Mr. Andrew Gaynor is freshman at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Andrew grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a triple-major in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Jewish Studies. He participated in Sinai Scholars in Fall 2010 and is glad to continue that positive experience with this symposium. After Tulane, he hopes to attend Johns Hopkins Medical School in an MD/PhD program.
Andrew's Paper, "The Need for Torah: Aren’t the Commandments Enough?" deals with the importance of both aspects of the Torah, the mitzvot and the stories, and offers an explanation as to why the stories are given equal weight as the mitzvot. By viewing the stories as a communication from G-d to man, we can be inspired to reach out to Him. With a different message every week, never is there a need for the question "where is G-d now?"
This presentation was delivered at the Sinai Scholars Academic Symposium 2011. The Sinai Scholars Symposium is a yearly conference for university students, hosted by the Sinai Scholars Society. Students from around the world gather with an esteemed panel of Ivy League professors, world-class Torah scholars and experts in their field to study, discuss and present their thoughts on various subjects that deal with Judaism and the modern world. Each student prepares an academic paper which they present to their colleagues and a panel of judges.
Paper: The Need for Torah
