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Maps, Models and Metaphors for the Messianic Age
Torah and the Holographic Universe
Joel David Bakst ©1990,2002 All rights reserved
One of the amazing developments to appear in the world in the last few decades is the hologram. A hologram is a special type of optical storage system (commonly known as a "picture"). The picture, appearing transparent, is created with the aid of a beam of laser light and the image contained is not two-dimensional like normal photographs, but three dimensional. If you have a hologram of a bird you can tilt the surface a little to one side and actually see behind the bird. Holography has been appearing more and more outside of the laboratory and now holograms, as photographs, can be viewed in exhibitions, are on sale in stores, have appeared on the covers of books. A miniature hologram appears on the face of every Visa Card in the form of a small, "three dimensional" American eagle in order to prevent forgeries. One who has not meditated upon a large, properly illuminated hologram has not witnessed one of the great marvels of modern scientific discovery [1].
There is, however, another quality of holography that is even more intriguing than its three dimensional life-like appearance. This can best be explained by an example: If you take a holographic photograph of a man and cut one section out of it, say, the foot, and then enlarge that section to the original size, you will get, not a large foot, but a picture of the whole man. In other words, each individual part of the holographic picture contains the whole picture in condensed form. The part (in Hebrew, the prat) is in the whole (the klal) and the whole is in each part; a type of unity-in-diversity and diversity-in-unity. The mathematical structure and the technology that transforms holographic theory into holographic fact is complicated. The key point, however, is simply that the part has access to the whole. With this understanding the holographic model can help us to understand a classical principle in the Kabbalah known as Hitkallelut veHitkashrut haOlamot - the interconnection and interpenetration of all existence.
The first application is in a passage where the sages point out a difficulty involving the blessings that Ya'akov (Jacob) gives to his sons.
"All these are the twelve tribes of Israel and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them" (Beresheet 49-28). Now, it is already stated, "And he blessed them" [in the first instance]. What is [the meaning in the second instance], "Every one according to his blessing he blessed them"? Rather, since he blessed them [the first time] - Yehuda with the quality of a lion, Dan with a serpent, Naftali with a deer, Binyamin with a wolf, etc., he now returns [the second time] and interconnects (kelalan) all of them as one. He now made all of them lions and all of them serpents, etc. Know that this is so from [the general case of] Dan. Here it is stated, "Dan shall be a serpent" (Beresheet 49-17) and later [in the blessings given by Moshe] he is called a lion as it is written, "Dan is a lion's cub" (Devarim 33-22). All of this [the interpenetration of the tribes] is to fulfill the verse (Shir haShirim 4), "Your entirety is beautiful my dear friend, and you have no blemish" [2].
In the sefirotic "Tree of Life" model the aspect of divinity known as the sefira of Tiferet - "Beauty" - stands, as a trunk, in the middle of a major constellation of five surrounding branches of divinity known as the sefirot of Chesed, Gevura, Nezach, Hod and Yesod [3]. Tiferet acts to balance and maintain symmetry between the individual extremities. The root meaning of Tiferet is "to branch out" (p'ar) and thus true beauty is the balanced synthethis of its parts. The deepest sense of beauty and perfection, however, is not yet achieved until the constituent parts actually inter penetrate with each other as in the case and example of Ya'akov and the tribes. Only after each Prat contains not only its own self but is also "blessed" (meaning to be increased or expanded) to contain every other Prat and thus have access to the whole has true wholeness been achieved. Only then, in a true holographic integration, will there be no blemish.
This holographic tool can be used to understand another example in Torah cosmology. There is the well known statement of the sages regarding the unusual bond which binds the Jewish nation together, "All of Israel are connected (Araveen ) one with the other" [4]. Similarly we find, "All of Israel are called one soul and if one sins all of them are connected one with the other".
This is usually explained as referring to the idea that all of the Jewish people are as limbs in one body and each part is connected to every other part. Thus, if any part of the body is affected the remaining body is missing its wholeness and is thus blemished. However, if we view the connection of the parts as a holographic inter-connection of the parts each one being literally contained in a condensed form within each other -- a totally new and refreshing paradigm is revealed. The remaining parts of the body no longer even retain their previous quality as complete bodily parts as the other excluded parts are the very substance of their own existence. Each Jewish "cell" and "limb" in the body of Clal Yisrael paradoxically derives its very separate personality and group dynamics only because it contains all the other cells and limbs buried, in miniature, within its own self. This will become clearer as we take a further look at the holographic paradigm as the Kabbalists themselves discuss it.
