Kabbalah

Home/Kabbalah

Kabbalah, kabbala, kabala, qabalah, cabalah

The Imperative of Purpose: Bridging Science, Philosophy, and Divine Wisdom

And G-d said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) I.              Introduction Physics stands as the cornerstone of modern science, offering fundamental laws that govern matter and energy throughout the cosmos. Its equations describe the dance of subatomic particles and the orchestration of galactic systems with remarkable precision. However, a profound dichotomy exists in our universe: the distinction between inanimate and living matter. While physics masterfully explains the behavior of lifeless matter, it falls conspicuously silent when confronted with the defining characteristic of life itself—purposefulness. The reductionist assertion that biology can be fully explained through chemistry, and chemistry through physics, while technically true, obscures a fundamental gulf in our understanding. This gap lies not in the mechanical [...]

Sarah in a State of Superposition

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: “Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon. And it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say: This is his wife; and they will kill me, but thee they will keep alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.” (Genesis 12:11-13) This passage presents a perplexing scenario. Abraham (then Abram) asks his wife Sarah (then Sarai) to present herself as his sister upon entering Egypt. Classical commentators and the Zohar grapple with Abraham's motives, questioning why he would place Sarah in such a [...]

Bereshit: The Binary Universe I

Abstract This essay explores the profound significance of the letter Bet (ב), the first letter of the Torah, and its numerical value of two as a fundamental hint at the binary nature of our universe. Through an analysis of Jewish mystical texts, philosophical works, and modern physics, we demonstrate how this duality manifests across multiple dimensions of existence. The paper examines the Creator-creation relationship, the nature of time, and paradoxes inherent in divine attributes, showing how these apparent dualities emerge from absolute divine unity. This synthesis of the Torah wisdom and contemporary science suggests that the binary structure implied by the letter Bet may be more than metaphorical, potentially representing a fundamental characteristic of reality itself. I.              Introduction The Torah begins with the letter Bet (ב), the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, [...]

Rosh HaShanah: The Beginning of Change II

Abstract This essay explores the profound connections between language, philosophy, physics, and spirituality in the context of Rosh HaShanah. By examining the linguistic roots of “shanah” (year), “shinui” (change), and “shnei” (two), the essay uncovers a rich tapestry of meaning that addresses the fundamental question: Why is there change rather than permanence? The study traces the metaphysical concept of change from ancient Greek philosophy through medieval Jewish thought to modern physics, highlighting the paradoxical relationship between the Infinite Creator and finite creation as expressed in Kabbalistic and Chassidic concepts of mati ve’lo mati and ratzo va’shov. The essay concludes by proposing a relational view of time and change, aligning Jewish mystical thought with contemporary physics, and presenting Rosh HaShanah as an opportunity for renewing and deepening our relationship with the Divine. Introduction In [...]

Why Are the Torah’s Mysteries Revealed in Fundamental Theories of Physics?

Look forth from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel, and the land which Thou hast given us, as Thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Deuteronomy 26:15) When I studied Quantum Mechanics at university, I was puzzled by its mysteries. Technically, it is not a complex theory. With elementary knowledge of linear algebra and some wave physics, one can get pretty far in studying Quantum Mechanics. However, the conceptual difficulties astound everyone who dares to grapple with this theory. It is unlike anything you have seen before. Electrons simultaneously spin clockwise and counterclockwise, particles are in two places at once, cats are both dead and alive, and entangled particles remain connected no matter how far apart. Studying quantum mechanics makes you feel like [...]

Bet HaMikdash as a Singularity in Space-time

Introduction In this essay, I intend to draw a parallel between the singularity in space-time, such as the putative point of origin of the universe in the Big Bang cosmology, on the one hand, and the Jerusalem Temple (Bet HaMikdash) as it existed on the terrestrial plane before its destruction and as it continues to exist on the celestial plane—in the four spiritual worlds of the Universe of Tikkun. Another unexpected parallel between the cosmological singularity and the Bet HaMikdash as the embodiment of ten sefirot (divine emanations) is that in cosmology and in Lurianic Kabbalah they both play the role of a  “wormhole”—a channel connecting different universes. As a brief introduction, Lurianic Kabbalah is a school of Jewish mysticism developed by Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), also known as the Holly Ari or [...]

