Collapse of the wavefunction

Fitting Pieces of the Puzzle Together

Fitting Pieces of the Puzzle Together

Meditations on the Maaseh Merkavah – IV This is the fourth and the final installment in the series of posts related to Ezekiel’s prophesy, Ma’aseh Merkava, “The Making of the Chariot.” For background information, refer to the previous posts, “Space – Between Future and Past,” “Relational Space,” and “Collapse of the Wave Function.” Regular readers of my blog may be wondering about my last post “Futurist Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,” which was about my new interpretation of quantum mechanics. This is not a physics blog, however; the Quantum Torah blog is about Torah and physics (or, more broadly, Torah and science). What did the last post have to do with Torah? Hopefully, it will all now become clear. Last Shavuot I had a very unusual experience. Sitting in shul listening to the reading [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-06-21T13:21:11-04:00June 21st, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Ezekiel, Freedom, G‑d, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Physics, Quantum Theory, Relativity, Science, Sefirot, Shavuot, Spirituality, Superposition, Time, Topology, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|2 Comments

Futurist Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

(A popular summary of the paper “Towards Futuristic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics” by Alexander Poltorak being currently prepared for publication) Quantum mechanics (QM) is one of the most successful theories of physics that withstood the test of time. Indeed, it is one of the best-tested theories known to science. Yet, we hardly advanced in our understanding of the meaning of QM since its inception almost a century ago. The indeterministic nature of the theory puts it at odds with both classical physics and our intuition, and continues to perplex physicists and philosophers of science today as it perplexed Einstein, who famously said, “G‑d does not play dice with the universe!” Superposition and entanglement seem to defy common sense and, yet, they have been confirmed experimentally time and again. The phenomenon known as the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-06-21T07:41:52-04:00June 19th, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Physics, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Relativity, Science, Superposition, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|5 Comments

Collapse of the Wave Function

Collapse of the Wave Function

Meditations on the Maaseh Merkavah – III This is the third installment in the series of posts related to the Ezekiel’s prophesy, Maaseh Merkava, “The Making of the Chariot.” For background information, the reader is referred to my previous posts, “Space – Between Future and Past” and “ Relational Space.” As I wrote in the first post, “Space – Between Future and Past,” Sefirot line up against four letters of Tetragrammaton, Y‑H‑W‑H, as follows: Yud י Chokhmah, Abba Heh ה Binah, Imma Waw ו Six Lower Sephirot (Z”A) Heh ה Malchut The first two letters of the proper name of G‑d, Y‑H‑W‑H – Havayah, or Tetragrammaton – are י “Yud” (sometimes transliterated as "Yod") and ה “Heh” (sometimes transliterated as "Hey" or "He"). During the reading of the Ezekiel’s prophesy Maaseh Merkava [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-06-19T03:41:47-04:00June 18th, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Ezekiel, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Kabbalah, Names of G‑d, Physics, Quantum Theory, Sefirot, Shavuot, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Zohar|2 Comments

The Entangled Tenth

The Entangled Tenth

And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.” (Leviticus 27:32) This Shabbat, I was called up to the Torah for the last aliyah (lit. “ascent”, meaning the reading from the Scroll) of the book of Leviticus. This portion talks about tithing animals, giving the precise procedure for doing so – every animal is released from a pen one by one while being counted – one, two, three, … , ten. The tenth animal is touch by the rode and consecrated as the ma’aser – tithe. The Torah states that every tenth animal is holy unto G‑d. What is the state of the animals before counting? They have two possible states: (1) chulin, i.e., “not sacred” and (2) ma’aser, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-06-02T11:37:10-04:00June 2nd, 2019|Bechukotai, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Leviticus, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Sefirot, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments

Quantum Torah Film Premiere

Welcome to the premiere of our first film, Quantum Torah. You can watch the film here: https://youtu.be/uTrMj80k6QE Don't forget to subscribe to my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNVwLUClNUXVBqJUI9A47AQ/

