Bereshit

Genesis — the First Book of Torah

Tishrei — Past, Present, and Future

Tishrei — Past, Present, and Future

The months of Tishrei is full of holidays, and they all share a common theme—the unification of time—past, present, and future. Picart, Blowing of the Shofars on Rosh Hashanah It all starts with Rosh HaShanah. Traditionally translated as the New Year, it literally means the Head of the Year. The word shanah has the same letters as the word shinui — “change.” As Aristotle famously wrote, time is change. The sages of Kabbalah agree—time, in its essence, is change. Thus, Rosh HaShanah can be translated as the Head of Time, or the Beginning of Time (since a related Hebrew word, reshit means the “beginning”). Indeed, it is all about time. Rosh HaShanah has three main themes—Ziḥronot (remembrances), Shofrot (Sounds of the Shofar), and Malkhiot or Kabalat Ol Malkhut Shamayim (acceptance of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2023-10-17T22:54:50-04:00September 29th, 2018|Bereishit, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Pentateuch (Chumash), Rosh HaShanah, Simchat Torah, Sukkot, Sukkot, Time, Uncategorized, V'Zot HaBerachah, Yom Kippur|0 Comments

The Beard of the Long Face is Found

The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz (a.k.a. the Fridriker Rebbe) told the story about his father, the Rebbe Rashab. Once the brother of Rebbe Rashab, Rabbi Menachem Mendel (a.k.a. the RM”M) told him that he read in a magazine an article that stated that scientists found a nerve in the brain regulating the cognitive function so that when a person needed to remember something he would tilt his head looking up, whereas when the person needed to concentrate, he’d tilt his head down. The Rebbe Rashab took his brother to his study, took from the shelf a book by the Second Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Mittler Rebbe, in which it stated the same thing. The Rebbe Rashab said to his brother, “You’d think he was a doctor, but he wasn’t. He saw Adam [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-11-10T23:01:55-05:00August 31st, 2018|Bereshit, Biology, Genesis, Kabbalah, Neuroscience, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Science, Sefirot, Sefirot, Toledot, Uncategorized, Zohar|4 Comments

Grand Unification

Grand Unification

In physics, we seek Grand Unification, also known as the Theory of Everything. The Standard Model describes three out of the four fundamental forces: the strong (nuclear) force, the weak force (beta decay), and the electromagnetic force. The gravitational force, described by the General Theory of Relativity, does not fit into the Standard Model. Developing a quantum theory of gravity, and unifying gravity with the other three forces is the holy grail of theoretical physics. Jewish people are also in need of Grand Unification. There is a schism that runs through the history: it is the schism between Joseph (Yosef) and Judah (Yehuda). Judah represents a “shtetl yid,” a Jew who lives in a ghetto, who sits in a yeshivah, who learns Torah, and who sees the world outside as hostile, as a [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-12-10T23:07:02-05:00December 23rd, 2017|Bereshit, Chanukah, Deuteronomy, Ezekiel, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Kabbalah, Mashiach (Messiah), Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Resurrection, Science, Uncategorized, Vayigash|0 Comments

Dreams of Pharaoh—A Lesson in Symmetry

Dreams of Pharaoh—A Lesson in Symmetry

In the Torah portion Miketz, Pharaoh has two dreams. He wakes up agitated and calls on all the wise men of Egypt to interpret his dreams. Nobody is able to come up with an acceptable interpretation, so they fetch Joseph from prison and he successfully interprets the dreams of Pharaoh—that there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph proceeds to instruct Pharaoh on how to prepare for the seven years of famine. In the previous posts, "Interpreting Dreams" and "Joseph—the Master of Time," we already explained how Joseph was able to interpret dreams in terms of units of time and why Pharaoh appointed Joseph as the viceroy of Egypt. This story, however, still has mysteries to unlock. Perhaps it can teach us more lessons. In Talmudic and [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-20T14:57:57-05:00December 16th, 2017|Bereshit, Dreams, Genesis, Mathematics, Miketz, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Symmetry, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Joseph—the Master of Time