Zealotry and Mercy: Parallels Between Pinchas and the War in Gaza

Zealotry and Mercy: Parallels Between Pinchas and the War in Gaza The biblical story of Phinehas (Heb. Pinḥas or Pinchas) presents a complex moral scenario in which an act of violence is divinely sanctioned as a means to restore order and peace. This narrative brings the ethics of conflict into sharp relief. The story of Pinḥas is found in Numbers 25:1-15. It takes place when the Israelites are encamped in Shittim, and some of them begin to engage in sexual immorality with Moabite women, as well as worshipping their gods. This angers G‑d, who sends a plague upon the Israelites. At the height of this crisis, an Israelite man named Zimri brings a Midianite woman named Cozbi into the camp, in full view of Moses and the whole assembly. Pinḥas, grandson of Aaron [...]

The Mystery of the Eighth Day

And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Leviticus 12:3 In the Torah portion of Tazria, we are commanded to circumcise a male child on the eighth day. In the previous Torah portion, Shemini, we read that the dedication of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) also took eight days, and only on the eighth day the Shechinah (“divine presence”) rested on it. What is the significance of the eighth day? Chasidic philosophy interprets the eighth day as the day after seven days. In numerous writings (ma’amarim) and talks (siḥot), the Rebbes of Chabad stated that seven days represent nature, whereas the eighth day is a day above nature.[1] The eighth day represents the supernatural. Why, you may ask, do the seven days represent nature? We are told that the number [...]

Breaking Symmetry to Inaugurate the Priests

The Torah portion Tzav describes a ritual performed by Moses in consecrating Aaron as the High Priest (Kohen Gadol) and his sons as priests (kohanim): And the other ram was presented, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And when it was slain, Moses took of the blood thereof, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And Aaron’s sons were brought, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot; and Moses dashed the blood against the altar round about. Leviticus [...]

Gazing at the Shekhinah

In his commentary on this week’s Torah Portion, Yitro, Rabbi Chayim Vital, writing in the name of his teacher, the Ari-zal, states that Abel was punished for gazing at the Shekhinah—the divine presence.[1] But what relevance does this have to the Torah portion retelling the greatest event in Jewish history (and, indeed, the history of human civilization)—the Sinaitic epiphany—the giving of the Torah? This is the Torah portion, where we read the Ten Commandments. What is the relevance of the sin of Abel to the Ten Commandments? More generally, what is Abel’s connection to this Torah portion? That is easy to understand. The Torah portion Yitro starts with the story of Jethro (Yitro), Moses’s father-in-law, coming to Moses in the Sinai desert with his daughter—the wife of Moses—and her two children. Rabbi Chayim [...]

Sukkot and the Standard Model

And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. Leviticus 23:40 During the Holiday of Sukkot (“Tabernacles”), the Jewish people are commanded to take together four species (arba’a minim): etrog (fruit of a citron tree), lulav (a branch of a date palm), ḥadassim (boughs from the myrtle tree), and aravot (branches of the willow tree),[1] and hold them together while waving with them in all six directions (na’anuim). As I wrote in my essay “Unified Field Theory… Theory and Practice,”[2] the four species, arba’a minim, also correspond to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. According to the Arizal, this relationship is as follows: Letter of the TetragrammatonArba’a MinimYudḤadassimHehAravotWawLulavHehEtrogTable 1. Letters of Tetragrammaton and Arba’a Minim As I wrote in my earlier essays,[3] all four fundamental forces correspond to the four [...]

