The Golden Calf as Hysteresis
לע”נ אמי מורתי רחל ב”ר דוד ע”ה The sin of the Golden Calf is among the most bewildering episodes in the Torah. A people who
March 8, 2026 / 19 Adar 5786
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Exodus (Shemot)
Exodus as a First-Order Phase Transition
Dedicated to the speedy and complete recovery of Rachel bat Sarah Introduction The Exodus from Egypt (Yetziat Mitzrayim) can be read as a rapid collective
January 31, 2026 / 13 Shevat 5786
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Urim and Thummim as a Metaphor for Science
By Alexander Poltorak Introduction In the first installment of this essay, “Collapsing the Wave Function of Urim and Thummim,”[1] we discussed the inherent duality of
May 11, 2025 / 13 Iyyar 5785
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Divine Fine-Tuning and the Evolution of Physical Laws
By Alexander Poltorak Introduction The relationship between the laws of physics and the conditions necessary for life is among the most profound mysteries in both
March 30, 2025 / 1 Nisan 5785
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Collapsing the Wave Function of Urim and Thummim
By Alexander Poltorak Dedicated to the refuah shaleimah (a complete and speedy recovery) of David ben Leah And thou shalt put in the breastplate of
March 12, 2025 / 12 Adar 5785
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Eternity Between the Cherubs
By Alexander Poltorak And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the cover, from between the two cherubim
March 2, 2025 / 2 Adar 5785
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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
February 4, 2024 / 25 Shevat 5784
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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
January 25, 2024 / 15 Shevat 5784
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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
January 29, 2021 / 16 Shevat 5781
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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)
January 11, 2021 / 27 Tevet 5781
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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
November 23, 2020 / 7 Kislev 5781
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The Surrounding Light and the Penetrating Light
The Torah portion Vayakhel deals with the construction of the Mishkan, i.e., the “Tabernacle.” In Kabbalah, the Mishkan is viewed as a microcosm that represents
March 23, 2020 / 27 Adar 5780
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Ki Tisa Hints at the Coronavirus
On the Eve of Shabbat, we received a government mailing containing documents that we were required to fill out and send back to the Census
March 16, 2020 / 20 Adar 5780
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Ye shall be disentangled… but not disengaged
In my post, “Ye Shall be Disentangled,” I suggested that the verse: “Ye shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your G‑d, am holy” (Levit.
May 8, 2019 / 3 Iyyar 5779
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Vectors, Spins, and Gender
Vectors, Spins, and Gender Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me an offering; from every person whose heart inspires him
February 10, 2019 / 5 Adar I 5779
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Half-Shekel – Metaphor for Entanglement
This they shall give, everyone who goes through the counting: half a shekel according to the holy shekel. Twenty gerahs equal one shekel; half of
March 16, 2017 / 18 Adar 5777
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Entangled Cherubs
And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the ark-cover. And make one
March 4, 2017 / 6 Adar 5777
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Relativity of Manna
This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded: Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to
January 24, 2016 / 14 Shevat 5776
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Thou Shall Not Be a Flipper
Reading the Haftorah this Shabbat brought to mind scenes from the 2004 Republican National Convention in Madison Square Garden in New York City where attendees where
February 18, 2014 / 18 Adar I 5774
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Global or Local?
And let them make me a Sanctuary that I may dwell among them (Ex. 25:8) In modern physics, there are two paradigms usually expressed as locality
February 2, 2014 / 2 Adar I 5774
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Convergence of Science and Torah
The Torah portion of Yitro (Ex. 18), is the high point of the story of Exodus—the giving of the Decalogue on Mount Sinai. In a strange
January 20, 2014 / 19 Shevat 5774
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Manna – Superposition of All Tastes
And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna; and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers
January 13, 2014 / 12 Shevat 5774
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Splitting of the Sea
Do you like riddles? Here is a riddle – what do these two figures represent in the context of Exodus? No Idea? How about
January 12, 2014 / 11 Shevat 5774
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Riddle — the answer
And the answer is… (drum roll, please) Yes, the first figure represents two doorposts and the lintel marked with blood of Passover sacrifice and circumcisions as
January 10, 2014 / 9 Shevat 5774
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Riddle — a hint
There were some good ideas expressed in the comments. Close, but no cigars. Here are some hints for you folks: 1. These two pictures express
January 10, 2014 / 9 Shevat 5774
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Mezuzah and Time
Bo: Exodus 10:1 – 14:16 The Erev Shabbat parshat Bo (the Eve of Sabbath of the week when we read the Torah section Bo) 2014
January 5, 2014 / 4 Shevat 5774
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Carpe Diem
As we have discussed in the post, It’s the time, stupid, Pharaoh never got the message that it’s all about mastery of time. To make
January 2, 2014 / 1 Shevat 5774
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It’s the Time, Stupid!
There is a continuous thread about the mastery of time that weaves through the last chapters of the book of Genesis (Bereshit) and continues through
December 31, 2013 / 28 Tevet 5774
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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
February 1, 2013 / 21 Shevat 5773
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