Alex

About Alexander Poltorak

Alexander Poltorak was trained as a theoretical physicist in Russia. A physicist and brain researcher, he held academic positions at various colleges and universities serving as an Assistant Professor of Biomathematics at Cornell University Medical College, as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Touro College, as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the City College of New York. He guest-lectured at Columbia University School of Engineering and Business School. Presently, he is the Founder & President of NeuroLight, Inc. and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers. Alex Poltorak authored several books, research papers, and many articles. He blogs about physics, kabbalah and Jewish philosophy.

One-to-Many and Many-to-One

One-to-Many and Many-to-One

And he arrived upon the place and lodged there all night, because the sun was set; and he took from the stones of the place, and put them under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. (Genesis 28:11) And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. (Genesis 28:18) Rashi notes that, before Jacob lies down to sleep, the verse speaks of the plurality of stones: “he took from the stones of that place, and put them under his head.” When Jacob wakes up, the verse suddenly switches from plural to singular, mentioning only one stone: “and took the stone that he had put [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-25T23:52:49-05:00December 9th, 2016|Bereshit, Creation, Dreams, Genesis, G‑d, Mashiach (Messiah), Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Science, Uncategorized, Vayetze|3 Comments

Chayei Sarah – where Kabbalah meets physics

And these are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred years and thirty years and seven years (Gen. 25,17) You might say the ‘hand of G‑d’ wrote that number [137] – Richard Feynman The mystery about α is actually a double mystery. The first mystery – the origin of its numerical value α ≈ 1/137 has been recognized and discussed for decades. The second mystery – the range of its domain – is generally unrecognized. — Malcolm H. Mac Gregor, M.H. MacGregor (2007). The Power of Alpha. World Scientific. p. 69. Kabbalah is the esoteric level of the Torah. The word “kabbalah” (קבלה) literally means “receiving” or “received [wisdom].” The gematriah (numerical value) of the word “kabbalah” is 137: Kuf (100) + Bet (2) + Lamed (30) + Heh (5) = 137. This number appears explicitly for the first time [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-10-28T19:58:33-04:00November 27th, 2016|Atomic Theory, Bereshit, Chayei Sarah, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Science, Soul, Spirituality, Uncategorized|3 Comments

Big Bang

Big Bang

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא Genesis 1:1 The Torah starts with two words—Bereshit bara—“In the beginning, G‑d created…” (or, as Rashi translates it, "At the beginning of creation by G-d...") Bereshit in Hebrew means “in the beginning,” and bara means “created.” What is interesting is that both words begin with the same letter, bet, the equivalent of b. Another two-word expression that describes the process of creation and each of whose two words also starts with the letter b is, of course, the Big Bang. While this linguistic parallel may be a coincidence, the parallel between the biblical cosmogeny as understood by classical biblical commentators and the Big Bang is unmistakable. An early rabbinic source, midrash Tanchumah (c. 8-9 CE) states that when G-d created the world it was not even as big as the black [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-12-04T22:35:08-05:00October 30th, 2016|Bereishit, Bereshit, Cosmology, Creation, Parshah, Physics, Space, Uncategorized|8 Comments

Unified Field Theory… and Practice

Unified Field Theory… and Practice

Albert Einstein had a lifelong quest—to develop a unified field theory—the theory that would describe as a single field gravity and electromagnetism (just as Maxwell unified electric and magnetic fields in a single electromagnetic field). Alas, Einstein did not succeed in his quest. Today, the goal is even more ambitious—to unify all four known fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces in a single model, the so-called Theory of Everything. If the hypothetical fifth force will be confirmed, it will also need to be included in the Theory of Everything. While theoretical physicists around the world are busy working our various approaches to such Theory of Everything (the leading candidate is the string theory), Jews around the world are practicing this unification during the holiday of Sukkot. During Sukkot, we take [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-10-15T22:59:45-04:00October 16th, 2016|Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Names of G‑d, Physics, Science, Soul, Sukkot, Sukkot, Uncategorized|3 Comments