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-02-28T17:44:14-05:00February 28th, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Entanglement, G‑d, Physics, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Resurrection, Science, Soul, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Yom Kippur|1 Comment

Quantum Torah — Film Premiere

Quantum Torah — Film Premiere

I am excited to announce that the premiere of our film "Quantum Torah" is scheduled for this Friday, March 1st. You can see the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXIq3entXOY&t=1s Not to miss the premiere, subscribe to my channel, Quantum Torah on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNVwLUClNUXVBqJUI9A47AQ I look forward to your comments. See you on YouTube!

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-02-24T17:22:20-05:00February 24th, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Physics, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Science, Superposition, Uncategorized|1 Comment

Quantum Torah with Alexander Poltorak film

Coming soon to a theater near you. Watch a trailer: https://youtu.be/Qzr3Ynrpkkk

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-02-02T14:55:48-05:00February 2nd, 2019|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Physics, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Resurrection, Science, Shabbat, Soul, Spirituality, Superposition, Wavefunction, Yom Kippur|2 Comments

Day Six – the State of Superposition

Day Six – the State of Superposition

And G‑d saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good, and it was evening and it was morning, the sixth day. (Gen. 1:31) The Biblical narrative of creation concludes with the above verse. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (a.k.a. Rashi) comments on this verse: the sixth day: Scripture added a “hey” on the sixth [day], at the completion of the Creation, to tell us that He stipulated with them, [“you were created] on the condition that Israel accept the Five Books of the Torah.” [The numerical value of the “hey” is five.] (Tanchuma Bereishith 1). Another explanation for “the sixth day”: They [the works of creation] were all suspended until the “sixth day,” referring to the sixth day of Sivan, which was prepared for the giving of the Torah (Shab. 88a). [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-10-10T14:40:55-04:00October 10th, 2018|Bereishit, Bereshit, Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|1 Comment

Sabbatical Year – when the Wavefunctions are Collapsed

The Torah portion, Re’eh, talks about the Sabbatical Year—in Hebrew, Shemitah—the Seventh year. When the Sabbatical year comes, all loans are forgiven, and Jewish servants go free. This is difficult to understand. Why would a lender forgive a loan just because it’s the seventh year in the Shemitah cycle? Why would slaves be set free just because it’s the Sabbatical year? Another question is why do we translate Shemitah as the “Sabbatical year”? Besides the fact that it is the seventh year, and Shabbat is the seventh day, what connects the word “shemitah” with Shabbat? As Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg writes in Biblical Hebrew Etymology, (see Re’eh: The Slippery Year? – The Wonders of the Holy Tongue), the three-letter root of the word “shemitah” – Shin-Mem-Tet – connote falling, collapsing, slipping, weakening, or disintegration. The two-letter [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-08-17T12:28:16-04:00August 17th, 2018|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Parshah, Passover (Pesach), Pentateuch (Chumash), Re'eh, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments

Re’eh – the Power of Seeing the Blessings

Re’eh – the Power of Seeing the Blessings

The Torah portion Re’eh, begins with the verse: Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. (Deut. 11:26) The first word of this verse, re’eh, literally means “see” in Hebrew. So, literally, this verse should be translated as: See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse Spoken words are heard, not seen. Why did Moses implore people to see, as he was about to set before them a blessing and a curse? To understand this, we need to look at the following verses defining the blessing and the cure: The blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your G‑d… (Deut. 11:27) …and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord your G‑d… (Deut. 11:28) Does this [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-08-26T16:42:26-04:00August 12th, 2018|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Re'eh, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|6 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

