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Brit Milah in Six Dimensions

Brit Milah in Six Dimensions

Sefer Yetzira speaks of three dimensions: Olam, Shanah, and Nefesh. Olam literally means "world" and signifies space. Shanah literally means "year" and signifies the dimension of time. Nefesh literally means "soul" and signifies the spiritual dimension. In another place, recognizing the space itself is three dimensional, Sefer Yetzira speaks of five-dimensional space which is a Minkowski spacetime with an addition of the fifth spiritual dimension. This construct is very similar to the Kaluza-Klein five-dimensional generalization of the General Theory of Relativity (a theory that is near and dear to my heart, because, unaware of its existence, I independently rediscovered it as a teenager.) Kaluza-Klein, first forgotten, is now experiencing a revival as a special case of the string theory. Sefer Yetzirah In every one of these dimensions, G‑d created the domain of holy [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2018-09-23T03:48:50-04:00September 18th, 2018|Uncategorized|1 Comment

On Change

We all know that we leave in a three-dimensional world. Up-down, right-left, forward-backward – these are well-familiar to us directions in three dimensions of space we occupy. However, we also live in a three-dimensional world of another kind. In physics, we have units of measurement. There are lots of them, but only three are fundamental – all other are various combinations of these three – meter, second and kilogram (yes, in science, we use metric rather than Imperial units). We measure space in meters (m), we measure time in seconds (s) and we measure mass in kilograms (kg). These three units are fundamental in a sense that they are irreducible and all other units are combinations of meter (m), second (s) and kilogram (kg) (please note that in this context, kilogram is not [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2019-03-26T16:45:52-04:00May 16th, 2015|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Menorah

Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him: "When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the menorah." (Num. 8:1) In the Torah portion Behaalotecha (Num. 8:1), Aaron is commanded to light the Menorah so that three light on the right and three lights on the left are directed towards the middle light. On the first blush, it appears to be a very strange commandment. Why would lights on the right and on the left need to be directed towards the center light? What is the significance of that? It seems to me that this unusual arrangement hints at fundamental structure of our world. Sefer Yetzirah states that this world is created in three domains – Olam (“World” – meaning space), Shanah (“Year” – meaning time) and Nefesh (“Soul” [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2014-06-09T00:08:13-04:00June 8th, 2014|Bamitbar, Behaalotecha, Numbers, Pentateuch (Chumash), Shabbat, Space, Spirituality, Time, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Tumah and Taharah

Tumah and Taharah

The Hebrew words taharah and tumah, which are the subjects of the Torah portion of Chukat (Numbers 19:1–22:1), are usually translated as ritual purity and ritual impurity respectively. This, of course, has nothing to do with physical purity or impurity, as these are strictly spiritual concepts. But what is a “spiritual concept” in the first place? The word “spiritual” is thrown around a lot by religious pundits and new age gurus. This word is anathema to scientists as anything spiritual is deemed to be antithetical to science. However, this word can be given a simple, precise and strictly scientific definition. (As Descartes famously said, most arguments would disappear if people bothered giving definitions to the concepts they argue about.) Well, one thing everyone would agree with, that spiritual is not physical. Since all [...]

By Alexander Poltorak|2017-06-29T21:27:41-04:00June 19th, 2013|Chukat, Parshah, Spirituality, Time, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Brit Milah in Six Dimensions

Tumah and Taharah

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