Principle of Least Action III — History

The spectacle of the universe becomes so much the grander, so much more beautiful, the worthier of its Author, when one knows that a small number of laws, most wisely established, suffice for all movements. Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1744) Among the more or less general laws, the discovery of which characterize the development of physical science during the last century, the principle of Least Action is at present certainly one which, by its form and comprehensiveness, may be said to have approached most closely to the ideal aim of theoretical inquiry. Its significance, properly understood, extends, not only to mechanical processes, but also to thermal and electrodynamic problems. In all the branches of science to which it applies, it gives, not only an explanation of certain characteristics of phenomena at present encountered, but [...]

The Standard Model

Introduction What could the Standard Model of particle physics possibly have in common with biblical accounts of the Israelites’ travels in the Sinai Desert, Kabbalistic doctrines related to the unfolding of spiritual worlds, or the arrangement of the letters in the Name of G‑d? To make connections or parallels between such unrelated concepts may sound farfetched. However, this is exactly what we are going to do in this essay. Remember that in structural analysis, we do not concern ourselves with the specifics or the nature of the objects at hand—we are interested only in the interrelationships among the objects, the high-level structure, or the storyline. So, let us not worry that particle physics speaks of subatomic particles, whereas the Torah speaks of the arrangement of Jewish tribes around the Tabernacle in the desert—topics [...]

Translating the Torah for Future Generations

The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Ludwig Wittgenstein On Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon of the Hebrew month of) Sh’vat, some three and a half millennia ago, Moses started translating the Torah into seventy languages. This was one of the last things Moses did—the pinnacle of his life of service to G‑d and the Jewish nation. Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, took Moses upon him to expound this law, saying… Deuteronomy 1:5 Rashi, the classical Biblical commentator, quotes Midrash Tanchuma on this verse, explaining: “to expound this law: He expounded it to them in seventy languages.”[1] (“This law” refers to the Torah in general.) Later, Moses commands the elders to collect large stones: And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this [...]

Cartesian Dualism, Kabbalah, and Quantum Mechanics

Cartesian dualism, or mind-body dualism, formulated by the French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650), holds that the body and the mind (which he equated with consciousness, or the soul) are two distinct ontological substances with nothing in common.[1] They exist in different worlds and do not interact or communicate with each other. This position presents a serious problem—if the two have nothing in common, how can they have the causal connections they seem to have? How, for example, can the mind causally direct the body? And, vice versa, how can the body communicate sensations, such as pain, to the mind? This valid criticism proved fatal for Cartesian dualism, which has been all but relegated to the dustbin of history. The Jewish theosophical doctrine of Kabbalah takes a very different approach. It [...]

The Captive Beauty

In the proposed allegorical interpretation, the soldier in the war is a metaphor for the Jewish people, who are all “soldiers” in G‑d’s army Tzivot Hashem, who fight the battle against evil to liberate and elevate fallen sparks from Tohu; where the beautiful woman from another nation is a metaphor for a fallen spark from another universe (Tohu), where the uncontrollable attraction the soldier feels towards the beautiful captive is a metaphor for the uncontrollable attraction a Jewish person (who is attuned to spirituality) feels towards divine sparks he is destined to redeem; where after having extracted the fallen spark from the clutches of evil, it requires a period of purification to achieve the ultimate marriage—the reintegration of the fallen spark into the domain of holiness.

The Temple as a Model of a Cell

Introduction Today, on Tisha B’Av—the ninth day of Av, this year commemorated on the tenth day of Av because the ninth is Shabbat, when mourning is forbidden—we mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple—Bet HaMikdash. This day commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, and Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Aside from its historical significance, why is the destruction of both Temples so tragic that it is mourned even today? What is the significance of the Temple in Jerusalem? The Temple was a building where kohanim-priests offered sacrifices. The sages state that the Temple was a source of life for the Jewish people.[1] This can be seen easily if we examine the parallels between the Temple and [...]

By |2022-08-07T13:43:09-04:00August 7th, 2022|Biology, Kabbalah, Tisha B'Av, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Archives

Categories

DON’T MISS A BEAT

Be the first to know when we publish a new post.

Go to Top