“In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth”.
This means that there are two worlds apart: The heaven and the earth.
Two cultures prevail over Planet Earth:
Culture 1: There is only “The earth” (namely, the observable physical world). There is no heaven.
Culture 2: There are two worlds, and our duty is to connect the two.
The first, Culture 1, prevails in current Western Civilization.
Culture 2 is cornerstone in Judaism, and probably also in other monotheistic faiths.
The question of whether Torah is divinely inspired is tightly linked to the choice between the two cultures (as succinctly outlined above):
According to Culture 2, Torah is divinely inspired. Therefore, it represents the Divine moral code, the spiritual dimension of our physical existence on Planet Earth, with the Ten Commandments at its center, and details scattered throughout the Five Books of Moses (Torah). If Torah is divinely inspired, we are here to connect the heaven and the earth.
According to Culture 1, Torah is a historic relic of human writings from ancient times. In view of the scientific progress, made over recent centuries, in understanding how the physical world is structured and how it is functioning, Torah is no more relevant to our lives. Torah can only serve in academia as a subject of scientific research of ancient cultures.
How do we decide between the two cultures?
How can we lend scientific validity to the truth of one culture over the other?
In other words: How do we scientifically prove, or disprove, that Torah is divinely inspired?
Numerous words and lectures, nowadays also videos, have been produced to address this extremely critical question. Endless number of words of persuasion, one way or another, have been put forward.
We believe that there is a single method to scientifically address this question:
To find out whether certain patterns, recently discovered by science to widely prevail in scientific models of the physical world, whether these same patterns also prevail in Torah and in its original language, namely, biblical Hebrew.
Can we scientifically demonstrate that, indeed, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”?
Three such research efforts have been carried out in recent years (expounded in three meticulously-produced videos by Oren Evron):
Rav Ginsburgh, on Fibonacci numbers in biblical Hebrew (Hebrew; English subtitles, please activate):
Professor Haim Shore (me), on the reflection of numeric values of physical reality in corresponding biblical Hebrew words (English):
Oren Evron, on the associations between numbers, relating to the first verse of Genesis (in its original biblical Hebrew) and constant Pi, cornerstone and frequent-visitor in numerous scientific models of physical reality (English):
Podcasts produced by Professor Haim Shore or second or third parties:
[1]Talk of Avinoam Ben-Mordechai with Haim Shore (originally published, July, 4th, 2020; Produced by Avinoam Ben-Mordechai; Part 1 of 2):
[2]Talk of Avinoam Ben-Mordechai with Haim Shore (originally published, July, 11th, 2020; Produced by Avinoam Ben-Mordechai; Part 2 of 2):
[3]Posts from Haim Shore blog(English):
3.1 “Kavod – the most peculiar word in biblical Hebrew” (female voice):
3.2“World is My Own and I have Made Myself” – A Tale of Two Cultures (Podcast-audio):
Three biblical stories expressing same state-of-mind as today’s prevailing culture (English, narrated by a female voice):
3.3Basic Human Condition: “Angels of God Ascending and Descending” (Gen. 28:12; Podcast-audio):
“In the beginning God created The Heavens and The Earth” (Gen. 1:1). Are these two worlds apart, or are they communicating with one another? A single verse in Torah may deliver a clue, thereby defining for us a most basic human condition.
3.4“Do not steal” – Is it in the Ten Commandments?
The answer to this intriguing question may surprise you. The true meaning of the Eighth Commandment, according to traditional Jewish scholarship, is not what it appears to be.
So where prohibition on stealing, in the common sense of the word, does appear in the Ten Commandments?
Find details in this podcast:
3.5What do we know of God? (Podcast-audio)
Based on the Jewish Hebrew Bible (Torah, the prophets), on in-dept analysis of biblical Hebrew words and on traditional Jewish interpreters, the detailed answer may be somewhat unexpected:
3.6 “Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exod. 23:19). Why? (Podcast-audio)
Jewish Kosher laws, seemingly arbitrary and devoid of any possible rational justification, in fact are based on a very deep principle of how we should conduct our lives to maintain health, spiritually and physically.
What is this principle?
3.7 “Only, no fear of God in this place” (Gen. 20:11; Podcast-audio)
What happens to a society, governed by democratically-elected representatives, subject to humanly-created law?
Is this guarantee that atrocities not be committed?
Here are three stories from Scripture, involving three biblical heroes:
King Abimelech, King David, Abraham.
The stories are seemingly non-related. In fact, they convey a single common message. What is this message?
3.8Free Will — The Act of Separating and Choosing (Podcast-audio)
Why is there free-will?
What are the necessary and sufficient requirements for free-will to be exercised?
How do we make decisions within the two worlds, comprising our lives, the “World of Law-of-Nature” and the “World of Randomness”?
These questions and others are addressed, supported by excerpts from the Bible.
