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"IN
THE 600TH YEAR OF THE 6TH [MILLENNIUM] THE GATES OF WISDOM ABOVE WILL OPEN
UP AND THE FOUNTAINS OF WISDOM BELOW, AND THE WORLD WILL BE SET TO ENTER
THE 7TH" (Zohar I, 117a)
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SEEING THE GEULAH THROUGH THE EYES OF SCIENCE
PART IV
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"PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE ERA OF MOSHIACH"
RABBI DR. NAFTOLI BERG, z"l
(Adapted from a speech given at the 2nd conference of the Rabbi Yisroel
Aryeh Leib Research Institute on Moshiach and the Sciences, 11 Iyar, 5753,
Brooklyn, NY)
EDITOR'S NOTE:
In the Sicha of Shabbos Parshas Shemos, 5752, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach,
writes that we must investigate everything that is in the world and see
what its role will be in the Era of Moshiach. (Sefer HaSichos, 5752,
p.250). In this article Rabbi Berg examines the role of Physics and
Technology in the Era of Moshiach. Rabbi Berg was a prominent member of the
RYAL Institute on Moshiach and Science and the Director of Research of the
Advanced Technology Office of the Army Research Center at the Pentagon. He
passed away on 27 Tamuz, 5754.
In this speech, I'm going to address the physics and technology of today as
it relates to the Era of Moshiach. From there, perhaps, we can postulate
and extrapolate what the role of technology will be in the Era of Moshiach.
In the famous Sicha of Shabbos Parshas Noach [See Part I of this series,
Beis Moshiach no. 58, p. 101], the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, explains that
the scientific developments which have taken place since the year 5600
(1840) prepare the world for the Era of Moshiach by revealing the
underlying unity in nature (i.e. in terms of natural science). This
prepares the world for the revelation of the absolute unity of Hashem in
the Era of Moshiach.
The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, said that since we have to experience a
foretaste of this now in this world also, in the times just before
Moshiach, then understanding the basis of secular wisdom--not just the
technology which derives from it--but the fundamental scientific principles
of the universe, will lead us to a better understanding of Chasidus and
this will bring us to Moshiach quicker. The example that the Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach, gave in a sicha was the matter of Achdus Peshutah, the absolute
unity of Hashem. We know that everything derives from the unity of Hashem.
The yesh ha'amiti, the true existence of everything, will be revealed in
the time of Moshiach. Thus science is also going towards a corresponding
principle called the "Reductionist Theory" to find what the most
basic force in nature is that combines all other forces and from which all
other forces derive. What is the most fundamental building block in nature?
It is the fundamental particle known as the "quark," with
electrons and other particles building up from there. Since secular wisdom
is also trying to come to a fundamental unity through the Reductionist Theory,
this can lead us to the realization of the Ultimate Unity and will aid us
in understanding the Geulah of Moshiach. This will be the basis of my talk.
I want to talk today about some theories in physics, within cosmology1, and
since it is the yartzeit of Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib, something about his
fundamental paper which relates to the math of quantum
mechanics--Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors. I also want to talk about quantum
mechanics and show how from understanding this, we can come to a very basic
understanding of concepts of the briya [creation], the Creator and also
some very basic principles of free will and hashgacha pratis, divine
providence.
Now I want to get into some specific details of how modern physical
theories, developed after 5600, enhance and give us a better understanding
of the Chasidic ideas we will discuss. From these you can very clearly see
the parallel in the matter of Getlikite.
There is a very important point that must be made by way of introduction.
We are going to be discussing various scientific theories. All scientific
theories by definition are tentative. They are not absolute. Our job is to
investigate those scientific theories that are consistent with Torah in
general and with Chasidus in particular and to see how they show the unity
in the world that the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, describes in the Sicha.
The first thing I want to start with is the inyan of creation, a Creator.
This is the first basis with which we have to start, since the first
Principle of Faith is to believe in Hashem. Among physicists of about
eighty to a hundred years ago, the idea that the universe was created was
not accepted. The prevalent theory, which I believe was even held by
Einstein, was called the "Steady State Universe": that the world
was always in existence, chas v'shalom, and will always be in existence.
Cracks in this theory surfaced about 70 years ago by Hubble who discovered,
in looking at far stars, far galaxies, something called a "red
shift." (I'll explain in a minute what this means.) From this he
basically deduced that the universe was expanding. What is a red shift?