The Fifth Force – Epilog

This post is a continuation and the conclusion of the previous post, THE FIFTH FORCE. Aside from the connection with the last week’s Torah portion, Vayelech, there is also connection with and Aseret Yimei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Repentance) and Yom Kippur. When it comes to physics of fundamental forces, there are two unresolved problems: (i) unification of gravity with the other three fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong and weak); and (ii) discovery of the fifth force. Both problems are related to repentance (teshuvah), which comes to sharp focus on the Ten Days of Repentance (Aseret Yimei Teshuvah) and Yom Kippur. Firstly, the word “teshuva” doesn’t mean “repentance”, it literally means “return” In Kabbalah tradition, the word TeShuVaH, is read as “ToShuV H” – return of the letter “heh”. It is talking about the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-10-14T16:45:57-04:00October 13th, 2016|Deuteronomy, Kabbalah, Mashiach (Messiah), Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Sefirot, Soul, Uncategorized, Vayelech, Yom Kippur|5 Comments

The Fifth Force

The Fifth Force

Now, therefore, write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the children of Israel.” (Deut. 31:19) The four known fundamental forces are: gravitational force, electromagnetic force, strong (nuclear) force, and the weak force (beta decay). Newton first described the gravitational force in his famous universal law of gravity. Today, we use Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity to describe gravitation fields. Electromagnetism was described in the 19 c. by Faraday and Maxwell. Strong and week forces were discovered much later, in the second half of the 20 c. Since Albert Einstein started a search for unified field theory, unsuccessfully trying to unify (describe by a single theory) gravity and electromagnetism, the quest for a unified field theory – the “Theory of Everything” – became the holy grail of theoretical physics. Strong and [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-10-03T17:33:39-04:00October 11th, 2016|Deuteronomy, Devarim, G‑d, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Science, Sefirot, Sefirot, Uncategorized, Vayelech|4 Comments

Standing and Moving

Standing and Moving

According to the Saadia Gaon, these two Torah portions – Nitzavim and Vayelech – are really one portion, which sometimes is split into two. In the language of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the two portions are entangled, in a manner of speech, and are described by the single "wavefunction." Needless to say, this is not meant in a literal sense, as QM describes physical objects, whereas these biblical chapters are certainly not. Nevertheless, taking poetic license, we can loosely say that these portions are entangled, i.e., they are really one. Nitzavim and Vayelech, however, speak of the opposite themes – “nitzavim” connotes standing( lit., you stand), while “vayelech” connotes walking (lit., …and he walked). As much as it seems paradoxical at first, from the physicist’s point of view, it is not surprising at all. Typically, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-15T22:53:46-04:00October 9th, 2016|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Devarim, Entanglement, Nitzavim, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Rosh HaShanah, Superposition, Uncategorized, Vayelech, Wavefunction|1 Comment

Fractal Patterns in the Torah

In the Torah portion Emor (Leviticus 21:1–24:23), we are instructed to abstain from work every seventh day on Shabbat. Next week’s Torah portion, Behar, continues this theme and instructs us to abstain from agricultural work every seventh Sabbatical year, Shmita. And the Torah doesn’t stop there. It instructs us to count seven Shmitas and then observe a Jubilee, Yovel. Do you notice a pattern? Every seven days, every seven years, every seven Shmitas… Furthermore, the Midrash states the world will exist for seven thousand years with the seventh millennium being a thousand years of the kingdom of Mashiach (Messiah)—yom shekuloy Shabbat—one long Shabbat. A second-century sage, Rabbi Huniah ben HaKanah, interprets this Midrash to mean that the world will last seven Cosmic Shmitas, i.e., 49 thousand years (which, according to a prominent 13th–14th [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-05-15T17:51:30-04:00May 31st, 2016|Behar, Emor, Fractals, Mathematics, Omer, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Sefirot, Sefirot, Space, Time, Uncategorized, Vayikra|1 Comment

Shabbat in Numbers

Last week Torah portion, Emor, speaks about the prohibition of working on Shabbat. In fact, the Talmud enumerates precisely 39 categories of labor forbidden on Shabbat. But why 39? Rabbi Shimon b’ Rabbi Yossi ben Lakunya (Shabbat 49b) suggests that the number 39 can be derived from the number of times the various forms of the word “melacha” (work) appear in the Torah. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to see how this works out. In his commentary on this passage, Rabbi Hananel ben Hushiel (990-1053) already pointed out that this word appears 61 times in the Torah, not 39! Actually, this word actually appears 63 times! Another Talmudic Sage, Rabbi Chanina of Sepphoris derives the number 39 homiletically strenuously computing gematria of the phrase, “These are the things.” (Shabbat 7:2) The lack of clear [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-03-26T16:25:51-04:00May 22nd, 2016|Creation, Emor, Husband and wife, Kabbalah, Leviticus, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Sefirot, Shabbat, Sukkot, Uncategorized, Vayikra|2 Comments

