The Genesis Project: Day Six – Like Parent, Like Child?

Day Six—One child is timid, another adventurous. One is boisterous, the other more placid. Why?

Explore the latest ideas in neurobiology and epigenetics that explain individual differences in children’s development. Look at what Jewish sources tell us about the role of parents in shaping a child’s personality. Do traditional texts complement, or contradict, behavioral genetics?

Professor Marla Sokolowski is University Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, and Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research – Child & Brain Development Program.

Rabbi Noam Katz is the Dean of Jewish Living at The Leo Baeck Day School and an internationally-known Jewish educator and musician. He was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, focusing his Rabbinic thesis work on parent-child relationships and the modern-day implications of the fifth commandment.

This series is a joint project of Beth Tzedec Congregation and Temple Emanu-El. It is sponsored by the Scientists in Synagogues project, which is organized by Sinai and Synapses in New York and the American Association for the Advancement of Science program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion in Washington, DC. Support for the program comes from Clal—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in new York through the John Templeton Foundation, along with other donors.