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Sefirat HaOmer—A Study in Klal u’Prat

Sefirat HaOmer—A Study in Klal u’Prat

The forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot are called the days of Sefira or the days of counting Omer—Sefirat HaOmer—when Jews count every day as the first day of the omer, the second day of the omer, and so on until on the Eve of Shavuot, when the last, forty-ninth day is counted. . . . And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the Omer of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete.Leviticus 23:21 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; from the time the sickle is first put to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks.Deuteronomy 16:9 This period is marked by semi-mourning with observance of such customs as avoiding haircuts, not shaving, not celebrating [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-05-27T19:33:27-04:00May 27th, 2022|Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Husband and wife, Kabbalah, Klal and Prat, Omer, Passover (Pesach), Sefirot, Shavuot, Uncategorized|2 Comments

The Soul – Part IV. The Whole vs. the Parts

The Soul – Part IV. The Whole vs. the Parts

This is the fourth installment in the series of essays on the nature of the soul. The first three installments can be found here: What Is a Soul? I. The Spiritual vs. the Materia What Is a Soul? II. Anatomy of the Soul What is a Soul? III. The Many Souls of Man At the dawn of classical philosophy, there were two leading schools of thought: holism and atomism. Holism holds that a system (e.g., physical, chemical, biological, social) should be viewed as a whole rather than a collection of parts. Atomism, in contrast, holds the reductionist view that every system is a collection of parts, and the system can be known only by studying its parts. Holism[1] essentially stands for the proposition that the whole is greater than the sum of its [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-06-26T17:19:08-04:00December 27th, 2021|Biology, Kabbalah, Klal and Prat, Soul, Spirituality, Uncategorized|1 Comment

What is a Soul? III. The Many Souls of Man

What is a Soul? III. The Many Souls of Man

…[H]e who tries to cure the soul, wishing to improve the moral qualities, must have a knowledge of the soul in its totality and its parts…Maimonides[1] Maimonides opens his introduction to The Ethics of the Fathers with this statement: Know that the human soul is one, but that it has many diversified activities. Some of these activities have, indeed, been called souls, which has given rise to the opinion that man has many souls, as was the belief of the physicians, with the result that the most distinguished of them states in the introduction of his book that there are three souls, the physical, the vital, and the psychical.[2] While Maimonides lists three souls—the physical (tiv’it), the vital (chiyunit), and the psychical (nefoshit)—he believes them to be aspects of one soul—“Know that [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-01-25T15:40:55-05:00December 15th, 2021|Kabbalah, Neuroscience, Reincarnation, Soul, Spirituality, Uncategorized|0 Comments

What Is a Soul? II. Anatomy of the Soul

What Is a Soul? II. Anatomy of the Soul

In the biblical story of the creation of Adam, the Torah states: Then the Eternal G‑d formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 2:7 The word translated into English as “soul” in the original Hebrew is nefesh. This is the first and the lowest level of the soul given to Adam. The taxonomy and anatomy of a soul in Judaism are quite complex. Original biblical sources speak of three levels of the soul: nefesh (“soul”), ru’ach (“spirit”),[1] and neshamah (“breath”).[2] The Kabbalah speaks of the five levels of the soul: nefesh, ru’ach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah. This is based on classical rabbinic sources. As stated in the midrash, “By five names is the soul called: nefesh, ru’ach, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-12-31T15:00:28-05:00November 5th, 2021|Ezekiel, Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Sefirot, Soul, Spirituality, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Zettaflood

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.Genesis 7:11 As the Torah tells us, at the dawn of human history, the flood swept the world. Most people, except for Noah and his family, drowned in that flood. Today, we too are drowning in a flood of a different kind—the informational flood. To put the current flood in perspective, consider this: according to one estimate in 2003, between the beginning of human civilization and the spread of computers, humanity generated cumulatively about 12 exabytes (12x1018 bytes) of data. However, in 2002 alone, we generated 5 exabytes of data. According to another estimate, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-10-05T16:43:54-04:00October 4th, 2021|Fractals, Genesis, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Noach, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|1 Comment

Fill the Earth

Fill the Earth

And G‑d created man in His own image, in the image of G‑d created He him; male and female created He them. And G‑d blessed them; and G‑d said unto them: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it . . . .Genesis 1:28 G‑d created man, male and female, and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue or conquer it. While the literal meaning of this verse is apparent—fill the earth with your progeny by procreating[1]—it begs a question. Specifically, the phrase “fill the earth” seems superfluous—wasn’t it enough to say “Be fruitful and multiply”? Indeed, the Hebrew word milupim[2] (“to multiply”) is etymologically related to the word mil’u[3] (“to fill”).[4] If humans were to multiply, as commanded by G‑d, they would naturally fill the earth. It seems [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-10-04T15:13:44-04:00October 4th, 2021|Bereishit, Bereshit, Creation, Fractals, Genesis, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Mathematics, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Space, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Cosmological Problem of Initial Conditions and the Universe of Tohu

