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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

Let’s Make this Sukkot About Ananei HaKavod, not about Ananei ha-COVID

During the Holiday of Sukkot, we celebrate the divine providence that protected Jewish people from the sun and other dangers of the desert during their forty years of wandering in the desert. This providence came in the form of the ananei ha-koved (“the clouds of glory”). The clouds of divine glory hovered over Jewish people protecting them from the elements—hashgachah pratit (“divine providence”) was openly revealed. The concept of divine providence is often misunderstood. People expect open miracles. Nowadays, we no longer merit the open revelation of divine providence, which is concealed. However, it is still here guiding and protecting us, if we open ourselves to its protection. This reminds me of an old parable. After a shipwreck, a Jew was stranded on an uninhabited island. The Jew prayed to G‑d for a [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-09-20T16:30:04-04:00September 20th, 2021|Uncategorized|1 Comment

Yom Kippur—The Day of Pure Delight

Yom Kippur—The Day of Pure Delight

Yom Kippur means “The Day of Atonement.” Some view it as a frightening day full of regrets of the past and anxiety for the future. However, Chasidic philosophy sees Yom Kippur as the day of pure delight. On a simple level, Yom Kippur is the day of forgiveness--the day when we all going to be forgiven, cleansed, and atoned. What is not to be happy about? Moreover, it is a day when we get our personal rendezvous with our Heavenly Father, and with ourselves. The last prayer of Yom Kippur is called Neila ("closing"). It is usually interpreted as the closing of the doors of prayers when the penitent feverishly trying to squeeze another prayer before the doors are shut. In Hassidic teachings, the Neila is viewed completely differently—it is the most cherished [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2023-09-24T00:35:40-04:00September 15th, 2021|Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Offering of the First Fruits and Loop Quantum Gravity

The Offering of the First Fruits and Loop Quantum Gravity

. . . Thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shalt bring in from thy land that the Lord thy G‑d giveth thee; and thou shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy G‑d shall choose to cause His name to dwell there. . . . And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy G‑d.Deuteronomy 26:2,4 And He garbed Himself with righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head . . .Isaiah 59:17 The Torah portion Tavo begins with the commandment of the offering of the First Fruits (bikkurim). The simple meaning of this mitzvah is self-evident. [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-09-06T16:28:20-04:00September 6th, 2021|Uncategorized|1 Comment

The Paradox of Steven Weinberg

The Paradox of Steven Weinberg

The world has lost one of the greatest theoretical physicists of our time—Steven Weinberg (1933–2021). I never met him in person. But I studied his textbooks at university. His Gravitation and Cosmology, translated into Russian, was one of the few books I brought with me when we left the Soviet Union in 1982. This book is still on my shelf. Weinberg’s contribution to physics was enormous. His electroweak theory earned him a 1979 Nobel Prize in physics (which he shared with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow). His work played an essential role in laying the foundation for the Standard Model of particle physics. He made significant contributions to the theory of strong nuclear forces, formulating the quark theory of strong interactions called “technicolor.” His idea of effective field theory changed our understanding of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-10-20T10:58:20-04:00August 31st, 2021|Uncategorized|1 Comment

The Genetic Alphabet Has Nothing to Do with the Name of G‑d… Other Than That Everything Has to Do with the Name of G‑d

On this blog, we search for structural parallels between the Torah and science; we look for scientific metaphors that help us to understand the Torah better; and we look for Torah insights to help us understand science more deeply. However, this endeavor is fraught with peril. Using superficial parallels that don’t hold up under scrutiny serves neither the Torah nor the science and likely discredits this interdisciplinary research. I don’t like to criticize others, as my own work is not free from errors. But I feel compelled to sound a cautioning note. One such unfounded “parallel” that has troubled me for years is the purported analogy between the four bases (“letters”) of the genetic code and the four letters of the Tetragrammaton—the proper name of G‑d. This parallel, advocated by some highly intelligent [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-11-30T13:53:36-05:00August 27th, 2021|Uncategorized|8 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

Lag BaOmer Tragedy

Lag BaOmer Tragedy

A day of joyful festivities turned into a day of tears and mourning. When tragedy strikes, it is not the time for analysis or finger-pointing. Rather, it is the time to bury the dead and to mourn. It is the time to comfort families of the deceased. it is the time to pray that those who survive may fully recover. However, the tragic irony of this disaster is that it happened to the devout who came to the kever (burial place) of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, known as the Rashbi, the second-century tana, to pray for miracles. It happened on Lag BaOmer—the day of the Rashbi's passing, a day believed to be an auspicious one to pray for miracles. How does one explain to children that people who came to the tomb of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-05-02T16:40:10-04:00April 30th, 2021|Uncategorized|0 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