Since most of you live in New York, you are familiar with things like
police cars and ambulances, chas v'shalom. When an ambulance or police car
has its siren on and is moving towards you, the frequency--the
pitch--becomes higher. When it moves away from you, the pitch becomes
lower. In physics this is called the Doppler effect. A similar theory
applies to light. If you have an object with a light on it, when it moves
away from you, it shifts towards the red end of the spectrum. When it moves
towards you, it shifts towards the blue. So when Hubble saw far galaxies
where the light was shifting towards the red, this very clearly implied
that these galaxies were all moving away from us. In fact, everywhere he
looked in space, all of the galaxies were moving away from us at a constant
velocity, which implied an expanding universe.
Now the theory of an expanding universe is difficult to reconcile with a
steady state universe. Forty years ago, two scientists from Bell Labs:
Penzias, who is a Jew, and Wilson made an observation of the sky. They took
very, very delicate instruments and they measured the background
radiation--the temperature, the microwave radiation--of the sky all around
them and found that the background radiation was a temperature of three
degrees Kelvin. Zero Kelvin means absolute zero2, which, believe me is
very, very cold. Three degrees Kelvin is just a little bit above
that--still pretty cold. But they measured and found this background
radiation to be uniform throughout all of space to within a tenth of a
percent. This turned out to be in accord with the theory of "Big
Bang."
Now, the "Big Bang" theory itself is obviously not true since it
is not consistent with the Torah which tells us that the age of the
universe is 5753 years. "Big Bang" talks about "billions of
years." What we will note is that even such a theory has at its core a
concept of creation and the existence of the Creator thus bringing science
itself a step closer to the knowledge of Hashem.
"Big Bang" theorizes that the universe was just a small,
infinitesimal point, which all of a sudden burst forth into the universe
that we know today. The three degree background radiation was a remnant of
this event of creation.
The main point of this, though, was that from this observation they
verified that this "Big Bang"-- this creation-- took place
sometime in the distant past. For this discovery they got the Noble Prize.
However there was a problem with this discovery. If we look around us, the
universe indeed looks pretty uniform. It is basically empty space. But
there are very non-uniform places there. Galaxies, stars are non-uniform.
If they looked around and saw things which were completely uniform which
related to the way it was many years ago, how did the stars form? There had
to be some non-uniformity in this background radiation.
Approximately four years ago they sent up a satellite called
"COBE," Cosmic Background Experiment, which had extremely
sensitive measuring instruments to measure the background radiation much,
much more carefully than could be measured forty years ago. The results of
this were reported approximately a year ago but the experiment is still
continuing. The initial results--reported in a very big news
conference--stated that they did find perturbations (small changes) of
about 30 millionths of a degree, extremely minute deviations throughout
this background radiation. But according to today's theories, this was enough
to explain the Big Bang. Currently today, "Big Bang"--in other
words, the creation of the universe--is accepted by practically all
cosmologists (scientists who deal with the development of the universe). So
therefore we have proven our basic principle, our starting point, which is
creation. If there is a creation then there must be a Creator.
NOTES
1 The branch of astronomy that deals with the origin and general structure
of the universe.
2 "Absolute zero" is the theoretical minimum temperature at which
there is no energy.
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THIS GOES IN AN INSERT BOX:
The Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, was often asked why it appears to scientists
that the universe is billions of years old while in fact it is only 5756
years old. In many private audiences and letters the Rebbe, Melech
HaMoshiach, responded to this question.
A typical example, and one especially relevant to Rabbi Berg's discussion
of the "Big Bang Theory," is the following excerpt from a letter
dated 1 Sivan, 5716:
"Regarding what you wrote that you read in the books of the
astronomers about stars whose light rays must travel for much more than
6,000 years until it reaches the earth, and you ask how this fits with what
our holy Torah states -- that we are in the year 5716 after creation.
"Now, even if you want to say that the calculation of the distance of
the star is correct (for there are differences of opinion among the
astronomers on this), this raises no question regarding the date of
creation. [The point is] that just like the stars were created, similarly
the light rays were created. Just like Hashem can create a star which will
first start to radiate light from the time of its creation and onwards, it
is equally possible that He would create the star together with the light
rays [already] radiating from it.
"This is especially evident when considering what it says in the first
parsha of the Torah: 'It was morning the first day,' while 'Let there be
luminaries' was not said until the fourth day. Thus we see that there was a
presence of light before the luminaries were placed in the heavens.
"...A deep knowledge and an analysis of the principles [upon which the
conjectures of the scientists regarding the age of the earth is based] will
prove to the normal mind that these are merely conjectures which are far
from certainty. This is the opinion of the scientists themselves as is
mentioned in their books. Nevertheless, in the introductory texts studied
in the schools, they hide the doubts that they have in these
principles." (Likutei Sichos, vol. 15, p. 478)
From this letter we see that while Hashem created the entire universe 5756
years ago, He may have created certain things to appear to an observer to
be older.
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