The Cosmological Problem of Initial Conditions and the Universe of Tohu

Now the earth was unformed and void.Genesis 1:2 We have a big problem in cosmology: the problem of the initial conditions of the universe at the time of the Big Bang.[1] Before we can explain this problem, however, we need to review some basic concepts of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics developed by Boltzmann and others[2] described the behavior of gases and liquids and the transfer of heat. A key concept in thermodynamics is entropy. Entropy is a measure of disorder, of chaos. The second law of thermodynamics states that in an isolated system, entropy always increases with time. The second law of thermodynamics explains universal decay. And entropy is the measure of that decay.[3] Shining stars produce entropy. Stars collapsing into black holes produce entropy. Evaporating black holes produce entropy.[4] Entropy is increasing in the universe.[5] Let us [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-09-14T22:36:17-04:00September 30th, 2021|Bereishit, Bereshit, Cosmology, Creation, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Sefirot, Thermodynamics, Time, Uncategorized|2 Comments

A Wheel Within a Wheel

A Wheel Within a Wheel

Now as I beheld the Chayot [living creatures], behold one Ophan [wheel] at the bottom hard by the living creatures, at the four faces thereof. The appearance of the Ophanim [wheels] and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. . . . As for their rings, they were high and they were dreadful; and they four had their rings full of eyes round about. Ezekiel 1:15–18 One of the most difficult theological questions is how Eternal G‑d relates to the world created by Him, the world that is always in flux. Indeed, the prophet Malachi says in the name of G‑d: For I the Eternal change not.Malachi 3:6 G‑d does [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-12-31T14:52:11-05:00May 21st, 2021|Creation, Ezekiel, Kabbalah, Physics, Spirituality, Tanakh, Time, Uncategorized|5 Comments

Sanctuaries in Space and Time

Sanctuaries in Space and Time

We are quite familiar with space—we move freely in space back and forth; we concur space on land and beyond; we reclaim land from sea; we turn deserts into gardens; we turn desolated space into sprawling cities. We are, on the other hand, helpless in the face of time. We cannot move freely in time. We can’t move back in time. We are swept forward in the inexorable flow of time. We do not understand time; we cannot change it. We are masters of land, but not of time. It is for this reason, when G‑d instructed Moses how to build a sanctuary for Himself, He could not have started with time—we would have not the faintest idea what it meant—a sanctuary of G‑d in time—let alone how to do it. That is why G‑d started with space, instructing Moses how to build the Mishkan—a Sanctuary in space—first. Only then He commanded Moses about Shabbat.

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-03-14T22:21:57-04:00March 14th, 2021|Parshah, Sefirot, Shemot, Space, Terumah, Time, Uncategorized, Vayakhel|2 Comments

Collapse and Revelation

Collapse and Revelation

The collapse of the wave function is the process of revealing hidden possibilities. Reducing uncertainty reveals information. Until the wave function collapse, the system is in an uncertain state—the state of superposition. The measurement that causes the collapse of the wave function eliminates this uncertainty revealing the state of the system. The collapse occurs as the result of an experiment or observation. It is the discovery of the state of the system. The process of discovery—revelation—in the terminology of Kabbalah—is the process of revealing Alma d’Isgalya (Revealed World) from Alma d’Iskasya (Hidden World). This is why the splitting of the sea can be seen as an allegory of the collapse of the wave function.

By Alexander Poltorak|2024-01-25T22:44:15-05:00January 29th, 2021|Beshalach, Collapse of the wavefunction, Exodus (Shemot), Kabbalah, Passover (Pesach), Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Sefirot, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Zohar|4 Comments

