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Torah – Five Books of Moses

And there was Evening and there was Morning: Quantum Mechanics in Genesis

This essay explores a novel parallel between quantum mechanical principles and the biblical creation narrative through etymological analysis of the Hebrew terms “erev” (evening) and “boker” (morning). The study reveals that these terms, which punctuate each day of creation in Genesis, carry meanings that remarkably align with fundamental quantum concepts. "Erev," rooted in the concept of "mixture," parallels quantum superposition, while "boker," stemming from differentiation and discernment, mirrors quantum measurement and wave function collapse.

By |2024-10-31T23:40:03-04:00October 30th, 2024|Bereishit, Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Entanglement, Genesis, G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Science, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|1 Comment
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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 [...]

By |2024-09-26T20:09:12-04:00September 25th, 2024|Creation, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Kabbalah, Ki Tavo, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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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 [...]

By |2024-07-26T18:53:06-04:00July 26th, 2024|Bamitbar, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Pinchas, Reincarnation, Sefirot, Uncategorized, Zohar|0 Comments
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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 [...]

By |2024-06-23T21:50:37-04:00April 14th, 2024|Kabbalah, Leviticus, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Space, Spirituality, Tazria, Time, Uncategorized, Vayikra|0 Comments
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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 [...]

By |2024-04-02T21:26:16-04:00April 1st, 2024|Biology, Chemistry, Leviticus, Malachi, Parshah, Purim, Sefirot, Standard Model, Symmetry, Tanakh, Tzav, Uncategorized, Vayikra|0 Comments
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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 [...]

By |2024-02-05T15:05:18-05:00February 4th, 2024|Bayesian probability, Collapse of the wavefunction, Exodus (Shemot), G‑d, Kabbalah, Neuroscience, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Reincarnation, Superposition, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Wavefunction of G‑d, Yitro|2 Comments
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Time and Space as Emergent Phenomena — Abstract

The current Torah portion Beshalach tells about the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. As I discussed in my essay, “Collapse and Revelation,” the splitting of the sea is a metaphor for the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics. The Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya, taught us to leiben min hatzait (“to live with the time,” that is, to leave with the current reading of the Torah). Maybe this is why, this week, when we read in the Torah portion Beshalach about the splitting of the sea, I finally understood where time comes from. This question haunted me for more than forty years. Finally, this week, I got it—time emerges through the interaction of consciousness with the universal wave function, causing the sequence of wave function collapses that we perceive as [...]

By |2024-01-25T23:30:32-05:00January 25th, 2024|Beshalach, Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Exodus (Shemot), Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Philosophy, Physics, Quantum Theory, Science, Shemot, Space, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|3 Comments
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On Freedom of Choice, Divine Providence, and the Hard Problem of Philosophy

The story of Joseph and his brothers, described in the Torah portion of Vayeshev, presents many problems. Classical biblical commentators interpret the conflict between Joseph and his brothers in diametrically opposite ways. Some commentators interpret it literally—the brothers were guilty of conspiring to kill Joseph and, ultimately, selling him into slavery, for which they were held accountable.[1] In fact, the brothers admit their guilt: And they said one to another: ‘We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear. . . . Genesis 42:21 Others take the view that these events were predetermined by G‑d. Indeed, in the Covenant Between the Parts, G‑d reveals to Abraham that his descendants will be strangers in a foreign land. Furthermore, [...]

By |2023-12-10T21:25:00-05:00December 10th, 2023|Bereshit, Genesis, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Philosophy, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Uncategorized, Vayeshev, Wavefunction|0 Comments
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The Exclusion Principle

Like most Jewish families worldwide, last Shabbat, the conversation revolved around the situation in the Middle East and the war in Gaza. The question was, what is the end game? How will this war end after IDF destroys Hamas? The United States, no doubt, will push for the Two-State “solution.” But will such a solution be viable? My wife, Leah, ’שתחי, chimed in, “The two-state solution is not viable because the exclusion principle forbids it.” I immediately understood what she meant. It was a deep insight that captured the very essence of the problem. Leah was also trained as a physicist (in fact, we met at a physics conference). Although she specialized in biophysics, she is familiar with quantum mechanics and spoke to me in the language we both understood. What is the [...]