The principle of interpenetration and interconnectedness is fundamental in Lurianic Kabbalah. This is particularly emphasized in the writings of - Rabbi Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash, 18th century) where virtually all prayer/meditation and mystical intentions involving the performance of the mitzvot are viewed from this perspective. In the introduction to his work called "River of Peace" (Nahar Shalom) he explains (the technical Kabbalah terms have been omitted):
It is known that the Torah itself comprises a sacred bodily form and that the 613 mitzvot are the limbs of the Torah's body. [Furthermore], each mitzva/limb contains all of the other 612 mitzvot/limbs. Thus, every separate mitzva/limb, which in turn is comprised of the other 612, is one complete and encompassing root "soul" [one macro-mitzva]. The other 612 [micro-mitzvot], although they are contained within each mitzva/limb, are not the larger and complete, all encompassing root mitzva/Limb. If this were the case then how would one mitzva differ from another mitzva in definition and in performance and how would one limb [in the body] differ from another limb?
The Rashash then continues to map out in mathematical-like terminology how, despite the intensely holographic nature of the Torah's "body", it is able to produce separate mitzvot. The following is a summary of his words:
Rather, the process by which distinct mitzvot (or limbs in the body) are produced both in definition and in performance is that, for example, in the mitzva of teffilin all the 612 aspects of teffilin [the micro-teffilin] contained within all the other 612 mitzvot come together in a concentrated form to form a single common center of 612 teffilin [the 613th - the macro-teffilin - is a product of the whole being greater than the sum of the individual parts]. Even though all the other 612 mitzvot contain their own respective [micro] teffilin they all send their teffilin branches out to form the collective and all encompassing root teffilin -the actual mitzva as we know and practice it.
In Lurianic kabbalah, especially as expounded by the Rashash, every particular mitzva of the Torah or individual limb in the body, since it contains every other mitzva or limb has access to the information stored throughout the entire body of mitzvot and limbs. The seamless unity (every part literally contains every other part, thus functionally dissolving the very definition of a "part") is paradoxically countered by a diversity of many distinct "parts". The apparent contradiction, however, actually follows a logical series of patterns that are being engineered with mathematical precision by a hidden network of roots and branches that are dialectically rooting and branching itself from itself and to itself.
The principle of the interconnection and interpenetration of the Taryag mitzvot can also be applied to gain a new perspective about some of the commandments. For example, there is an comment by Maimonides (12th century) about a statement in the Mishna [5],
R' Hananya ben Akashya says: the Holy One desired to make Israel worthy therefore He increased for them the Torah [to study] and the mitzvot [to perform] as it says, "HaShem desired for His righteousness sake to increase the Torah and make it glorious" (Yeshayahu 42-21).
Maimonides writes:
A fundamental principle of Torah belief is that when one fulfills any mitzvah from the 613 mitzvot in its proper fashion...for the sake of Heaven and out of love... that individual merits Olam HaBah." Referring to this R' Hananya said that since there are so many mitzvot [given to Israel as an act of righteousness] it is virtually impossible that an individual will not perform at least one of them properly and completely. And in the performance of that mitzva his soul will live [in Olam HaBah ] via that very act.
On the surface it appears strange that through the act of one single mitzva - albeit when it is performed to the individual's highest level of perfection - one is granted a ticket straight to the higher dimensionality of Olam HaBah. What happened to all the other 612 vital components of the body of the Torah? Rather, according to the holographic premise the Maimonides is simply that a holographic substructure to the whole body of the Taryag mitzvot is being subsumed. The performance of a single mitzva (one limb in the body) being that it contains, in a condensed form, all the other 612 mitzvot, it has access to all of them. This is all the more so when any one mitzva is enlarged and illuminated through its perfection that it will now reveal, at least in miniature, the hidden nature of its own soul.