Egyptian Exile as a Metaphor for Compactification in String Theory

Egyptian Exile as a Metaphor for Compactification in String Theory

And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick…Exodus 1:14 On a literal level, the Egyptian exile (Galut Mitzrayim) is a story of the Jewish people’s enslavement in ancient Egypt, where they were forced to do hard labor making mortar and bricks, and building cities for the Pharaoh. On a deeper level, it is axiomatic in Jewish mysticism that suffering is usually a means to purify and rectify a sinner’s soul in this or past incarnation. It is also axiomatic that any sin damages the sinner’s soul and some supernal spiritual levels that obstruct the flow of the divine benefice into the world, impeding the blessing and, therefore, causing suffering to the sinner. Technically, it works as follows. When a sin committed below causes damage above, the resulting [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-01-11T22:54:15-05:00January 11th, 2021|Exodus (Shemot), Kabbalah, Mathematics, Mathematics, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Reincarnation, Sefirot, Shemot, Shemot, Spirituality, String Theory, Topology, Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Conflict Between Joseph And His Brothers—A Gender Theory

The Conflict Between Joseph And His Brothers—A Gender Theory

The confrontation between Joseph and his brothers is one of the most troubling stories of the Bible. Joseph and his brother—twelve sons of Jacob—were the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are described as tzadikim (the righteous and pious men) and prophets. However, as we read in the Torah portion Vayeshev, we are told that brothers hated Joseph: And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. (Genesis 37:3) And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. (Genesis 37:5) And his brethren envied him… (Genesis 37:11) The brothers intended to kill Joseph: And they said one to another: ‘Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-24T20:54:24-05:00December 20th, 2020|Bereshit, Genesis, Kabbalah, Miketz, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Sefirot, Soul, Tanakh, Uncategorized, Vayeshev|11 Comments

On Rachel, Leah, and Dark Energy

On Rachel, Leah, and Dark Energy

Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. (Genesis 29:16) Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (the Shelah HaKadosh)[1] famously says that the Torah speaks to the upper worlds and hints at the lower worlds. That means that the primary subject of the Torah narrative has to do with the dynamics of the spiritual worlds while only hinting at the historical narrative that appears to be the meaning of the biblical text. It is not surprising because what happens down here reflects what happens up there—in the spiritual spheres. However, the historical narrative is not necessarily the only reflection of the higher reality. We may see how the same or similar dynamic is reflected in natural laws. This Torah portion introduces us to two daughters [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-12-16T00:14:50-05:00November 29th, 2020|Bereshit, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Relativity, Science, Sefirot, Uncategorized, Vayetze|4 Comments

Keturah and Hagar III—A Metaphor for Unification

Keturah and Hagar III—A Metaphor for Unification

And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. (Genesis 25:1) Keturah: This is Hagar. She was called Keturah because her deeds were as pleasant as keturah (incense). (Genesis Rabbah 61:5) Keturah is Hagar. (Zohar 133) As we discussed earlier, Abraham had a concubine, Hagar. Later in life, after the passing of Sarah, Abraham took another wife whose name was Keturah. Midrash, the Zohar, Rashi, and other commentators state that Keturah is Hagar. To distill this situation to its essence, we have here two seemingly distinct individuals who, in the view of at least some biblical commentators, are one and the same person. To any physicist, this narrative bespeaks a unification. Indeed, this situation is analogous to the unification tendency in theoretical physics, where different fundamental interactions are unified into one. [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-19T23:08:20-05:00November 15th, 2020|Bereshit, Chayei Sarah, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Standard Model, Uncategorized, Zohar|1 Comment

Akeida in Parallel Universes

Akeida in Parallel Universes

Michael Frayn’s 1998 play, Copenhagen, concerns a meeting between two great physicists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, in 1941 in Copenhagen. In this play, the spirits of Heisenberg, Bohr, and Bohr’s wife, Margrethe, come together in the afterlife to answer Margrethe’s question, “Why did Heisenberg come to Copenhagen?” Bohr and Heisenberg worked closely together in Copenhagen in the 1920s while developing atomic physics, resulting in the formulation of quantum mechanics. Bohr was already an accomplished scientist when the young German Heisenberg joined his group, and Bohr began mentoring him. Heisenberg became one of the leading figures in formulating the new quantum mechanics. Later, Heisenberg joined the group of German physicists developing nuclear weapons for Nazi Germany. Why did Heisenberg return to Copenhagen in 1941? Denmark was at that time already occupied by Germany. [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-08T19:59:10-05:00November 8th, 2020|Atomic Theory, Bereshit, Genesis, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Reincarnation, Soul, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle, Vayeira, Zohar|8 Comments