Gravitational Waves – Listening to Chirping of the Cosmos

Gravitational waves discovered last year and announced last week are converted into sound waves giving the astronomers the ear into the cosmos. Characteristic sounds of gravitational waves are called “chirping.” In Hebrew the word for bird is tzipor – “chirping.” King Solomon was said to have understood the language of birds. Listening to and understanding the chirping of birds has been a long tradition among prophets of Israel. Tradition has it that Baal Shem Tov listened to and understood the chirping of birds. Rabbi Chaim Vital, the principal disciple of the Ari-zal, writes in Ruach HaKodesh, “Every animal, beast, bird, and creeping-crawly is empowered by a spirit. These spirits are keepers of great mystery. Therefore, through a chirp of a bird, for example, or the sound of any animal, one can also discover [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2016-02-15T21:47:21-05:00February 15th, 2016|Cosmology, Science, Uncategorized|5 Comments

Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

A hole in Kabbalah is called “rah” (evil). The reason for that is, as content is lost due to a leakage through the hole, forces of evil get their nourishment from leakage of light. Kabbalah views the world as divided into two domains – a domain of holiness (“sitrah d’kedushah”) and a domain of evil, so-called "the other side" (sitrah acharah). A hole is viewed as a portal from the domain of holiness into the other side – the domain of evil. This is why, for example, we are commanded to attach mezuzot to the doors of our houses. Doors viewed as portals of evil, through which good energy of the house can leak into the outside – the domain of evil. The mezuzah containing the affirmation of the oneness of G‑d, plugs these [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2016-02-15T21:30:47-05:00February 12th, 2016|Cosmology, Science, Uncategorized|3 Comments

Relativity of Manna

Relativity of Manna

This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded: Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.' And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. (Exodus 16-18) In the desert, Jewish people were given manna—one omer[1] (Biblical measure) per member of the household. Rashi explains: Some gathered [too] much [manna] and some gathered [too] little, but when they came home, they measured with an omer, each one what he had [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-01-26T21:52:05-05:00January 24th, 2016|Beshalach, Exodus (Shemot), Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Parshah, Shemot, Uncategorized|1 Comment

Joseph teaches Pharaoh a lesson in fundamental forces

Joseph teaches Pharaoh a lesson in fundamental forces

This week, we read in the Torah portion Vayigash (Gen. 44:18–47:27) about Joseph revealing himself to his brothers and Jacob coming to Egypt with his family. This storyline culminates by Joseph presenting his brothers and his father to Pharaoh. A curious thing, though—instead of presenting all eleven brothers, Joseph presents only five. This fact does not escape the attention of Rashi, who comments as follows: Joseph chose the weakest of his brothers to avoid conscription of the brothers to the military service in the Pharaoh’s army. This explanation always left me dissatisfied. Even if it explains why Joseph presented fewer than all of his brothers to Pharaoh, it does not explain the number—why five? Why not one, or two, or three? The number five in Hebrew is represented by the letter Heh. I submit to [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-10-14T16:57:40-04:00December 20th, 2015|Bereshit, Creation, Genesis, G‑d, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Theory, Uncategorized, Vayigash|1 Comment

Jacob’s Sheep—Particles, Fields and Strings

Jacob’s Sheep—Particles, Fields and Strings

And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. (Gen. 31:10) This week’s Torah reading, Vayeitzei (Gen. 28:10-32:3) talks about three kinds of sheep: streaked, speckled, and spotted. Streaked Sheep Streaked sheep (“akudim”) were ankle-ringed. They looked as if their ankles were bound together with a black rope. Hence the name—"akidim" (Hebrew world for streaked, “akud” means bound as in “Akeda”—binding of Isaac). Speckled Sheep Speckled sheep (Heb. “nekudim” from sing. “nakod”.) were sheep with black dots. Spotted Sheep Spotted or flecked sheep (Heb. "berudim") were blotched. What is the significance of these streaks, speckles and blotches that the Torah devotes [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-11-24T14:57:34-05:00November 20th, 2015|Bereshit, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Theory, Science, Sefirot, Uncategorized, Vayetze|0 Comments