Joseph—the Master of Time

The story of Joseph’s incarceration ends with his successful interpretation of the dreams of the Pharaoh’s chief butler and the chief baker. He ingeniously interpreted ordinary objects (tendrils of grapes and baskets of bread) as symbols of the units of time (Interpreting Dreams). Even greater insight was Joseph’s understanding that the engagement in time, manifested by the chief butler’s personally squeezing the grapes into the cup and placing the cup in Pharaoh’s hand, symbolized life for the chief butler. Conversely, the passivity of the chief baker, who dreamt of baskets of bread sitting on his head, with birds eating from the baskets, symbolized the opposite of life. Girolamo Brusaferro [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-17T20:11:21-05:00December 14th, 2017|Bereshit, Dreams, Genesis, Miketz, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Time, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Abraham Meets Abraham From a Parallel Universe

Abraham Meets Abraham From a Parallel Universe

And he [Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him… (Genesis 18:2) On this blog, we often discuss the collapse of the wavefunction as the result of a measurement. This phenomenon is called the “measurement problem.” There are several reasons, for which the collapse of the wavefunction—part and parcel of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics—is considered a problem. Firstly, it does not follow from the Schrödinger equation, the main equation of quantum mechanics that describes the evolution of the wavefunction in time, and is added ad hoc. Second, nobody knows how the collapse happens or how long the wave function takes to collapse. This is not even to consider that any notion that the collapse of the wavefunction is caused by human consciousness, as proposed [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-09T20:52:37-05:00November 2nd, 2017|Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Genesis, Kabbalah, parallel universes, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Uncategorized, Vayeira, Wavefunction, Zohar|7 Comments

Joseph’s Sons

Joseph’s Sons

And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. And thy sons, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died unto me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some way to come unto Ephrath; and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath—the same is Beth-lehem.” And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said: “Wherefrom are these?” (Genesis 48:5-8) The above narrative in the Torah portion Vayechi is quite perplexing. It starts with a shocking pronouncement by Jacob that two [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-27T21:53:49-05:00January 15th, 2017|Bereshit, Genesis, Husband and wife, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized, Vayechi|2 Comments

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

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

The End of Days I

In this Torah portion, Vayechi, Jacob, gathers his children to reveal to them “Ketz HaYamim”–“the End of Days.” Rashi explains that Jacob’s intention was to reveal the date of the coming of Mashiach (Messiah). Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather and I will tell you what will happen to you at the end of days. (Gen. 4:1) However, he proceeds rebuking his sons without revealing to them the Ketz — End of Days. Rashi says that Jacob looked into the future and saw his children being in exile for a long time. Rashi says that the word “ketz” (end)—spelled in Hebrew Kof-Tzadik—has the numerical value of 190. (Kof=100, Tzadik=90. 100+90=190). Jacob gazed 190 years into the future and saw his children still enslaved in Egypt. He became depressed and Shechinah (Divine Presence) left him. [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-01-13T15:54:32-05:00January 2nd, 2015|Genesis, Mashiach (Messiah), Names of G‑d, Pentateuch (Chumash), Sefirot, Uncategorized, Vayechi|1 Comment

Joseph and His Brothers

Joseph and His Brothers

I grew up in Russia and was raised on the metric system based on decimal arithmetic. When we immigrated to the U.S., I had to learn a new for me (but, actually, very old) Imperial system of measurements. I still struggle with it (decimal system, apparently, was hardwired in my brain). There are many number-systems or positional notation systems. Ancient Babylonians used the base-60 system; the Hindu-Arabic system uses the familiar decimal base-10 system; the Mayans used the base-20 system. There are base-2 binary, base-12 duodecimal, and base-16 hexadecimal systems, to name a few. Aside from the binary system used by computers, we humans mostly use decimal and, sometimes, duodecimal systems. The all-familiar decimal system is used in the metric system of measurements. In base-10 positional notation, there are 10 decimal digits—0, 1, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-10T20:20:44-05:00December 14th, 2014|Bereshit, Chanukah, Genesis, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Husband and wife, Kabbalah, Mashiach (Messiah), Mathematics, Mathematics, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Science, Sefirot, Uncategorized, Vayeshev|1 Comment

