The Chabad Center will hold the 2021 Pauline and Philip Piaker Memorial Lecture, “It’s a Brave, New World – From Messenger RNA Vaccines to Mitochondrial DNA Genes: The Jewish Approach to the Latest Medical Advances,” by Rabbi Edward Reichman. M.D., on Thursday, September 2, at the Chabad Center. The doors will be open and refreshments available at 7 pm, with the presentation beginning at 7:30 pm. There is no charge, but reservations are required and can be made at www. Jewishbu.com/Piaker or by calling Chabad at 797-0015.
“The Chabad Center and the Piaker family are delighted to invite the community to this year’s lecture,” said organizers of the event. “A community tradition since1995, when the lecture was established by Phil to memorialize his dear wife, Pauline, the lecture was not held last year due to Covid.”

“We are grateful to be past the worst of the global pandemic and to resume what has been an important and widely enjoyed community tradition,” said Rabbi Aaron Slonim.
Reichman is a professor of emergency medicine and professor in the Division of Education and Bioethics in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva University, his M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

In addition to his full-time clinical practice in Emergency Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, Reichman lectures internationally on Jewish medical ethics. He has edited books, and penned many book chapters and journal articles, on Jewish medical ethics and Jewish medical history. His book “The Anatomy of Jewish Law” will be released by the end of this year.
Reichman is the recipient of a Kornfeld Foundation Study Fellowship, and the Michael A. and Jonathan S. Rubinstein Medical Ethics Prize. He was elected to the Davidoff Society for excellence in medical teaching at Einstein and was awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award for two years at Yeshiva University. He has served on the advisory boards of the New York Organ Donor Network, Center for Genetics and Public Policy, the Program for Jewish Genetic Health at Einstein and the Rabbinical Council of America.

At Einstein, Reichman teaches Jewish medical ethics in the Einstein Bioethics Masters Program, offers electives in Jewish medical ethics, and mentors medical students writing their thesis on topics in Jewish medical ethics. At Yeshiva University, Reichman has mentored the Medical Ethics Society since its inception, working with the students to coordinate both local and national programming. In addition, he serves as a mentor to students in the Honors Program who choose to write their thesis on topics in Jewish medical ethics.