Covenant between the Parts as a Metaphor for Quantum Entanglement

Covenant between the Parts as a Metaphor for Quantum Entanglement

And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other… And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him… And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. Genesis 15:10-17 The above verses from the Torah portion Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1–17:27) describe the Covenant between the Parts (a.k.a. the Covenant of the Pieces), when G‑d entered into eternal covenant with Abraham (at the time called Abram) – a covenant symbolized by halved animals. The simple meaning of this ritual is apparent: just as a halved [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-03T17:30:36-05:00October 25th, 2015|Entanglement, Genesis, Lech-Lecha, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments

Adam Kadmon and Holographic Universe

Adam Kadmon and Holographic Universe

Dedicated to the memory of Professor Yaakob David Bekenstein The Torah opens with the word “Bereshit” – in the Beginning – whose first letter, Bet, is written large to signify that it contains a hidden meaning. The gematriah (numerical value) of the letter Bet is 2. It has three sides – top (“roof”), bottom (“floor”) and the right “wall”: Letter Bet of Bereshit may be viewed as the “event horizon” of the Torah. In General Relativity, the event horizon is the area of spacetime beyond which information is inaccessible to an outside observer. For example, the event horizon of a black hole is the boundary surrounding every black hole that acts as information firewall – the light from within the event horizon cannot escape outside and, therefore, information is invisible to an [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-10-08T21:52:53-04:00October 11th, 2015|Bereishit, Bereshit, Cosmology, Creation, Genesis, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Science, Spirituality, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Passover and Yom Kippur – Next Year in Jerusalem!

Sitting this Yom Kippur at the Synagogue I was thinking about Passover Seder. No, not because I was so hungry that I was dreaming about a lavish meal of the Seder night… What can be further apart than a festive meal of the Passover Seder and a solemn fast of Yom Kippur? And yet, there is one striking similarity that I realized yesterday. As I have written in my earlier post, Pesach – Time of our Freedom, the word “seder” means “order.” It is, first and foremost, the order in time. The Seder is comprised of three major parts – the first part is Magid – the recitation from the Hagada of the brief history of Jewish people through the Egyptian exile and the Exodus; the second, the festive meal; and the last, Nirtzo – a prayer [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2016-02-23T16:35:00-05:00September 24th, 2015|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Yom Kippur – Disentangling the Entangled

When G‑d created the first humans, Adam and Eve (Chavah), He created them as one. And G‑d created man in His own image, in the image of G‑d created He him; male and female created He them. (Gen. 1:27) Actually, as Midrash Rabbah (Gen. VIII:1) explains, Adam and Eve were created as one being as Siamese twins—attached by their side. When the story of the creation of Adam is repeated in the next chapter, it seems as a very different story: And the Lord G‑d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord G‑d had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-09-24T22:38:12-04:00September 24th, 2015|Creation, Entanglement, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Mashiach (Messiah), Randomness, Superposition, Uncategorized, Yom Kippur|0 Comments

Balak – Interference of Souls

Balak – Interference of Souls

Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab became terrified of the people, for they were numerous, and Moab became disgusted because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this assembly will eat up everything around us, as the ox eats up the greens of the field. Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of his people, to call for him, saying, "A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the 'eye' of the land, and they are stationed opposite me. So now, please come and curse this people for me, for [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-15T23:12:39-04:00July 8th, 2015|Balak, Bamitbar, Entanglement, Ezekiel, Kabbalah, Mashiach (Messiah), Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Sefirot, Soul, Spirituality, Superposition, Tanakh, Uncategorized, Zohar|4 Comments

Fig of Rabbi Akiva

What came first, the Schrödinger cat or the fig of Rabbi Akiva? You be the judge. Today we present a guest post by Rabbi Dr. David Kagan. Fig of Rabbi Akiva By Rabbi David Kagan, Ph.D. If Trumah (Trumah is a tithe separated from produce and given to a priest (Kohen) to be eaten with strict laws of purity) is mixed into ordinary food (chulin), and if the ratio of trumah to chulin is less than 1:100, the Trumah is nullified (batel) and the mixture may be eaten as ordinary food. (The law of nullification, bitul, applies to mixtures of two types of food – one being forbidden one allowed. With certain ratios, the minority is nullified and it has the same status as the majority. For example, if some non-kosher food was mixed [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-03-17T16:12:11-04:00June 21st, 2015|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized|0 Comments

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