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Witnesses

Massei -- Bamidbar-Numbers 35 Whoever kills a person, based on the testimony of witnesses, he shall slay the murderer. A single witness may not testify against a person so that he should die. Bamidbar-Numbers 35:30 In this verse, the Torah states that a murderer can only be convicted based on testimony of live witnesses. Contrary to common law jurisprudence in the US and the UK, and civil law jurisprudence of most other western countries, circumstantial evidence cannot be used alone to convict according to the Torah law. (It may, however, be used to interrogate witnesses in order to ascertain their truthfulness or to acquit the accused.) The only basis for a Torah conviction is eye-witness testimony. This seems strange, though. Why, for example, may fingerprints or DNA evidence, which is, surely, incontrovertible, not be used to [...]

By |2013-08-11T13:55:16-04:00July 7th, 2013|Collapse of the wavefunction, Massei, Parshah, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Witnesses|2 Comments
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A curious Case of Retrocausality—Dead Inherit the Living

Pinchas You shall apportion the Land among these as an inheritance, in accordance with the number of names. To the large [tribe] you shall give a larger inheritance and to a smaller tribe you shall give a smaller inheritance, each person shall be given an inheritance according to his number. Only through a lot shall the Land be apportioned; they shall inherit it according to the names of their fathers' tribes. Bamidbar-Numbers 26:53-55 Albert Einstein and Kurt Gödel in Princeton Einstein once said that he only went to his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton to have an opportunity to chat on the way home with his friend, Viennese mathematician, Kurt Gödel. Once, the story goes, Gödel came to Einstein's birthday party with a present – a new cosmological solution [...]

By |2013-08-11T13:57:24-04:00July 5th, 2013|Entanglement, Parshah, Pinchas, Retrocausality, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|2 Comments
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Paradox of the Red Heifer

Speak to the children of Israel and have them take for you a perfectly red unblemished cow, upon which no yoke was laid… The cow shall then be burned in his presence… The one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water and cleanse his body in water, and he shall be unclean until evening… Anyone touching the corpse of a human soul shall become unclean for seven days. On the third and seventh days, he shall cleanse himself with it, so that he can become clean. But if he does not sprinkle himself with it on the third and seventh days, he shall not become clean… They shall take for that unclean person from the ashes of the burnt purification offering, and it shall be placed in a vessel [filled] with [...]

By |2023-06-29T21:43:11-04:00June 24th, 2013|Chukat, Entanglement, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Numbers, Parshah, Passover (Pesach), Pentateuch (Chumash), Space, Spirituality, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|1 Comment
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Tumah and Taharah

The Hebrew words taharah and tumah, which are the subjects of the Torah portion of Chukat (Numbers 19:1–22:1), are usually translated as ritual purity and ritual impurity respectively. This, of course, has nothing to do with physical purity or impurity, as these are strictly spiritual concepts. But what is a “spiritual concept” in the first place? The word “spiritual” is thrown around a lot by religious pundits and new age gurus. This word is anathema to scientists as anything spiritual is deemed to be antithetical to science. However, this word can be given a simple, precise and strictly scientific definition. (As Descartes famously said, most arguments would disappear if people bothered giving definitions to the concepts they argue about.) Well, one thing everyone would agree with, that spiritual is not physical. Since all [...]

By |2017-06-29T21:27:41-04:00June 19th, 2013|Chukat, Parshah, Spirituality, Time, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Koraḥ Disentangled

Koraḥ the son of Yitzhar, the son of Kehos, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dasan and Aviram, the sons of Eliav, and On the son of Peles, descendants of Reuven. Num. 16:1 There is a curious aspect to the story of Koraḥ’s rebellion. We can understand why Koraḥ (or Korach), being of the tribe of Levi, may have had a claim to the priesthood thus causing a rebellion against Mosheh and Aaron HaKohen, the High Priest.  The Torah tells us, however, that some Reubenites, that is, members of the tribe of Reuven, got entangled with the followers of Koraḥ in this rebellion as well.  But what did they have to do with it?  Not being descendants of Levi, they surely had no claim on the priesthood.  Why [...]

By |2023-06-22T22:05:44-04:00June 6th, 2013|Bamitbar, Entanglement, Korach, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|1 Comment
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The Theological Uncertainty Principle

I came across a post by Rabbi Herzl Hefter on Mekom Torah that I found so profound, I felt compelled to repost it here. The Theological Uncertainty Principle The Theological Uncertainty Principle emerges from the teachings of Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Leiner (1800-1854) (henceforth RMY) and his son Rabbi Yaakov Leiner both of Ishbica. Let us consider the following commentary offered by RMY in his work the Mei HaShiloah (henceforth MH) on Parshat Yitro: “I (in Heb., Anochi) am the Lord your G‑d”.  The verse does not state ‘Ani,’ for if it stated ‘Ani’ that would imply that the Holy One Blessed Be He revealed then the totality of His light to Israel, precluding the possibility of further delving into his words, for everything is already revealed. The letter “Kaf” (of Anochi), however, denotes that the [...]