3.9 The Three Pillars of Truth (Lessons from the Hebrew Alphabet; Podcast-audio)
What does “Truth” stand on? How do we tell truth from falsehood?
The Hebrew Alphabet conveys to us the essential ingredients of truth.
We denote these:
The Three Pillars of Truth.
What are they?
3.10 “Becoming Holy” — The Bible Prescription
This podcast (and the accompanying post) consider various paths to Holiness, suggested in the past, and contrast them with the biblical way.
3.11 “And There was Evening and There was Morning” (Genesis 1) — A Different Interpretation (Podcast) An innovative new interpretation of Genesis well-known verse and how it comports with modern science.
3.12 “Shamayim” — The Most Counter-intuitive Yet Scientifically Accurate Word in Biblical Hebrew (Podcast) The deeper meaning and implications of the biblical Hebrew Shamayim (Sky).
3.13 Black Holes and Near-Death Experience (NDE) — A One-way Flow of Information (Podcast)
One-way flow of Information is characteristic to black holes. However, it also forms the basic human condition, regarding communicating with “the other side”. Is this similarity coincidental?
3.14 Why Trust Bible Prophets?? (Podcast) Israelite prophets, prophecies of whom are everywhere in the Jewish Bible, right left and center, explicitly stated that God, the creator of “The Heaven and The Earth”, had spoken to them. Should we trust them?
3.15 How Israel Transformed from a Land of Common-Sense to a Bastion of Formalities (Podcast) A magnifying glass directed at the fundamental transformation that the Israeli society is going through, shifting personal responsibility, mandated by free-will, to the responsibility of court of law.
3.16 Punishment vs. Guidance — Explaining Adverse Outcome of Well-intentioned Behavior (Podcast) “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People?” A somewhat original insight to an age-old mystery.
3.17 Is Torah Divinely Inspired? (Podcast) Three research efforts that have found shared patterns between scientific models of physical reality, the Hebrew Bible and biblical Hebrew:
3.18 Agag, Haman the Agagite, Gog, Magog, Gag — What binds them all together? (Podcast) On the general concept of “Roof” in the Hebrew Bible, and what does it really signify:
3.19 Why Predictions of Surgery-Duration are So Poor, and a Possible Remedy (Podcast) Accurate prediction of surgery-duration is key to optimal utilization of operating theatres. Yet, current predictions, based on best available statistical and AI techniques, are highly inaccurate. This causes operating rooms worldwide to operate in a sub-optimal mode. Based on personal experience, supported by recently published three peer-reviewed articles, we believe that the poor state-of-the-art of current predictive methods for surgery-duration is traceable to a single cause. What is it? What is the remedy?
3.20 Where Statistics Went Wrong Modeling Random Variation? (Podcast)
To-date, there are thousands of statistical distributions published in the Statistics literature. This seems insane. Perhaps the gigantic number of distributions indicates that we are wrong in how we model random variation, as observed in nature??
3.21“Diber” or “Dever” – Two Modes of Divine Dialogue with Humankind in a World of Free-Will (Podcast)
The Ten Commandments, in their original biblical Hebrew, are — Ten Devarim, or Ten Dibrot (the singular of which is Diber). No commandment is mentioned! What is the deep significance lurking behind this bizarre phenomenon?
3.23 Why a Jewish Rabbi wondered that Sun in Hebrew not named Eretz? (Podcast)
Living in the period of the Geo-Centric worldview, a Jewish Rabbi wondered (claimed) that it is the sun that should be named Eretz (Hebrew for Earth). With the later science-based shift towards the Helio-Centric worldview (Sun is “still”, Earth is “running” around it), biblical Hebrew once again proved to describe accurately physical reality.
Law and Order is cornerstone for a civilized society. Is this enough for survival of a society, characterized by “only there is no fear of God in this place” (Gen. 20:11)?
Law may be formed, imposed and preserved by a brutal dictatorial regime. Human history is awash with such regimes, past and present. But what happens when Law and Order is maintained by democratically-elected representatives, forming “government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863)? Does this guarantee a civilized society, where morality laws are not rampantly violated?
The Bible painstakingly tells us, in great detail, two stories. They seemingly are non-related. Yet, they are amazingly look-alike; And they share the same conclusion regarding what happens when Law and Order is preserved, yet “there is no fear of God in this place”.
The first story is that of Abraham and Sarah, moving temporarily to reside in the Philistine city of Gerar. Abraham, fearing for his life because of Sarah’s beauty, introduces her as his sister (Gen. 20:5). This triggers the king of Gerar, Abimelech, to “take her” (Gen. 20:2). God appears in the dream of the night to tell King Abimelech that he would die because he took a woman who had a spouse. Then there is a dialogue between God and Abimelech, all within the same dream, and the king is repentant and apologetic (“in the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands have I done this”, Gen. 20:5). At the end of the dream, God tells the king that He knows that what Abimelech had done was innocently done, therefore he prevented the king sinning against God (by not letting him touch Sarah). Therefore, the king would not die.
