Entanglement

Yom Kippur – Disentangling the Entangled

When G‑d created the first humans, Adam and Eve (Chavah), He created them as one. And G‑d created man in His own image, in the image of G‑d created He him; male and female created He them. (Gen. 1:27) Actually, as Midrash Rabbah (Gen. VIII:1) explains, Adam and Eve were created as one being as Siamese twins—attached by their side. When the story of the creation of Adam is repeated in the next chapter, it seems as a very different story: And the Lord G‑d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the place with flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord G‑d had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-09-24T22:38:12-04:00September 24th, 2015|Creation, Entanglement, Holidays (Yomim Tovim), Mashiach (Messiah), Randomness, Superposition, Uncategorized, Yom Kippur|0 Comments

Balak – Interference of Souls

Balak – Interference of Souls

Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. Moab became terrified of the people, for they were numerous, and Moab became disgusted because of the children of Israel. Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Now this assembly will eat up everything around us, as the ox eats up the greens of the field. Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. He sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of his people, to call for him, saying, "A people has come out of Egypt, and behold, they have covered the 'eye' of the land, and they are stationed opposite me. So now, please come and curse this people for me, for [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-10-15T23:12:39-04:00July 8th, 2015|Balak, Bamitbar, Entanglement, Ezekiel, Kabbalah, Mashiach (Messiah), Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Physics, Sefirot, Soul, Spirituality, Superposition, Tanakh, Uncategorized, Zohar|4 Comments

Phinehas – the Slayer of Uncertainty

Phinehas – the Slayer of Uncertainty

A strange episode at the end of the last Torah portion, Balak, where Phinehas (Pinchas) slain a Jewish prince caught in the act with a heathen woman, is rewarded in this week’s eponymous Torah portion with the priesthood. This begs the question, what is the connection between the act of zealotry by Phinehas and the reward of priesthood he receives for it? By way of background, as we read in the previous Torah portion, the evil king, Balak, fails to bring a curse on the Jewish people by Balaam (Bilam). According to Midrash, Balaam advises Balak to send most beautiful Midian women to seduce Jewish men (see Flavius Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter VI, Paragraphs 6-12). Balak heads the advice and uses Moabite and Midianite women to seduce Jewish men [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-07-22T22:52:15-04:00July 11th, 2014|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Pinchas, Superposition, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Prophesy by Entanglement

…And they prophesied in the camp. (Num. 11:27) In the Torah portion Behaalotecha, there is an interesting narrative: And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and speak with thee there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them… And the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders; and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2014-06-09T01:04:27-04:00June 9th, 2014|Bamitbar, Behaalotecha, Entanglement, Numbers, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|0 Comments

G‑d Collapses Sotah’s Wave Function

G‑d Collapses Sotah’s Wave Function

The story of Sotah, a suspected adulteress, is very troubling on the first blush. Why would a woman be subjected to such humiliation? The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, points out that, to the contrary, the story of Sotah is the story of the boundless love of the Creator for his people. Notwithstanding the strict Biblical prohibition of erasing G‑d’s name, to vindicate the wrongly accused woman, G‑d allows and, indeed, decrees to erase His holy Name by dissolving the scriptural verses written on a parchment in the water that the woman would drink to clear her name. For as long as a woman is being suspected of infidelity, she cannot be intimate with her husband. It takes a Divine intervention, whereby G‑d sacrifices His honor in allowing erasing His holy Name, [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-05-24T16:51:13-04:00June 1st, 2014|Bamitbar, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, G‑d, Husband and wife, Names of G‑d, Naso, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Superposition, Tanakh, Wavefunction, Witnesses|1 Comment

Suspected Adulteress as a Schrödinger Cat

Suspected Adulteress as a Schrödinger Cat

In quantum mechanics, the state of a physical system is described by the so-called wave function (or the "wavefunction"). All attempts by Schrödinger, who first introduced the wave function, and others to interpret it as a scalar potential of some physical field, or as the de Broglie wave (as in particle-wave dualism) were not successful. In 1926, Max Born noticed that the squared amplitude of the wavefunction of a particle in a given region gives the probability of finding the particle in this region. He suggested that the wavefunction represented not a physical reality but rather our knowledge of the quantum state of an object. The wave function represents our knowledge of all possible quantum-mechanical states of an object and their probabilities. In other words, the quantum-mechanical state of a physical system is [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2020-05-24T16:41:26-04:00May 30th, 2014|Bamitbar, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Husband and wife, Naso, Numbers, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Shavuot, Superposition, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|2 Comments

Ye Shall be Disentangled

Ye shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your G‑d, am holy. Leviticus 19:2 This Torah portion begins with an astonishing statement: Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord, your G‑d, am holy. Leviticus 19:2 The gist of this commandment is “Be kadosh (or pl., kedoshim) because I, the Lord, your G‑d, am kadosh.” The question is, what does the word “kadosh” mean. It is usually translated as “holy.” The word “holy” means sacred, sanctified, blessed, divine. But this translation presents a problem. It would be a tautology to say that G‑d is divine. It is also self-understood that G‑d is holy. He is the definition and the source of all that is divine and holy, i.e., godly. [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-05-08T09:58:17-04:00April 25th, 2014|Entanglement, G‑d, Kedoshim, Leviticus, Names of G‑d, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Space, Spirituality, Uncategorized, Vayikra, Wavefunction|0 Comments

