Abstract:

This presentation argues that modern cosmology, and modern science in general, has been heavily influenced by Kabbalistic cosmogony. Kabbalism, a branch of Jewish philosophy developed between 1000 to 700 years ago, employs mysticism and Midrash, a method of interpreting Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Torah. Midrash uses multi-faceted arguments and introduces causes that produce probabilistic effects. The introduction of Kabbalistic philosophy, it is further argued, undermined the Greek philosophy of deterministic cause and effect -- an important component to the development of Quantum Mechanics.

This presentation begins with a review of modern cosmology and Greek philosophy. The main precepts of Kabbalah and the methodology of Jewish Midrash are introduced. The resulting Kabbalistic cosmogony is then discussed. Finally, the arguments mentioned above are justified.

Disclaimers include that all the religious content of this presentation is from a typical Orthodox Jewish perspective and that this presentation does not attempt to popularize science and religion for the masses.

Disclaimer I: All the Religious Content of This Talk is From a Typical Orthodox Jewish Perspective.

Disclaimer II: This is Not a Pop Science and Religion Talk. This is a rather intellectual presentation and for that I appologise.

I'm not mixing, nor is it advisable to attempt to mix, concepts of various religious traditions in an attempt to view G-d in some holistic way that all religious traditions could adopt.

Retort I: There is no need, nor has there ever been a need to re-evaluated G-d's role in the universe.

To think that G-d gets further away each time we re-evaluate the size and scope of the observable universe show a fundamental misrepresentation of the definition of G-d.

Retort II: The Universe is Not Infinite in Space, Nor its the Universe Timeless and Uncreated.

At least from a Jewish Perspective (and I'd venture to guess Christian, Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist, and many more), there was a moment of creation and, thus, the universe has a finite age and is dynamic.

Some scholars, mostly during the Age of Reason up to 1910, believed in a static, infinite, and timeless universe. My feeling is that this was influenced by a revival of Aristotelian philosophy in the sciences -- a philosophy conflicting to 'modern' scientific inquiry. Here, I argue that the view of a static universe was a fad and that the rejection of Aristotelian philosophy by Kabbalists paved the way for a modern cosmology that embraces a creation and its Creator. Moreover, the modern cosmology has been an endeavour that continues, and perhaps justifies, the Kabbalistic philosophy of the early Middle Ages in Europe.

Cosmology - The study of the universe as accomplished by scientific inquiry! The holistic study of all of it! Its current state, its origins, its contents...

Cosmogony - The study of the universe as accomplished by philosophy. The goal is the same as cosmology, however logic and reasoning are used to deduce the nature of the universe from a set of assumptions. (The first assumption is that the universe is understandable and logical!)

Midrash - A method or the act of interpreting Hebrew Scriptures (especially the Torah) employing multi-faceted argument, previous argument, and language consistencies. The Talmud is an immense compilation of Midrash. The Kabbalah is another such body of work.

Kabbalism - A branch of Jewish philosophy employing Midrash and mysticism. It was developed between 1000 to 700 years ago.

Review of Modern Cosmology

Greek Philosophy - As It Relates To Cosmogony

Jewish Midrash - An introduction to the mind of a Torah Scholar

Kabbalism - An introduction and contrast with Greek Philosophy

Kabbalistic Cosmogony -- And Its contribution to modern cosmology

Goal: To understand the physics of the universe both now, in the future, and earlier.

To understand the universe and all the interactions therein as a single TOE (Theory of Everything) that combines all the interactions in Nature into a single, unified interaction.

We have sought a single TOE for the universe in the guise of a

Grand Unified Field Theory(s) or GUTS.

Problem: Because of our current state of the universe (low energy density) and our limited human perspective, we see an incredible complex and seemingly unrelated host of interactions.

Netwon's (et. al.) deterministic description of mechanics (cause and effect).
Maxwell's description of light as an electro-magnetic wave (1854-8).
Riemann's description of electro-magnetism as oscillations in 4-D (1856).

The above's 'unification' of the Electric and Magnetic Interactions.

Boltzman's description of black body radiation (?). br> Einstien's description of curved space-time (1905).

The Unification of Gravity and the Electro-Magnetic Interaction- Its contribution to modern cosmology.

Hubble's Law (1920s) - The universe is expanding
Big Bang Theory - There was a moment of creation in which the energy density was very high and the interactions were unified -- physics was simple!

Development of Quantum Mechanics (1900-1958) the probabilistic description of the interactions. (One cause, many possible effects)
Development of high-energy particle accelerators (1930-present) to probe high energy density regime (like that of the early universe)

Development of the Standard Model - A sea of particles interacting in complex ways. Some particles are 'matter' some are carriers or 'projections' of the forces.

Attempt at making a Mendeleev-like Table of the Particles:

Elementary Fermion Particle	Messenger (Boson) Particle	Building Block Of
All Particles	Graviton Carries gravitational interaction between all particles. Six spin states.	Macroscopic Objects, e.g., people, stars, galaxies.
Electron
Positron
Proton	Photon Carries EM interaction between any EM charged particle. Two spin states.	Atomic Nucleus
Neutron
Quarks (12 kinds)	Gluons (six kinds) Carries strong nuclear force between particles with colour charge.	Holds quarks together to from protons, neutrons, etc.
Leptons
Complicated!	W+, W-, Z Carry weak nuclear force between some, but not all, particles. These are very massive! W's have EM charge!	Vaguely, holds quarks together.

Development of Superstring Theory - A new 12-D theory combines Riemann's multi-dimensional concept of unified interactions and quantum mechanics (probabilism).

