Torah and Science Class No 4

What shape is the Earth?

We all know that 3000 years ago science thought the world was flat and riding on various animals which were riding on the back of a big fish swimming in a bigger ocean. Science proposed that each earthquake was an indication of one of the animals taking a step and tipping the earth. Who can argue with such a logical theory since it was based on observed phenomenon.

It was not until almost 2500 years later that the earth was shown to be round; then 200 years later the "theory of gravity" was revealed by Sir Isaac Newton. This round earth theory was "proven" by pictures during the 20th Century. Please realize how the words of this paragraph are inconsistent with the way you would describe these scientific theories based on the way you absorbed the truth of this scientific world from western culture and your education.

There are Greek philosophers who began to think about the possibility that the earth was round approximately 500 -700 BCE. Where did this thinking come from? There are some academics starting to promote the theory that all of the major Greek Philosophers spent time with the Sages of the First Temple. If this is true then this idea of the possibility of the earth being round came from the Jewish Sages. Let's look at what the Sages say.

The Zohar written approximately 2000 years ago quotes an even earlier book by Rav Hamuna Saba who states: The entire world and those upon it spin around in a circle like a big ball, both those at the bottom of the ball and those at the top. All God's creatures, wherever they live on the different parts of the ball look different (in color, in different features), because the air is different in each place, but they stand erect like all other human beings.

Therefore, there are places in the world where when some have light, others have darkness, when some have day, others have night.

There is a place in the world where the day is long and night is but a short time.

It is written in Psalms Chapter 139 Verse 14, "I acknowledge You, for i am awesomely, wondrously fashioned, wondrous are Your works and my soul knows it well".

And this secret has been passed on to men of wisdom - the wisdom of the Torah.".

Let's decode the above Zohar

The author knew that:

A. The world is shaped like a ball and is not flat, as was the impression of the science of the times.

B. The Earth is not fixed permanently in one place, but spins and turns on its own axis.

C. Human beings live on both sides of the planet, top and bottom and all part in between.

D. Humans live on one side of the Globe, with their feet on the ground, in exactly the same way as they do on the other side. This points to an understanding of the force of gravity. Please note Gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton 300 years ago or so.

E. When it is daytime in one half of the earth, it is night in the other half and vice a versa.

F. There is a place where it is almost constantly light, and night time is very short (such as the artic regions, due to the angle of the Earth to the Sun).

G. The information was not gathered through research but was handed down from one Torah Sage to another starting with either Moshe or Adam.

There is a corollary to this discussion. Since earlier scientists thought the world was flat, the balance of their theory was that the stars were embedded in a roof which was hung over the flat earth. They asked the question what supports this roof ?

What does the Torah say about this question? Please look at a verse from Job Chapter 26 Verse 7,

He suspends the earth on nothingness (Hebrew is Blimah)

Blimah is potentially translated as "Without Anything."

Again we see that all scientific knowledge is embedded in the Torah just as long as we are open to find it.

Continental Drift

Together we learn today that there are 7 continents, while the Torah says in Beraisheet Chapter 1 Verse 9, "And God says: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear." There should be only one continent according to that verse.

There is an explanation. Please wait.

The Zohar says "One continent came out and from this seven continents were grown. The water then filled the space between the continents and created the seven seas." The Zohar also says that these 7 continents came from a breakup of the one continent into seven.

In Proverbs Chapter 9 Verse 1 we find the following: "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her 7 pillars." Rashi the foremost Biblical commentator explains that Wisdom is the Creator - House is The Earth. What is a Pillar? It is easy to move to the idea that 7 Pillars are seven continents.

Of course the question is how did this happen? And when did this happen?

The Zohar explains that through geological cataclysms the continents drifted apart. These Zohar statements are made 2000 years ago. Science at that time totally dismissed these teachings from the Jewish Rabbis. It was only in 1915 that the German Geologist Alfred Wegener published his book on the formation of continents and seas. (Based on the rough outline of the western side of Africa and the Eastern side of South America being similar.) Further research into the areas on both continents indicate similar fauna flora and make up of geological items in the areas where the two continents were thought to have touched. Today this is well accepted theory of continental drift due to geological movement of tectonic plates.

Please remember North and South America were discovered by accident as people were looking for a shorter trade route to Asia. In essence the perceived size of the world was grossly underestimated by virtue of not realizing that there must be seven continents. This comes from the study of the Tree of Life with its 7 lower Sefirot. Of course, as Man does his spiritual work and the full Light of HaShem is revealed in this world these 7 must grow to 10. And like the prophecies relating to Mashiach and the 7 periods of 7,000 years, or will it be 10 periods of 10,000 years; which can manifest in a gradual process or a cataclysmic process. This last sentence or two are my opinion. I have not read them elsewhere in the Kabbalah.

Continental Drift theory caused a revolution in the scientific world of Geology and helped to explain many other ideas. Yet the scientists determine that this process of 1 continent into 7 (perhaps on its way to 10) did so slowly over millions of years. The Torah states in the Book of Job Chapter Nine Verse 5 which describes the period of the flood of Noach, "Who moves the mountains and they know it not, when He overturns them in his anger."