Another interesting example that lends its understanding very aptly to the holographic model comes from the nephew of Rabbi Chayim Volozhin. R' Nachman (19th century) writes [6]
From many perspectives the general state of successive generations continues to diminish. It is no wonder, however, the phenomenon of our master the Vilna Gaon (18th century), the likeness of which there has not arisen since the time of the Savoraim and the Geonim [beg. of 6th to 10th cent.] We have already learned from our Holy Master the Ari Zal [16th cent.] that the principle of inherent generational decline applies only to the generation as a whole. Regarding an individual, however, it is possible that a very powerful soul can radiate into a later generation the likeness of which has not existed previously for many generations. This is in order to correct his generation and the generations that follow.
Now, this tradition is in agreement with what the anatomists claim, namely, that the central nerves of the brain return to re-circuit and interconnect in the thighs and legs. Even more so they [the nerves of the brain] interface and become united all together in the souls of the feet [which also, in itself, then reduplicates, in miniature, the complete structure of the whole --e.g. the foot itself has its respective head, torso, arms, legs and feet]. This is the basis of the tradition that out of the chronological spectrum of time the soul of Mashiach appears in the "feet" of time [Ikvata d'Meshicha - lit. the footsteps or heels of the Mashiach].
Here we see that when the holographic principle is superimposed upon our common sense of history a here thereto hidden landscape is revealed. The layers of time that generate the passage of generations and their ensuing diminishment as they travel further away from the "head" are but the "parts" in a larger and unified time-like bodily form. Although the unique quality of each generation is distinct and separate from each other (as the mitzvot and limbs are from each other) because of the holographic principle each localized time coordinate has, under specific conditions, access to the other time coordinates revealing a type of over-all diversity within unity and unity within diversity. The belief in a quantum leap back into an original higher "messianic" state of global consciousness is based on a actual mechanical model.
Likewise, the holographic model allows us to understand the significance of the unceasing desire of all the great biblical personalities and Talmudic masters to rectify the Fall of Adam (Chet Etz HaDa'at Tov veRah in its actual root. Likewise, the mystery of prophesy can begin to unravel if the time-body is viewed from its holographic nature and, thus, the "limb" of the present, under specific conditions, has access to other "limb" events of the future.
Viewing time as a holographic structure it is now possible to understand a peculiar statement of the Talmud regarding Shabbat observance that has halachic consequences [7].
One who is traveling through the desert [or if one has been taken captive] and doesn't know when Shabbat is should count seven days from the day that it was realized that the tract of time had been forgotten. On the seventh day he should then make Kiddush and [at the end of the day] Havdalah.
It can be suggested that this act is required in order that the memory of the Shabbat should not be forgotten. It is fundamental, however, that Shabbat observance is not merely symbolic but that the day itself has an intrinsic essence that makes Shabbat what it is and is, in fact, an actual microcosm of the original seventh day of creation. If so, how can it be observed on any day other that the seventh? Furthermore, every blessing contains the formula of the Divine Code and under the circumstances there is a good likelihood that the Code will be used in vain. Where there is a doubt regarding the mentioning of the Divine Name the law is that we do not pronounce it.
The sages-mystics of the Talmud, however, understood something else about the deep nature of time and the weekly cycle of the week. As is now evident, each of the six days of the week actually contains a holographic micro-Shabbat and it is this actual essence of the seventh day, even during the week, upon which the kiddush and havdalah are being recited.
Notes:
[1] Holography is a method for recording and then reproducing a complete image of a three-dimensional object. Holography means the recording of an entire picture. A theoretical technique for reconstructing the entire image of a recorded object was developed by a Hungarian Jew, Dennis Gabor in 1948 for which he was awarded the Nobel prize.
[2] Midrash Bereisheet Rabba VaYahei. See also Shir HaShirim Rabba chapter 4 verse 1 and Midrash Tanhuma 16
[3] Mentioned in Divre HaYamim 29-11 (Chronicles) and often sung by the congregation when the Sefer Tora is publically taken out of the ark on Shabbat and other occasions.
[4] Shavuot 39a, Sota 37a, R.H. 29a in Rashi, San. 27b and more.
[5] The last mishna in Makkot
[6] in his introduction to a commentary of the GRA (Hadrat HaKodesh on the Midrash Ne'elam on Ruth
[7] Gemora Shabbat 59, Shulchan Aruch Siman 344
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