Five-Hundred-Year-Journey
Alexander Poltorak Abstract This essay addresses the anigmatic statement of the Jewish Sages, stating that G-d created this world with the letter Heh and the
August 11, 2025 / 17 Av 5785
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chokhmah
Ten Systems—Ten Sefirot
… mi‑b’sari echezeh Elokah—From my flesh I behold G‑d (Job 19:26) Introduction – “In His Image” The Torah’s initial description of humanity is both profound and enigmatic:
July 22, 2025 / 26 Tammuz 5785
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Principle of Least Action III — History
The spectacle of the universe becomes so much the grander, so much more beautiful, the worthier of its Author, when one knows that a small
September 10, 2023 / 24 Elul 5783
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Creation—Destruction—Reconstruction
Structurally identical biblical accounts of creation, destruction, and restoration are viewed as a manifestation of dialectic triad thesis-antithesis-synthesis.
November 11, 2022 / 17 Heshvan 5783
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Sefirat HaOmer—A Study in Klal u’Prat
The forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot are called the days of Sefira or the days of counting Omer—Sefirat HaOmer—when Jews count every day as
May 27, 2022 / 26 Iyyar 5782
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The Soul – Part IV. The Whole vs. the Parts
This is the fourth installment in the series of essays on the nature of the soul. The first three installments can be found here: What
December 27, 2021 / 23 Tevet 5782
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What is a Soul? III. The Many Souls of Man
…[H]e who tries to cure the soul, wishing to improve the moral qualities, must have a knowledge of the soul in its totality and
December 15, 2021 / 11 Tevet 5782
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What Is a Soul? II. Anatomy of the Soul
In the biblical story of the creation of Adam, the Torah states: Then the Eternal G‑d formed man of the dust of the ground, and
November 5, 2021 / 1 Kislev 5782
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The Cosmological Problem of Initial Conditions and the Universe of Tohu
Now the earth was unformed and void. Genesis 1:2 We have a big problem in cosmology: the problem of the initial conditions of the universe at
September 30, 2021 / 24 Tishri 5782
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Yom Kippur—The Day of Pure Delight
Yom Kippur means “The Day of Atonement.” Some view it as a frightening day full of regrets of the past and anxiety for the future.
September 15, 2021 / 9 Tishri 5782
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Abraham and Lot—A Story of Decoherence
So Abram went, as the Eternal had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him… And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s
October 30, 2020 / 12 Heshvan 5781
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Salt: The Covenant of the Opposites
And every meal-offering of thine shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy G‑d to be lacking
March 31, 2020 / 6 Nisan 5780
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Cosmology and the Tetragrammaton
As we discussed in the previous post “Singularity and Paradise,” Paradise offers a beautiful metaphor for modern cosmology wherein Eden is the initial singularity preceding
January 18, 2020 / 21 Tevet 5780
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Singularity and Paradise
These are the chronicles of the heaven and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Eternal G‑d made earth and
January 16, 2020 / 19 Tevet 5780
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The Tree of Life and Wave Mechanics
As we discussed in the earlier post, The Tree of Knowledge as a Metaphor for Superposition of States and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, the Heisenberg uncertainty
December 30, 2019 / 2 Tevet 5780
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Three Angels: Past, Present, and Future
And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of the tent in the heat of the
November 17, 2019 / 19 Heshvan 5780
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Noah’s Ark — Sailing through the Flood of Time
Time is a storm in which we are all lost. ” (William Carlos Williams, Introduction to “Selected Essays”) I always had a hard time relating
November 2, 2019 / 4 Heshvan 5780
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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
June 21, 2019 / 18 Sivan 5779
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Unified Field Theory and the Dew of Resurrection
And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of
May 19, 2019 / 14 Iyyar 5779
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The Beard of the Long Face is Found
The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Rebbe Rayatz (a.k.a. the Fridriker Rebbe) told the story about his father, the Rebbe Rashab. Once the brother of Rebbe
August 31, 2018 / 20 Elul 5778
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Fractal Patterns in the Torah
In the Torah portion Emor (Leviticus 21:1–24:23), we are instructed to abstain from work every seventh day on Shabbat. Next week’s Torah portion, Behar, continues
May 31, 2016 / 23 Iyyar 5776
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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
April 30, 2012 / 8 Iyyar 5772
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