Jacob in a State of Superposition

Jacob in a State of Superposition

And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his people. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel. . . . And his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, in front of Mamre. (Genesis 49:33–50:13)Rabbi Yitzchak said to Rav Nachman: “So said Rabbi Yochanan: Our father Jacob did not die.” Asked Rav Nachman: “Was it for no reason that the eulogizers eulogized, the embalmers embalmed and [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2021-01-05T14:57:59-05:00December 31st, 2020|Uncategorized|2 Comments

Joseph’s Birth—A View From Quantum Mechanics and Biology

Joseph’s Birth—A View From Quantum Mechanics and Biology

And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. (Genesis 30:21) In my previous essay, “The Conflict Between Joseph And His Brothers—A Gender Theory,” I suggested that Joseph exhibited some proclivity to feminine behavior in his youth. This impression can be naturally inferred from the verses and supported by traditions in Kabbalah related to Isaac, Joseph, and Benjamin, as we discussed in that essay. To be sure, Joseph outgrew his feminine tendencies (perhaps assisted by the tough love shown to him by his brothers). He matured into a man who was not only a husband, a father, and the de facto ruler of Egypt, but an archetype of masculinity and a paradigm of piety, for which he earned the designation of Joseph, the Righteous (Yosef HaTzadik). Moreover, spiritually, Joseph personified Yesod [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-24T20:42:06-05:00December 23rd, 2020|Bereshit, Biology, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Genesis, Miketz, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Science, Superposition, Uncategorized, Vayeshev, Vayigash|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

Jacob’s Struggle With a Man: A Metaphor From Neuroscience

Jacob’s Struggle With a Man: A Metaphor From Neuroscience

So the present passed over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said: “Let me go, for the day breaketh.” (Genesis 32:23–26) The story of Jacob wrestling with a “man” is yet another of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-07T17:30:25-05:00December 4th, 2020|Bereshit, Biology, Dreams, Genesis, Neuroscience, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Science, Uncategorized, Vayishlach|0 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

Jacob and Esau—Thermodynamics of Order and Chaos

Jacob and Esau—Thermodynamics of Order and Chaos

And these are the chronicles of Isaac… (Genesis 25:19) So Esau went unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives that he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. (Genesis 28:9) This Torah portion is called Toledot. In Hebrew, toledot means “generations” or “chronicles.” Indeed, this Torah portion starts with the phrase, “These are the chronicles of Isaac.” This is not the first or the last time this word appears in Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures). It appears for the first time in the opening verse of chapter 2 of Genesis: These are the chronicles of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Eternal G‑d made earth and heaven. (Genesis 2:4) The second time it appears in [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-24T11:50:04-05:00November 23rd, 2020|Bereshit, Creation, Exodus (Shemot), Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Superposition, Symmetry, Thermodynamics, Time, Toledot, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Steering Isaac’s Blessing

Steering Isaac’s Blessing

And Rebekah spoke unto Jacob, her son, saying: “Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying: Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Eternal before my death. Now, therefore, my son, hearken to my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury food for thy father, such as he loveth; and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, so that he may bless thee before his death.” And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother: “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. My father peradventure will feel me, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-24T22:04:03-05:00November 22nd, 2020|Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Genesis, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Symmetry, Toledot, Uncategorized|0 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

Hagar and Keturah II—Exegetical Parsimony and Structuralism

Hagar and Keturah II—Exegetical Parsimony and Structuralism

And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. (Genesis 25:1) The Written Torah (Torah shebi-Khtav) tells us only that Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. The oral Torah (Torah shebeal-Peh) provides more details. The midrash Genesis Rabbah quotes Rabbi Judah the Prince arguing that Keturah was none other than Hagar, who returned to Abraham and was renamed: Keturah: This is Hagar. She was called Keturah because her deeds were as pleasant as keturah (incense), and because she remained chaste (katrah, from the Aramaic for “restrained”) and did not consort with another man from the day she separated from Abraham. (Genesis Rabbah 61:5) The Western Targumim,[1] Zohar, Rashi, and Maharal[2] take the same position, citing this midrash in their commentaries on this verse (Genesis 25:1). Other classical commentators, such as [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-15T22:42:07-05:00November 13th, 2020|Uncategorized|0 Comments

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