Jacob's Dream

About 150 years ago, scientists grouped all things into "having life" or "not having life". On the other hand, our sages, who go back 2,000 years, had claimed everything in this world has a "soul".

Were the sages wrong? Could "dead" stuff, like stones, have a "soul"?

But then scientists discovered the atom and some of its components. It turns out today's physics agrees there's no such thing as lifeless stuff. All matter teems with dynamic forces.

The Encyclopedia Britannica writes, "All atoms are roughly the same size, whether they have 3 or 90 electrons. Approximately 50 million atoms of solid matter lined up in a row would measure 1 cm (0.4 inch). Compared with the overall size of the atom, the nucleus is even more minute. It is in the same proportion to the atom as a marble is to a football field."

The atom's tiny nucleus holds all the protons and neutrons. Its lightweight electrons spin around this nucleus, some reaching the outer limits that define the atom's "football field" boundaries. In proportion to that "marble-sized" nucleus and the negligible sizes of the circling electrons, even if there were 90 of them, the amount of empty space inside this single atom is immense. Imagine how many more "marbles" could fit into this enclosed empty space. The proportion is something like multi-billions to one. This should give you an idea of how much more "air" exists inside an atom compared with the amount of "solid" inside it.

Each proton or neutron weighs 2,000 times as much as an electron. Most of the atom’s volume, therefore, consists of a cloud of electrons of very tiny mass, which means the atom's weight is, for all practical purposes, the weight of its nucleus; And most of its volume, most of that "football field", is, for all practical purposes - empty!

Shoot a bullet at a rock or steel wall, it'll deflect, because it cannot penetrate the mass. But Rutherford, in 1910, blasted atoms with radioactive waves and these waves - went right through. He blasted them thousands of times and each wave went through as if through empty space, for each time he hit his targets on the other side of the wall.

Although they could not visualize the atom, scientists devised a hypothetical physical model of one. It was like a small solar system with a bunch of tiny "stars" (electrons) revolving around the "sun" (nucleus), only the relative distances between these "stars" were much more spacious.

Amazingly, with so much space making up the atom, as difficult as it might be to imagine, even big things are - almost hollow!

Take the body of a man, for example. Implode all its material by removing all the empty space, and we'd end up with a speck of dust hardly visible with a magnifying glass! And the weight of this dust speck would be the weight of the man!

If we were to take the planet earth and squeeze out all its empty space, we'd end up with a sphere of only half a mile in radius.

With this information, we more easily understand Rashi's explanation of Jacob's dream in Beth El, when G-d tells him, "The land upon which you lie I will give to you and your descendants." Says Rashi, "G-d folded up all The Land of Israel beneath him." (Gen. 28:13)

In effect, science confirmed what our sages posited thousands of years ago, namely, that all matter has a "soul", which means a divine potential, a life-force - something we cannot see, that keeps them moving. Not only is all physicality mostly void of matter, but this "nothingness" is actually its existential truth.

Science begins to comprehend, in its own way, that matter has no existence apart from its energy - and its energy is infinitely greater than the mass. Could we but harness the atomic energy in one speck of coal, we could propel all the world's big ships from America to Israel and back. That we can reduce all matter of a man's body into a miniscule grain of sand shows just how meager is the body in comparison with the gigantic proportions of its divine soul.

Faster Than the Speed of Light - Rebbe Letter

Back in 1956, 55 years ago, in a letter to a professor of physics, the Rebbe discussed the inadequacies of scientific conclusions, particularly in regard to Albert Einstein's "Theory of Relativity".
(Igrot 12:394-7)

It's one thing to hypothesize based on experimental or mathematical findings, he said, but to go beyond that and make absolute claims is inappropriate, and, in fact, incompatable with the definition of science.

The Rebbe specifically cites the example of the speed of light that scientists regard as an absolute value that cannot be surpassed. They have no right to draw such a conclusion, he implied.

The mathematics to support the untenable supposition would run afoul if the speed of light could be surpassed because it would then include a factor (the square root of a negative number) that cannot have in the real world a physical counterpart. The theory is just a theory, said the Rebbe, not a true fact to be sure.

But because people held the revolutionary findings of Einstein as sacrosanct, they held tightly to the theory it posited; They considered the speed of light to be an absolute value - a maximum limit that can never be exceeded.

Recently, however, sophisticated experiments in physics coming out of the CERN group in Europe (link) point to findings that defy the limit set by Einstein. Scientists found neutrinos with velocities greater than that of the speed of light! So revolutionary are these findings, these scientists themselves are begging others to examine and see where they "went wrong" with their assumptions or findings. Then too, all those conclusions based on an absolute speed of light, such as time and mass dilation or length contraction, will have to be re-evaluated within a new theoretical framework, or, simply, trashed. In the words of an observer, it will require "a complete rewriting of our understanding of the universe".

A translation of the Rebbe's letter, by Rabbi Shimon Silman, can be found here: - issue #805, page 24.

Physics Inching its Way to Torah

A fascinating, current issue in Physics, first proposed in 1964, continues the trend of Physics to catch up to the Torah point of view*. A significant finding, that of Bell's Theorem (named after the Irish physicist John Stewart Bell), proves there exist both LOCAL and NON-LOCAL phenomena in the universe.

Local phenomena imply that events associate by way of transfer of information, the fastest rate of which is the speed of light. Non-local phenomena, on the other hand, show instantaneous associative changes, as when particles many light-years apart influence each other instantaneously.

This, of course, is nothing new to Chassidus. Chassidus has always postulated that reality can either be of "inner presence" (being localized) and referred to as "Or Pnimi", or of omni-presence (being everywhere at the same time) and referred to as "Or Sovev".

* We are not talking about the pseudoscience of evolutionary or of global warming theories, both of which are merely sleazy political publicizations to promote a secular or socialistic agenda, respectively. Such "scientists" will never let solid science sway them from their crooked path.

More Elaboration

In order to push something, you have to touch it, or throw something at it. That is to say, somehow you have to reach it. Either you have to be right next to it, or through a chain of events exert your influence over it. This chain of events in Physics is called "localization".

Of the many intuitions that quantum physics shattered, the intuitiveness of localization is probably the biggest of them. Quantum mechanics asserts that two particles need not be physically or geographically adjacent to influence each other. Nor do the two particles need to be of the same kind. For example, one could be a neutron and the other an electron, and they can be at the opposite sides of the galaxy, and still one can influence the other immediately - faster than the speed of light.

This non-local simultaneous connection between particles ("quantum phase entanglement") takes the philosopher to new plains of thought, to real shaky ground. After all, non-localization describes a possibilty of having physical influence on something or someone without touching it (or him) and without an intervening chain of events. The physicist is really in a state of philosophical quandary, where the foundations of his "logic" are unravelling.

In Jewish teachings non-localization is well-entrenched. He who learned knows that a blessing, a thought or conversation can render the target a good influence (or vice versa). We know about reaching not just across large spaces but also across vast swaths of time, as in prophecy. We learned about "returning to G-d" - which can change, not only the future, but even correct the past.

Our sages always teach us to forego intuition or self-centeredness that pronounces our individuality, that makes us feel separate and apart. Rather, we have to feel that "all Jews are each other's guarantors, all Jews are intertwined". No matter where the other Jew is, locally or spiritually, that whatever one does has influence on another.

And therefore, we have to think good so that it will be good!