Dr. Hadassah Melamed in her book, "The Secret of the Flood, The Bermuda Triangle, and Continental Drift" published in Hebrew in the year 2000 proves that these geological changes from one happened over a short period of less than a year during the Flood. She indicates the problem with modern geologists and their theories is that they refuse to recognize the flood as an event in geologic time and therefore find their theories to be inadequate.

In this same book she suggests that the 4 rivers that came out of Eden is another description of the continental drift. This also explains how Hebrew letters and giant bones are found in the American continents both north and south.

Here is the translation of Genesis Chapter 2 Verses 10 to 14 that describes this process according to Dr. Melamed: Verse 10: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. Verse 11: The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; Verse 12: and the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Verse 13: And the name of the second river is Gihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. Verse 14: And the name of the third river is Tigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Dr. Melamed maintains that the Land of Havilah is North and South America and that King David and King Saul knew about the Americas and sent excursions to get the Gold to be used in the Temple. Otherwise, what is the purpose of the Torah telling us about the Gold? (Chanoch's Question).

Archeology has documented Hebrew Letters including the Shema Israel written on rocks in the South West United States and in the Indiana and Ohio areas. Most of this documented Hebrew is in the script Paleo Hebrew which according to science and archeology predates the use of the modern Ashurit (Babylonian) script used in the Torah scrolls. Feel free to do an internet search "Hebrews in America Before Columbus" to verify the Science and Veracity of these statements.

Do i need to remind you that science only "discovered" the Americas in 1492? This is just an example of what is known and revealed through Torah. As the Sages teach, the Torah is the blueprint of creation. Therefore, continental drift must be revealed in the Torah and must also be revealed prior to the science changing to reveal Continental Drift. Continental Drift is revealed by science in 1915 while Rashi knows about it in approximately 1100 and revealed it in his writings and commentaries.

Atoms, Body, Soul, Consciousness

Physics is the study of the physical world. It usually deals only with the macro level of the universe until the 20th Century when it started to reveal the micro level of the physical world. The Greeks about 500 BCE used the term atom to be the smallest component of materiality. The Greeks also spoke about a soul that inhabits the bodies of man. In Hebrew there are 5 words for soul and there are no synonyms so each of these words represents a different aspect of the soul. The Kabbalists have taught about these 5 levels since the time of Moses although the Academics will point to some references in the writings of these levels of soul within the Talmud. Yet essentially Physics shys away from speaking about consciousness until the last 20 years when Rabbi Berg of the Kabbalah Learning Center started to teach about consciousness as it applied from the writings of Rabbi Ashlag.

Yet even today science does not go as far as Kabbalah in explaining consciousness. All Matter is energy according to 20th century physics. All matter has consciousness which is a soul according to modern Kabbalists. This is the teaching followed by the system of the ARI and is hinted to in the earlier systems. We can spend a lot of time on this subject yet that is not the purpose of this class. Science says consciousness is not part of our subject matter except cursorily since we can not measure it and then duplicate the measurement.

Kabbalah teaches that everything is consciousness which is soul which is desire to receive which is vessel from the endless world. So how much does a soul weight? Is this a superfluous question? I do not think so since some religious scientist attempted to measure this by determining the weight of a body prior to death and immediately after death. The difference which repeated was duplicated is approximately 1/2 oz. in the American system of weights and measures. The scientists who published this information are not well respected in science. The question we should ask if it weighs approx. 1/2 oz. why can we not see it without a body? Perhaps we will answer this in later classes.

Kabbalah teaches that everything has a body which can be sensed or measured in the physical world and as well as an internal essence which holds all the separate parts (atoms) together. Kabbalah also teaches that except for the Tzimzum God would be everywhere and is actually everywhere in our universe in a concealed way. So God is the soul of every atom in the revealed and concealed universes holding everything together. This is the message of the Shema Israel HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Echad verse and prayer. The translation is usually Hear Israel, HaShem is Our God, HaShem is One!

This is the Grand Unified Theory that the modern Physicists say they are looking to reveal. This theory that will include all the forces in the universe. This is HaShem.

Another translation of the Shema Israel is "Hear Israel, which is all of you human beings and all entities that follow a spiritual path to get closer to the Creator. The God of Mercy is our God of Judgment; the unified God is One in complete Unity.

Chanoch will read Page 69 of the Sefer "The Coming Revolution" by Zamir Cohen.

Modern Science teaches that electrons act differently than was thought even a few years ago. According to Purdue University scientists, an electron may not be a simple electromagnetic charge, but rather is at the center of a fuzzy "cloud" in which the electromagnetic force increases toward a central core. The cloud consists of virtual particles, which wink in and out of existence in pairs - one particle positively charged, the other negatively charged.

It has also been demonstrated that these particles spin in opposite directions from each other and communicate this change in direction of the spin across light years of distance. Essentially maintaining the value of entropy but violating the speed of Light maximum or so it seems. Another explanation will soon be found dealing with the idea of 10 dimensions.

Chanoch will read Page 71 of the Sefer "The Coming Revolution" by Zamir Cohen.

The early Kabbalists speak about substance and form as just mentioned. The conclusion that must be drawn from the discussion today is that The Kabbalists have always known what science is just now "proving." i use the word "proving" tongue in cheek. The Kabbalists were informed by the Creator through Moshe and this was concealed in a public manner of the writings of the Tanach. This is so when we humans needed the information it would be available to us. Initially revealed by the Kabbalists and then revealed to the general populace through science.