Noah’s Ark—Three Layers of Reality

Noah’s Ark—Three Layers of Reality

A light shalt thou make to the ark…with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:16) We mentioned in the previous posts that Noah’s ark was a microcosm.[1] As we discussed in the previous post, “Noah’s Ark—Three Layers of Being Human,” most structural parallels related to Noah’s ark are based on its tripartite structure —that is, its having three tiers. In Chasidic thought, the three levels of Noah’s ark correspond to three worlds of BiYA—Beriyah (the World of Creation), Yetzirah (the World of Formation), and Asiyah (the World of Action). In this essay, we will investigate how the tripartite structure of Noah’s ark is reflected in the structure of reality. We might say that the totality of existence comprises three layers—physical, informational, and spiritual. The classification of reality into three [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2024-06-23T21:53:15-04:00October 28th, 2020|Age of the Universe, Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Fractals, Genesis, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Mathematics, Noach, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Sefirot, Space, Spirituality, String Theory, Superposition, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|1 Comment

Tzimtzum III—Renormalization—Sweeping Infinites Under the Rug

Tzimtzum III—Renormalization—Sweeping Infinites Under the Rug

Sweeping Infinities Under the Rug—or Renormalization Having dealt with internal contradictions in the previous section (see Physics of Tzimtzum I — The Quantum Leap and Physics of Tzimtzum II — Collapse of the Wave Function), we are left with another problem—infinity. Although G‑d concealed His self-contradictory nature by “sweeping paradoxes under the rug” in the process akin to the collapse of the wave function, the Light of the Infinite (Ohr Ein Sof) filled the whole of existence with infinite Divine emanation. This infinite radiation left no room for any finite creation to emerge. What was G‑d to do? Having aced the exam on quantum field theory with flying colors, G‑d employed the favorite trick of theoretical physicists in sweeping infinities under the rug using what is called “renormalization.”[1] Roughly speaking, renormalization solves the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-14T20:39:04-04:00October 14th, 2020|Bereishit, Bereshit, Creation, Deuteronomy, G‑d, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Theory, Relativity, Space, Standard Model, Tzimtzum, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle, Zohar|1 Comment

Nobel Prize for Research on Black Holes

Nobel Prize for Research on Black Holes

Congratulations to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for wining the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to establishing the existence of black holes. A black hole is an object with an infinite density of matter and curvature of space-time. Black holes typically form when a massive star (at least ten times the mass of the sun) runs out of fuel, and the outward pressure of nuclear explosions inside the star can no longer compensate for the inward pressure of gravity. When that happens, the star collapses in a phenomenal explosion called a supernova. All the matter of the star implodes into the singularity—the center of the star. According to Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the density and space-time curvature at the center become infinite. In the real world, of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-06T22:49:40-04:00October 6th, 2020|Tzimtzum, Uncategorized|3 Comments

Physics of Tzimtzum II — Collapse of the Wave Function

Physics of Tzimtzum II — Collapse of the Wave Function

In the previous post “Physics of Tzimtzum I—The Quantum Leap”, we gave a general overview of the mystical doctrine of tzimtzum—the cornerstone of Lurianic Kabbalah. It is time to get into the details. The first phrase that describes the process of tzimtzum in Etz Chaim states: Ein Sof “contracted” (tzimtzem) Himself in the point at the center, in the very center of Ohr Ein Sof. This sentence raises several difficult questions: First, what could it possibly mean that the Infinite (Ein Sof) “contracted” (tzimtzem) Himself? In Hebrew, the word tzimtzum comes from the root TZM, which means “to diminish” or “to fast,” that is, to “diminish” oneself.[1] It can also mean “to be precise,” that is, to remove ambiguity.[2] The repetition of the root TZM is a grammatical form of doubling down, an extreme [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2022-09-29T22:04:50-04:00September 11th, 2020|Bereishit, Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Genesis, G‑d, Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Relativity, Superposition, Tzimtzum, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Wavefunction of G‑d|0 Comments

Physics of Tzimtzum I — The Quantum Leap

Physics of Tzimtzum I — The Quantum Leap

Introduction “In the beginning G‑d created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) “In the beginning G‑d created the heavens and the earth,” the Torah says. However, what was before the “beginning”? It is like asking, What was before the Big Bang? In physics, until relatively recently, such questions were discouraged. The prevailing wisdom was that time and space had been created by the Big Bang, and there was no “before” before the Big Bang. Mishnah discourages such thinking, too. The sages point out that the first letter of the Torah, the letter bet, is open on the left and closed on the right:[1] The text of the Torah and the history of the world proceed from that opening on the left. The closed right side of the letter bet visually walls off [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-08-25T19:56:59-04:00August 17th, 2020|Atomic Theory, Bereishit, Bereshit, Cosmology, Creation, Genesis, G‑d, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Space, Spirituality, Tzimtzum, Uncategorized, Zohar|5 Comments

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