Second Adar – The Month of Quantum Physics

Second Adar – The Month of Quantum Physics

Today is Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet – the New Moon and the beginning of the second month of Adar. If we ever to have a month commemorating quantum physics, there would be no more appropriate month for that than the second month of Adar – Adar Bet. A state of superposition is a physical state unique to quantum theory. In classical physics (such as Newtonian mechanics or thermodynamics) a physical system is either in one state or the other, say in a state A or a state B. Only in quantum physics a system can be in a blended state C which is a linear superposition of states A and B. For example, the spin of an electron can be either Up or Down. However, an electron can be in a blurred state of [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-03-07T13:39:00-05:00March 3rd, 2014|Atomic Theory, Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, G‑d, Names of G‑d, Purim, Quantum Theory, Randomness, Rosh Chodesh, Superposition, Time, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle|1 Comment

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 waving pictures of John Kerry chanting “Flip-flop, flip-flop…” referring to Kerry’s ever changing position on the war in Iraq (“First I voted for it, before I voted against it”) and other political issues. Former Governor of New York State, George Pataki, said there, “This year, we will win one for the Gipper, and they will lose one with the Flipper.” Kerry lost, as flippers usually do. This Haftorah (weekly portion of Prophets read publicly in Synagogues) starts with an astonishing statement of Elyahy Hanavi (Elijah the Prophet), “How long will you waver between two ideas? If the Lord is G‑d, follow Him, and if the Baal, follow him.” (Melachim-I [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2014-02-18T22:04:11-05:00February 18th, 2014|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Exodus (Shemot), G‑d, Ki Tisa, Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Shemot, Superposition, Tanakh, Uncategorized, Wavefunction, Wavefunction of G‑d|0 Comments

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 a hint? Still no idea? Okay, here is the answer: Yes, the first figure represents two doorposts and the lintel marked with the blood of Passover sacrifice, as it says: וְלָקְחוּ, מִן-הַדָּם, וְנָתְנוּ עַל-שְׁתֵּי הַמְּזוּזֹת, וְעַל-הַמַּשְׁקוֹף--עַל, הַבָּתִּים, אֲשֶׁר-יֹאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ, בָּהֶם And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. (Ex. 12:7) The second picture is of the splitting of the sea, as it says: וַיָּבֹאוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹךְ הַיָּם, בַּיַּבָּשָׁה; וְהַמַּיִם לָהֶם חוֹמָה, מִימִינָם וּמִשְּׂמֹאלָם And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-01-16T05:59:50-05:00January 12th, 2014|Beshalach, Collapse of the wavefunction, Dreams, Entanglement, Exodus (Shemot), Parshah, Pentateuch (Chumash), Quantum Theory, Shemot, Superposition, Time, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle|0 Comments

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

Witnesses – See and be Seen

By the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall the one liable to death be put to death; he shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. (Devarim-Deuteronomy 17:6) I wrote about witnesses in my earlier post imaginatively called Witnesses. Deuteronomy restates many mitzvoth (commandments) introduced earlier, which is why it is also called Mishneh Torah – the repetition of Torah – the portion Shoftim-Judges restates the law of witnesses first introduced in in the book of Numbers, portion Massei. So we shall revisit this fascinating subject. The Judgment of the Sanhedrin: "He is Guilty!" (1892 painting by Nikolai Ge) I. An accused criminal and a Schrödinger cat Most criminals are convicted in the US based on circumstantial evidence. Rare is the case when a jury gets to hear an [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2024-09-06T10:02:17-04:00August 11th, 2013|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Massei, Quantum Theory, Shoftim, Superposition, Uncategorized, Uncertainty Principle, Wavefunction, Witnesses|1 Comment

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 Alexander Poltorak|2013-08-11T13:57:24-04:00July 5th, 2013|Entanglement, Parshah, Pinchas, Retrocausality, Time, Uncategorized, Wavefunction|2 Comments

Paradox of the Red Heifer

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 Alexander Poltorak|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

Koraḥ Disentangled

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

Schrödinger Pots

Vaikra-Leviticus 14:35-36 (Metzora) 35. and the one to whom the house belongs comes and tells the kohen, saying, "Something like a plague has appeared to me in the house," 36. the kohen shall order that they clear out the house, before the kohen comes to look at the lesion, so that everything in the house should not become unclean. After this, the kohen shall come to look at the house. Let us analyze these two verses from the point of view of quantum mechanics. An owner of the house sees a suspicious lesion on the house that looks like tzara’as and calls a cohen (priest) to inspect the house. There are two possible states of the house: Pure (no tzara’as) or Impure (contaminated by tzara’as). At this moment, before the cohen inspects the [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2013-04-14T00:54:09-04:00April 14th, 2013|Collapse of the wavefunction, Entanglement, Uncategorized|0 Comments

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 Alexander Poltorak|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

Matos-Massei – Annulment of Vows

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

Tale of Entangled Goats

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 Alexander Poltorak|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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