Symmetry and Love — Jewish Chromodynamics

Symmetry and Love — Jewish Chromodynamics

Ye are standing this day all of you before the Lord your G‑d: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water; that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the Lord thy G‑d—and into His oath—which the Lord thy G‑d maketh with thee this day. (Deut. 29:9-11) The above verses at the beginning of the Torah portion Nitzavim that is always read in the week preceding the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah, are usually interpreted in terms of the unity of Jewish people: You are standing this day all of you [read: standing together in perfect unity]. This is not [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-04-01T23:41:15-04:00September 13th, 2017|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Mathematics, Mathematics, Nitzavim, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Rosh HaShanah, Science, Superposition, Symmetry, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Half-Shekel – Metaphor for Entanglement

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 a shekel shall be an offering to the Lord Ex. 30:13 In this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa (Ex. 30), Jewish people are given the commandment of donating a coin as atonement, not just a coin – half a coin. But why half? If G‑d thought, twenty gerahs would be too much, He could have commanded Moses to mint another coin worth ten gerahs. But no, the coin was to remain what it was—worth twenty gerahs—and Jews were to give half a coin. Don’t you find it peculiar? I don’t, because half-coins are the favorite metaphor for explaining quantum entanglement. What is entanglement? When obtaining information about one [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-02-20T15:23:07-05:00March 16th, 2017|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Exodus (Shemot), Ki Tisa, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Quantum Theory, Shemot, Superposition, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Five Worlds

Five Worlds

Today, Yud Shvat, is the yartzeit (anniversary of passing) of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, a.k.a. the Rebbe Rayatz, or the Frierdiker Rebbe. On the day of his yartzeit, it is customary to study his last maamar (Chassidic discourse), Basi LeGani. One of the themes expounded in the first chapter of this discourse is the concepts of four worlds: Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah (collectively referred to as ABYA). Actually, in Kabbala and Chassidic philosophy, we speak of five worlds and the “world,” which precedes Atzilut is call Adam Kadmon (Primordial Man, often referred to by its acronym as the A”K). In this post, I will draw a parallel between these spiritual worlds and stages of the creation of our physical world. Why do that? It is axiomatic in Jewish mysticism [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-05-23T19:06:38-04:00February 6th, 2017|Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Kabbalah, Physics, Quantum Theory, Science, Sefirot, Sefirot, Space, Spirituality, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments

Miracle of Chanukah—Seeing and not Collapsing

Miracle of Chanukah—Seeing and not Collapsing

As I wrote in my post, Schrödinger Menorah: Burning And Not Burning, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, explains the miracle of Chanukah as a paradox of the menorah (chanukiah or hanukkiah) burning and not burning, thereby embodying the absolute nature of G‑d, who is not limited by His infinity and combines all possibilities including the infinitude (ko’ach bli gvul) and the finitude (ko’ach hagvul). The notion of the menorah burning and not burning easily lends itself to be cast in terms of the quantum superposition of states of burning and not burning. I couldn’t help myself to call it the Schrödinger Menorah. There a couple of problems, however, with this idea. Firstly, as the Rebbe wrote in 1971 in a letter to the editor of the Journal of the Association of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-12-15T19:59:10-05:00December 26th, 2016|Chanukah, Collapse of the wavefunction, G‑d, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized|5 Comments

Standing and Moving

Standing and Moving

According to the Saadia Gaon, these two Torah portions – Nitzavim and Vayelech – are really one portion, which sometimes is split into two. In the language of Quantum Mechanics (QM), the two portions are entangled, in a manner of speech, and are described by the single "wavefunction." Needless to say, this is not meant in a literal sense, as QM describes physical objects, whereas these biblical chapters are certainly not. Nevertheless, taking poetic license, we can loosely say that these portions are entangled, i.e., they are really one. Nitzavim and Vayelech, however, speak of the opposite themes – “nitzavim” connotes standing( lit., you stand), while “vayelech” connotes walking (lit., …and he walked). As much as it seems paradoxical at first, from the physicist’s point of view, it is not surprising at all. Typically, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-15T22:53:46-04:00October 9th, 2016|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Devarim, Entanglement, Nitzavim, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Rosh HaShanah, Superposition, Uncategorized, Vayelech, Wavefunction|1 Comment

When was the World Created?