By |2024-01-07T18:15:32-05:00November 5th, 2023|Atomic Theory, Bereshit, Genesis, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Uncategorized, Vayeira|0 Comments
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Entrainment by the Red Heifer

And for the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the purification from sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel. Numbers 19:17 In my essay “Paradox of the Red Heifer,” I proposed a mechanism by which the ashes of the red heifer remove the impurity of death, where I analogized the procedure with resuscitation using a defibrillator.[1] In this essay, I propose an additional mechanism based on the phenomenon of entrainment, which I will explain below. Entrainment In physics and biology, entrainment refers to the synchronization of two or more rhythmic cycles.[2] This concept can apply to various systems, from physical phenomena to biological rhythms. Here are a few examples: Physics. In mechanical systems, entrainment refers to the process whereby two interacting oscillating systems assume the [...]

By |2023-07-06T19:54:37-04:00July 3rd, 2023|Biology, Chemistry, Chukat, Ezekiel, Mathematics, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Science, Soul, Spirituality, Uncategorized|1 Comment
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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 [...]

By |2024-06-07T19:20:24-04:00May 25th, 2023|Bamidbar, Bamitbar, Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Theory, Sefirot, Standard Model, Symmetry, Uncategorized|1 Comment
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Light Above and Light Below

Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity (STR) is broadly misunderstood by the public. In most popular science books, relativity theory is hailed for introducing relativity to physics. Whereas Newtonian physics embraces absolute space and time—the narrative goes—Einstein proved that space and time are relative. Fair enough. However, the relativity of space and time is the consequence of STR, not its first principle. The cornerstone of STR is the absolute nature of light or, more precisely, the invariance of the speed of light, which is the same (in a vacuum) in all inertial frames of reference.[1] As Tim Maudlin, a leading contemporary philosopher of physics, writes: The fundamental feature of the Special Theory is not what it makes relative but what it makes absolute. The speed of light is an invariant quantity under the transformation [...]

By |2023-03-19T11:17:27-04:00March 16th, 2023|Bereishit, Bereshit, Genesis, G‑d, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Relativity, Science, Uncategorized|2 Comments
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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 [...]

By |2023-01-27T00:05:18-05:00January 23rd, 2023|Creation, Kabbalah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|0 Comments
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The Flood—a Quantum Metaphor

Noah’s flood was a cataclysmic event with no parallels in recorded history. All of humanity (along with flora and fauna)—except for Noah and his family (and the animals he took with him into the Ark)—was wiped off the face of the earth. Some may call this catastrophic event the Great Extinction, others, the Great Destruction, but I would call it the Great Collapse. If we focus not only on what the Torah says but also on what it tells us, we notice that the Deluge is a metaphor for the collapse of the wave function—the key concept in quantum mechanics. We often talked about the wave function collapse on this blog. However, for those who come here for the first time or feel they need a refresher, here is a very short summary [...]

By |2024-06-23T22:02:43-04:00November 4th, 2022|Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Genesis, Noach, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Superposition, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments
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The Tree of Knowledge as a Quantum-Mechanical Metaphor

To Mendel Almost three years ago, in December of 2019, I posted an essay, "The Tree of Knowledge as a Metaphor for Superposition of States and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle." The manuscript of that essay contained an addendum with a short primer on the superposition of states in quantum mechanics and quantum-mechanical treatment of the primordial sin. It expressed the ideas of Maimonides about primordial sin in precise mathematical formulas proving the exact parallel between the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and a quantum eraser. Realizing that only people familiar with the formalism of quantum mechanics would understand that part of the essay and fearing losing my readers, I decided to omit the addendum entirely. However, the addendum is arguably the most interesting part of the essay, because it [...]

By |2022-10-21T17:10:50-04:00October 20th, 2022|Bereishit, Bereshit, Genesis, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Mathematics, Mathematics, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Eraser, Quantum Theory, Science, Superposition, Superposition, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle|1 Comment
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Curses, Blessings, and Semiconductors

Ki Tavo And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. (Deuteronomy 11:29)These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are passed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin; and these shall stand upon mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice: Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up [...]

By |2022-09-18T15:50:32-04:00September 18th, 2022|Atomic Theory, Deuteronomy, Ki Tavo, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Uncategorized|1 Comment
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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.

By |2022-09-14T18:34:45-04:00September 12th, 2022|Deuteronomy, Devarim, Kabbalah, Ki Teitzei, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|0 Comments
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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 |2021-10-05T16:43:54-04:00October 4th, 2021|Fractals, Genesis, Kabbalah, Mathematics, Noach, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|1 Comment
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