Interpreting Dreams

Interpreting Dreams

In the Torah portion Vayeishev (Gen. 37:1–40:23), we read about Joseph interpreting dreams of the Pharaoh’s chief butler and the chief baker: And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him: “In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; and in the vine were three tendrils...” And Joseph said unto him: “This is the interpretation of it: the three tendrils are three days.” (Gen. 40:9-12) How did Joseph know that three tendrils are three days? The story repeats itself with the chief baker: When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph: “I also saw in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head…” “This is the interpretation thereof: the three baskets are three days.” (Gen. 40:16-18) Joseph interpreting [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-10T23:14:45-05:00November 24th, 2013|Bereshit, Dreams, Genesis, Miketz, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Time, Uncategorized, Vayeshev|3 Comments

Body Chemistry

Body Chemistry

Reading the Torah, sometimes, can give a false impression of reading a story, albeit the greatest story ever written. This Divine drama involves colorful characters, sophisticated plots, jealousy, sibling rivalry, deception, struggle, suffering, and every human emotion. The profound insight brought to light by the Kabbalah—the esoteric interpretation of Torah—was the realization that the human drama played out by Biblical characters is also a mashal—a metaphor or an allegory—that alludes to spiritual forces interacting in higher worlds. Actually, from the point of view of Jewish mysticism, whatever happens down here, first takes place in the spiritual worlds and only later[1] manifests itself in the physical realm. Every Biblical hero, from the point of view of the Kabbalah, is an embodiment and personification of a supernal spiritual archetype. Thus, physical Abraham, in the Kabbalah mysticism, is [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-27T10:24:10-05:00November 11th, 2013|Atomic Theory, Parshah, Uncategorized, Vayetze|1 Comment

Entangled Sisters

Entangled Sisters

The story of entangled twins is continuing in the Torah portion Vayeitzei (Genesis 28:10–32:3.) Structurally, it is very similar to the story in the previous Torah portion, Toldot (see “Entangled Twins”). In this portion, we again read about two entangled siblings—albeit, this time, sisters—about deception and spontaneous symmetry breaking. Two sisters were Rachel and Leah. Moreover, according to Midrash, Rachel and Leah were also twins (Seder Olam Rabbah).[1] As inseparable twins, they were “entangled,” as it were. They were somewhat opposite—one introvert, the other extrovert; one beautiful, the other, perhaps not so much (she had “weak eyes”): Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah’s eyes were weak; but Rachel was of beautiful form and fair to look upon (Genesis 29:17). Rachel and [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-11-26T16:59:43-05:00November 8th, 2013|Entanglement, Genesis, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Symmetry, Vayetze|0 Comments

The Entangled Twins

The Entangled Twins

Entanglement is often called the most baffling and the most quintessential aspect of quantum mechanics. What is entanglement, in a nutshell? Two particles born out of one reaction (or two particles that interacted through a collision) remain connected, no matter how distant from each other. A change in the status of one particle instantaneously causes a change in the status of the other particle. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance." Entanglement is often associated with a certain symmetry and corresponding conservation laws. For example, the law of conservation of angular momentum requires that the spin (the quantum-mechanical analog of the angular momentum) of two entangled particles always point in the opposite directions. This means that, if two entangled particles have their spin in a state of superposition of Up (↑) and Down (↓), and we collapse [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-11-07T21:37:36-05:00November 3rd, 2013|Bereshit, Entanglement, Genesis, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Purim, Quantum Theory, Symmetry, Toledot, Uncategorized|3 Comments

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