Photo: Paul Bovolos
The Institute
The Institute for Judaism and Civilization Inc, Melbourne, Australia, was founded in 1998. Its initial task was to explore the interface between Judaism and the arts, sciences and values of general civilization.
This scope has since widened to include the relationship between Torah and humanity at large: the primordial ethical tradition for all humanity, reaffirmed at Sinai, which is known as the Noahide laws or the Seven Laws of Noah. Both Jewish law and Noahide law are elaborated in the Torah tradition from Sinai.
This universal ethical covenant between the Creator and humanity was completed with Noah, survivor of the biblical flood and ancestor of humanity. It was promulgated by Abraham, the father of the great world religious cultures and received its authoritative form at Sinai. The Institute seeks to research, teach and apply the philosophical and concrete ethical teachings of the Noahide laws in all aspects of life.
The Director
Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen, son of a former Governor General of Australia, Sir Zelman Cowen OBM, has a dual background in secular and religious studies. He has a PhD in social philosophy and received Rabbinic Ordination from Rabbi Chaim Gutnick OBM in Australia and Rabbi S. Y. Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel. He has been a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and Program Director of a postgraduate Rabbinic Institute, the Kollel Menachem Lubavitch in Melbourne.
In 1998 he “fused” these strands in the establishment of the Institute for Judaism and Civilization as its founding Director. For a complete resume of his career and publications, see here
The Institute's Work
There are four departments of the Institute’s study of the interface between the Torah tradition – both in Jewish and Noahide law – and the arts, sciences and values of general civilization. These are in the realms of (1) Psychology, (2) the Natural Sciences, (3) Society, Law and Politics and (4) Aesthetics, Philosophy and Theology to which access may be had through the home page
In each of these domains, the Institute works in the dimensions of “thought” (published research), “speech” (seminars and conferences) and “action” (practical implementation).
