Sinai Scholars Address Academics at Princeton

With their papers in hand, nine specially-chosen members of the Sinai Scholars Society – a project of the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and the Chabad on Campus International Foundation that sees up to 20 students on each of 45 college campuses study the modern applications of Torah law with their local Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries – addressed a panel of professors at the first-ever Sinai Scholars Academic Symposium.

The Sunday conference, hosted by Chabad on Campus at Princeton University, was attended by students from campuses across the United States, including the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, Dartmouth College, the University of Colorado and Stanford University.

The panel of distinguished academics that challenged the student presenters included Rabbi Immanuel Schochet, professor emeritus of philosophy at Toronto’s Humber College; Lewis Glinert, professor of Asian and Middle Eastern languages and literatures at Dartmouth College; Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University; and Naftali Loewenthal, professor of Hebrew and Jewish studies at University College of London. (Photos: Binyamin Lifshitz)

Members of the Sinai Scholars Society make their way through Princeton University’s ivy-covered campus to present their research papers. The theme of the first-ever Sinai Scholars Academic Symposium was “Ancient Ethics in a Post-Modern World.”

A student chats with Rabbi Immanuel Schochet, professor emeritus of philosophy at Toronto’s Humber College, at Chabad on Campus at Princeton University.

Jennifer Chevinsky, a student at the University of Connecticut, presents her paper, “End of Life Issues: Are Rabbinic and Biblical Standards Relevant?”

Stanford University’s Daniel Slate delivers a paper titled “Sinai and the Principles of Highest Purpose.”

Naftali Loewenthal, professor of Hebrew and Jewish studies at University College of London

Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University

Alan Newman, a student at Tulane University, discusses his paper, “Stipulative Frameworks for Analyticity, the Jewish Tradition, and Skepticism.”

Chana Silberstein, Ph.D., director of curriculum development at the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute and co-director of the Roitman Chabad Center serving Cornell University, listens to the student presenters.

The conference took place at Chabad on Campus at Princeton University.