When was the World Created?

There is a dispute in the Talmud as to when the world was created. According to Rabbi Eliezer, the world was created in the month of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar when we celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah. According to Rabbi Yehoshua, the world was created in the first month of the year, the month of Nisan (Talmud, tr. Rosh HaShanah, 10b). The Hassidic thought attempts to reconcile these opposite opinions, suggesting that both opinions are correct—the world was created in Nisan in thought, whereas in deed, it was created in Tishrei. The problem with this approach is that for halakhic (Jewish ritual law) purposes of calculating the Jewish calendar, the planets are deemed to have commenced their heavenly orbits in Nisan, not in Tishrei. How could planets that [...]

By webadmin|2024-04-09T15:56:17-04:00January 25th, 2016|Age of the Universe, Collapse of the wavefunction, Cosmology, Creation, Rosh Chodesh, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|6 Comments

Fig of Rabbi Akiva

What came first, the Schrödinger cat or the fig of Rabbi Akiva? You be the judge. Today we present a guest post by Rabbi Dr. David Kagan. Fig of Rabbi Akiva By Rabbi David Kagan, Ph.D. If Trumah (Trumah is a tithe separated from produce and given to a priest (Kohen) to be eaten with strict laws of purity) is mixed into ordinary food (chulin), and if the ratio of trumah to chulin is less than 1:100, the Trumah is nullified (batel) and the mixture may be eaten as ordinary food. (The law of nullification, bitul, applies to mixtures of two types of food – one being forbidden one allowed. With certain ratios, the minority is nullified and it has the same status as the majority. For example, if some non-kosher food was mixed [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-03-17T16:12:11-04:00June 21st, 2015|Collapse of the wavefunction, Deuteronomy, Devarim, Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Septuagint—Collapsing the Wave-function of the Torah

Today is the eighth day of the month of Tevet. On the 8th of Tevet of the Jewish year 3515 (246 BCE), the Torah was translated into Greek. In the ancient times, this day was commemorated by fast. Seventy sages translated the Torah into Greek for King Ptolemy. That day was as difficult for the people of Israel as the day on which the [Golden] Calf was made; for the Torah could not be fully translated. (Babylonian Talmud, Tr. Sefer Torah, 1:8) Why does the Talmud compare translation of Torah into Greek to the tragedy of Golden Calf that brought terrible retribution the consequence of which we still suffer today? According to Medrash Tanchuma, Moses translated Torah into seventy languages before Jews crossed Jordan river on the way to the Promised land. Moreover, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2014-12-30T19:52:29-05:00December 30th, 2014|Collapse of the wavefunction, Pentateuch (Chumash), Uncategorized|1 Comment

On Tzimtzum, Sefirot and Cardinal Numbers

Today is Yud Tes Kislev -- Rosh HaShanah of Chasidut. Today I received two gifts, which I'd like to share. Lately, while learning Samach Vov, I've been struggling to understand the meaning of Sefirot Ein Keitz. Today, during shacharis shemone esreh, it donned upon me that the literal meaning of Sefirot Ein Keitz is infinite numbers. I suddenly realized that while Sefirot after the Tzimtzum are ordinary numbers, Sefirot before Tzimtzum—Sefirot Ein Keitz—are cardinal numbers developed by the mathematician Georg Cantor at the end of the 19 c. Later during the day, I got the second epiphany that Tzimtzum is the collapse of the universal wavefunction describing the creation. Before Tzimtzum, all creations were in the state of "yecholot" -- potentialities. After the Tzimtzum, i.e., after the collapse of the wavefuction, these potentialities actualized in specific [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2016-01-24T12:30:41-05:00December 11th, 2014|Collapse of the wavefunction, Creation, Mathematics, Quantum Theory, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Wavefunction of G‑d|1 Comment

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