Earlier this month, we blessed Mimi Goldschmidt, Ph.D., on her 100th birthday. At Congregation Beth Israel in the Gordon Chapel, surrounded by family and many congregants, it was an honor to acknowledge Mimi’s wisdom and deeds. For decades, Mimi worked in the field of biology in distinguished roles. Her biography and awards are searchable on the internet. But at Congregation Beth Israel, we know Mimi in worship services and especially at the Torah study table, every week. Her familiar place at the table eventually changed to her regular place on Zoom. Either way, Mimi still brings to Torah what she understands about biology.

Mimi was ahead of her time as a biology scientist. As a Torah student, she continues to be insightful. On Zoom, Mimi’s hand reaches into the camera lens to get our attention, and then we listen to her kernels of wisdom that become gems in her instructions to us. When we study the first man, Adam, whose name derives from the Hebrew adamah, earth, the dust from which he was created, Mimi teaches us about the earth’s biological richness and natural inclination to evolve and grow. Is it, then, out of the question that biological man couldn’t grow from the very ground on which he walks? Likewise, Mimi’s fierce commitment to equality finds its source in God’s acts of creating all creatures for good. We were created b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s image, not man’s, Mimi would urge us to understand. Why, then, should a man and a woman lead different lives by man’s prescriptive rules? When we reached Leviticus and its descriptions of tzara ’at, leprous-like infections, Mimi’s biological exactness compelled her to teach us about contagion and how the high priests, far from modern medical doctors, were, nonetheless, demonstrating obvious preventable steps to stem the spread of disease.

In his book, Living the Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), Rabbi Michael Marmur, Ph.D., writes, “Science continues to shed light on many phenomena previously thought miraculous, but wonder will continue to outstrip understanding. There will always be something beyond our capacity to explain, even when all the current conundrums have been resolved.” Despite all that we know through science, Marmur urges us to accept that the wonders of the universe are too plentiful. Searching is part of the human experience and to be in awe drives us to know more.

When I shared my blessing with Mimi, I wished her ad meah v’esrim, until the age of 120, the age of Moses, and in good health. Ever the scientist, she doubted any evidence that she could muster the biological wherewithal to be 120; but ever the student of Torah, she didn’t turn down the hope found in what the rabbis taught, Marbeh Torah, Marbeh Chayyim (Pirkei Avot 2:8), the more Torah, the more life.

Mimi is one of a kind, worthy of the blessing of 100 years and the privilege to continue teaching us the ways of science and faith, of reason and wonder. We should all live to be 100, or maybe 120, too, but never without awe in the wonders of the world that remain even under the lens of the microscope. Judaism urges us to find meaning in both and to thrive on them in good health.

L’Shalom,