3 or 4 of these dimensions are perceivable to humans.

Perhaps the 3 (or 4) dimensions are expanding -> expansion of the universe we see

Expansion of some dimensions separate the simplicity of the unified field.

The others are hidden dimensions (at least to us anyhow).

The aspects of the many particles of the Standard Model are projections of the higher dimensions onto the 3 (or 4) we know.

High energy particle accelerators allow us to see the folds in the higher dimensional space that show up as the particles of the Standard Model.

Teleology -- Natural phenomena are determined not only by mechanical means, but by an overall design or purpose (OED).

No Revealed Facts -- No Torah or other scriptures.

Logic and assumed 'facts' (opinions) used to deduce structure and form.

A's Cosmogny is based on Teleology -- G-d is not the cause of event, but the Final Cause. G-d is not the creator of matter & form. Matter and form Eternal

Physis -- The form if each thing & the totality of all forms (holistic). It is eternal, immutable, uncreated, rational.

To know the Final Cause is to understand nature & how it works.

Aristotle says knowing the causes us sufficient for knowing (& predicting) the effects.

Cause & Effect - Determinism -- Under the same conditions, an experiment will always yield the same results. (Contrasting the QM scale! E.g., Radioactivity)

A's teleology says "seeing that everything nature makes is a means to an end -- the Final Cause

The Prime Mover is Nature, the final event is the assemblage of G-d.

Astronomy -- Ptolemy was able to find mathematical formulae allowing the prediction of eclipse. These formulae

A picture was proposed:

Four sub-lunar elements (fire, water, air, earth) or Forms comprise all matter.

The same reason is given for the growth and decay of human beings and other living things.

The sun, moon, planets, and stars are affixed to crystal nested spheres.

The four Forms influence the motion of the spheres, but the matter (the sphere's contents) affect the Forms.

Were these really seen literally?

A method of investigation. Originally applied to interpretation of Torah & Jewish literature.

Muslim Patrons and Kabbalistic efforts broaden usage of Midrash.

Midrash bases its arguments on these logics, with respect for historical arguments, and embraces parallel thought and conclusions.

Opinions, if well argued, are 'truths'. . . . . . . . . . . . Conflicting 'truths' are likely.

Knowability - Crumbling the wall of ego

A singularity brought forth by from singularity?

From the application of Midrashic interpretation of nature (as was fashionable to the Greeks), a new natural philosophy emerged:

"The GTP deserved careful reading" Leibniz

Sefer Yitzirah and Zohar 1000-1100 C.E. (Beginnings in 700s? Or Earlier?)

Known to exist and referenced by Isaac the Blind (1160-1236) -- Divine Mystery

Uses Midrash and Gematria

Gematria - A cryptographical system, by which words are assigned numbers based on the letters (numbers) that the words contain (and their order in the word).

Gematria Examples:

The 613 commandments are referred to as TaRYG since: Tov (Ta) = 400 + Resh (R) + 200 + Yod (Y) = 10 + Gimmel (G) = 3, equaling 613.

"I have sojourned (GaRTY) with Laban" (B 32:5), as Rashi (1040-1105) interprets, as
"Even though I sojourned with the evil Laban, I observed the 613 commandments"
Garty - 3 + 200 + 400 + 10 = 613.

No fewer than nine Gematira systems used by Kabbalists.

(Also Notarikon & Temurah - shorthand substitution and letter/word exchange)

The qualities of anything in creation can be expressed by numbers.

Numbers cannot be defined until there existed some element of plurality in creation.

The Creator is absolutely simple, containing no plurality whatsoever............Plurality begets the definition of numbers.

Ten Sefirot - 32 Paths

32 paths of creation identified in Beresheet*. 32 = numeric value of Beit-Lammed. Divine encoding of the Alef-Biet (22 letters + 10 numbers). With 10 emanations.
32 = 2⁵. Therefor there are 5 dimensions, each with two ends. .....Big bang described with uncanny accuracy by Kabbalists.

The days...universes refer to compounded time periods. (They call 'creation' what we call 'universe.)

According to some, this is the 2nd, the 6th, or the 7th creation (universe)

Midrash (R. Iscaas of Acco) says that when counting the cycles

According to this, each cycle (above) is 2.56 Billion years (BY)

If this is the seventh cycle of the second universe, the age of the universe is 15.3 BY old (compare to 15-16 BY by modern scientific methods).

Note that at then end of the sixth cycle corresponds to the fifth day of creation. This is 3.6 BY ago (compare with scientific data).

The current Hebrew year is 5761. Carefully counting the genealogies (~974) since Adam, we find 5761 year passed. Supported in Talmud & other Midrash.

Kabbalists say that there were human-like beings before Adam.

G-d didn't create the earth or its life. G-d created the Bohu (building blocks) for the ..Earth to bring forth... Every 2.5 BY Earth years G-d twiddles with the universe, but the laws of nature are fixed for all time as

and

Nefesh (life breath) versus Neshamah (G-d's image given to Adam). Adam is not the primordial human being, only the first to be 'made in G-d's image'. Writing? Logic? Consciousness?

Schroeder's 'proof'

Jewish Philosopher's radical criticism of Greek science paved the way for a new science. Non-immutable, created universe "re-introduced".

Jewish Midrash introduced empirical-ism, probability, building upon work of others, and revisionary requirements of theories to Mid-Evil Natural Philosophy.

Kabbalistic Ideas introduced higher and hidden dimensions.

Kabbalistic cosmogony has frightening resemblance to modern cosmology.

There's no conflict between science and Jewish religion.