By |2017-02-16T06:23:12-05:00February 1st, 2013|Creation, Exodus (Shemot), G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncertainty Principle, Yitro|1 Comment
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Jacob’s Ladder

And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the ground and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of G‑d were ascending and descending upon it. Gen. 28:12   Last night I dreamed of an atom with a ladder wedged in the nucleus of the atom, with electrons jumping up and down the ladder. For those readers unencumbered by the knowledge of atomic theory, a brief historical introduction may be in order. When the planetary theory of the atom was fir Ernest Rutherford st proposed by Ernest Rutherford in 1909, it depicted an atom as a solar system wherein a nucleus was positioned at the center of the atom, with electrons orbiting around the nucleus as planets orbit the Sun. However, there was a problem. According to Maxwell’s [...]

By |2017-11-23T09:03:25-05:00November 29th, 2012|Atomic Theory, Ezekiel, Genesis, Parshah, Physics, Quantum Theory, Science, Soul, Vayetze, Zohar|4 Comments
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Two Beginnings

B’reshit bara Elokim et hashamaim v’et haaretz… In the beginning, G‑d created heaven and earth… Alternative translation: With two beginnings G‑d created heaven and earth… Genesis 1:1   *This is an abridged and updated version of my paper “Towards Reconciliation of Biblical and Cosmological Ages of the Universe” Presented at the Third Miami International Conference on Torah & Science in Dec. of 1999 and published in B’Or HaTorah, 13 (2002) p. 19. Contemporary science places the age of the universe in the thirteen to fourteen billion years range, or 13.787 ± 0.02, [1] to be precise.  This age is derived from both theoretical models as well as experimental data.  (For an overview of theoretical and experimental approaches to dating the universe and our planet Earth see my original paper TOWARDS RECONCILIATION OF BIBLICAL AND [...]

By |2019-10-25T00:22:55-04:00October 12th, 2012|Age of the Universe, Bereishit, Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Cosmology, Creation, Entanglement, Genesis, G‑d, Kabbalah, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|4 Comments
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Matos-Massei – Annulment of Vows

A story is told about a bachur (an unmarried young man) who came in the 60s to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for the yechidus (private audience) telling the Rebbe that he wanted to go college. Those days, American colleges, by and large, were not exactly institutions of higher learning but, more often, venues for drugs, sex, and rock and roll. The Rebbe strongly advised the visitor against going to college, but the young man was hell-bound on going through with his plan. The Rebbe said to him, “Even if you don’t care about the spiritual dangers and impurity of such a place, I do! And you and I are connected. Why are you dragging me along with you?!” The moral of that story is simple—chasidim and their Rebbe are entangled together. Wherever a chasid [...]

By |2020-07-17T18:50:38-04:00July 23rd, 2012|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Husband and wife, Mattot, Parshah, Wavefunction|0 Comments
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Tale of Entangled Goats

And he shall take the two he goats, and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. And Aaron shall place lots upon the two he goats: one lot "For the Lord," and the other lot, "For Azazel." (Leviticus 16:7-8) In the last Torah portion, Metzorah, we learned about two entangled birds. This week, we learn about two entangled goats. I don’t know if these goats studied quantum mechanics, but they can sure teach us a thing or two about quantum entanglement. Entanglement is one of the mysteries of quantum mechanics. On a macro level, entanglement is easy to understand. Imagine a coin sawn into two halves along the plane parallel to the face of the coin. One half has only heads and the other half has only [...]

By |2019-05-04T18:27:10-04:00May 4th, 2012|Acharei Mot, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Leviticus, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Yom Kippur|1 Comment
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Leprous Cats and Angry Birds

In the Torah portion Tazriah (Leviticus 13), the Schrödinger cat[1] gets leprosy. Well, it’s not really leprosy, it’s a mysterious supernatural disease called tzara’as, nowadays translated as psoriasis. And it’s not a cat, but a Jew who gets afflicted by tzara’as. In fact, cats, other animals, and even gentiles (i.e., non-Jewish humans) are immune to this spiritual malady. So why do I call a poor Jew afflicted with tzara’as a “Schrödinger cat”? Because he sure acts like one. Indeed, had I not studied quantum mechanics and had I not learned about the collapse of the wave function[2] back at the university, I would have surely discovered it by reading this Torah portion (parshah)! A Jewish person with a skin lesion or boldness (present company excluded) is brought to a priest (kohen), who examines it [...]

By |2024-04-12T16:53:20-04:00April 30th, 2012|Bayesian probability, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Isaiah, Kabbalah, Metzora, Parshah, Quantum Theory, Superposition, Tazria, Tazria u’Metzora, Uncategorized, Zohar|1 Comment
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