Noted Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Lapin to Speak at Carleton College

Rabbi Daniel Lapin will present a convocation address titled “Restoring Respect for the Dignity and Morality of Business” at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, April 30, in the Carleton College Skinner Memorial Chapel. The event is free and open to the public.

Lapin is a businessman, author, syndicated talk-radio host and speaker. Prior to his immigration to the United States from South Africa in 1973, he studied theology, physics, economics and mathematics in London and Jerusalem and taught theology and physics in South Africa. An unlikely combination, these studies form the foundation of his assertions that religion is not a refuge from reality and there is no conflict between the physical and spiritual. Lapin addresses questions such as, “Can business and technology eliminate hunger, racism, violence and poverty? Should we expect it to do so?” and “Is technology another step on man’s evolutionary path or is it an expression of our searching for the ultimate meaning of life?” Radio talk show host Barry Farber has called him “the spiritual architect of the new economy, the most exciting mind I have ever met.”

With noted author Michael Medved, Lapin co-founded (and is now rabbi emeritus of) the Pacific Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue in Venice, Calif., with a mission of demonstrating the relevance of traditional Judaism to modern life. His Talmudic tradition emanates from the School of the Vilna Gaon and the Soleveitchik Dynasty, while the school of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter molded his philosophical outlook. In 1991, Lapin formed the nonprofit educational organization Toward Tradition. The intellectual strategy of Toward Tradition is to apply ancient solutions to modern problems in the three critical areas of human life—family, faith, and fortune—by offering an integrated philosophical and moral cultural vision rooted in Torah, American history and the Judeo-Christian values reflected in that history. Toward Tradition seeks to build alliances between Jewish and Christian conservatives by promoting what it calls “positive traditional values” such as faith-based American principles of constitutional and limited government, the rule of law, representative democracy, free markets, a strong military and a moral public culture while opposing the negative forces of “secular fundamentalism” and anti-religion bigotry.

Toward Tradition also offers a defense of capitalism based on the intrinsic morality of the free market. In 1994, the organization opened Cascadia Business Institute to teach upper-level management staffs of large and small corporations how Judeo-Christian principles can benefit both business and the nation.

Lapin hosts a nationally syndicated weekly radio show, “Toward Tradition with Rabbi Daniel Lapin.” He has written articles that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Washington Times and other publications. Lapin is the author of “America’s Real War,” “Buried Treasure” (co-authored with Medved) and “Thou Shall Prosper.” He and his wife, Susan, are enthusiastic sailors and live on Mercer Island, Wash., where they homeschool their seven children.

For more information and disability accommodations, call Carleton’s Office of College Relations at (507) 646-4308.