culture in Crisis display. Entering the exhibit, we were met with a wall of dense text and statistics about divorce and the decay of the family. Led through a simulacrum of a trash-strewn city street, in a piped-in soundscape of sirens and breaking glass, we were drawn to windows (in fact, video screens) through which we could peer voyeuristically into the daily doings of modern families. The scenes were sad. One showed two kids surfing porn while doing drugs. Another showed a teary teen clutching a pamphlet on abortion and dialing Planned Parenthood. A third showed a drunk man in a grimy undershirt berating his haggard wife. Across the way, a wrecking ball labeled millions of years had smashed the foundations of a church. I recognized the exhibit for what it was: an artless illustration of a view widely shared by evangelicals embittered by science, that godless theories of the world and its origins have swept the decency from our streets and homes.

Ken Ham, the charismatic founder of the Creation museum, edited a 2005 book called War of the Worldviews that on its back cover asks the question: What do aliens, dinosaurs and gay marriage have in common? It gives this answer: They are all part of the culture wara war between two worldviews. One view is based on a biblical understanding of history, the other on pure naturalism. Our educational institutions and the media are on the frontlines of evolutionizing our culture. From Biology 101 to World History, from The Learning Channel to SpongeBob, subtle and not-so-subtle evolutionary messages bombard us.