Let us be reminded that the apologetic King Abimelech, who apologizes to God, is same king of fame — “I know not who has done this thing, neither did thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it but today” (Genesis 21:25-26).
Abraham is obviously aware that, Law and Order notwithstanding, when fear of God is non-existent, Sin and Apology goes hand in hand. So, when King Abimelech finally asks Abraham why he had lied about Sarah, his spouse, “…that you have done to me deeds that ought not to be done” (Gen. 20:9), Abraham replies:
“..because I said to myself only there is no fear of God in this place and they will slay me for my wife’s sake” (Gen. 20:11).
In other words: “I, Abraham, fully understand your concept of Law and Order (“deeds that ought not to be done”). Yet, I was still anxious for my own personal survival because “there is no fear of God in this place“.
In the immediately adjoining Chapter 21, the scenario that Abraham was fearfully envisioning, sin under the auspices of Law and Order, came to full fruition:
“And Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water which Abimelech’s servants had plundered” (Gen. 21:25); and sure enough, King Abimelech, of fame “you have done to me deeds that ought not to be done“, namely, Law and Order, replies: “I know not who has done this thing, neither did thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it but today” (Genesis 21:25-26).
“Law and Order”? — Sure, yet crime is acceptable because “ONLY there is no fear of God in this place”.
The second story is that of King David, Bathsheba and her late husband, Uriah the Hittite, “lawfully” dispatched to be killed in combat so that King David could lawfully take the pregnant Bathsheba for a wife.
Here is the story in brief. King David, walking around on the roof of the king’s house, see Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, bathing; he calls for her and lie with her (2 Samuel 11:1-4). Learning that Bathsheba has become pregnant, King David first attempts, in vain, to convince recruited soldier, Uriah, to retire to his home and sleep with his wife, Bathsheba. Failing to do that, David ultimately sends Uriah to the battle front, where war is raging between the Israelites and the people of Amon: “..David wrote a letter to Joab…, saying, “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him so that he might be struck down and die”, “…and some of the people, among David’s servants, fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died” (2 Samuel 11:14-15, 17). Law and Order, as pronounced by the king, is preserved, and the written command of King David is carried to the letter. But that was not right in the eyes of God (“…the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Jehovah”, 2 Samuel 11:27). Therefore, via prophet Nathan, a clear message is sent to the king, in a way that would not risk the reproaching prophet’s life. First, Nathan is telling the king a story, the story of the Poor Man’s Lamb (Second Samuel 12:1-4). It tells about a poor man, who had a single lamb, whom he nourished like his own daughter. Yet, when a rich man had a guest, he was reluctant to take of his own flock and instead took the poor man’s lamb to prepare a feast for the rich man’s visitor. King David, in rage, declares his verdict: “The man that has done this is worthy to die” (2 Samuel 12:5). And Nathan replies: “…You are that man…” (2 Samuel 12:7). David repents in the right way. He is not saying “I have sinned”, instead stating clearly: “I have sinned to Jehovah” (2 Samuel 12:13). Absence of fear of God now replaced by fear of God, once the Divine is revealed via Prophet Nathan.
This scene is an exact replicate of the two former scenarios, taking place hundreds of years earlier (according to biblical chronology), regarding King Abimelech:
Fear of God in full view — when God is revealed to King Abimelech, in the “dream of the night”, the king repents;
Fear of God vanishes — when God is not revealed, the internal restraint to avoid sin vanishes with it; This results in utter absence of repentance on King Abimelech part, and what remains is only social politeness and political correctness: “I know not who has done this thing, neither did thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it but today”.
Contrast these scenarios with how Abraham is displayed throughout Genesis.
Righteous Abraham does not need constant Divine revelation to respect the command of God. He pursues the word of God even when Divine command is contrary to the essence of Abraham own biological self-preservation, contrary to the essence of his spiritual self-preservation (the belief in the righteousness of God) — the mission towards Isaac sacrifice.
Abraham fully understands that even when Law and Order is the law of the land, fully preserved and maintained under the umbrella of human morality (“you have done to me deeds that ought not to be done“), this is no guarantee that atrocities not be committed under the full authority of the humanly-created law (or democratically-created law, in today’s terms).
The Bible starts with a succinct description of all that there is:
“In the beginning God created The Heaven (“Ha-Shamayim“) and The Earth (“Ha-Aretz“)” (Gen 1:1).
This seven-word verse (in the original Hebrew) delivers four messages:
There is God; * There is creation; * God and His Creation are separate (pantheism is false); * There is a point in creation when time started (“In the beginning”);
However, there is an additional most important fifth message:
* There are two worlds apart: The Earth and The Heaven.
In the rest of Genesis creation narrative (Chapters 1 and 2), “The Heaven” is not addressed ever again. Genesis describes only that which is visible, or potentially visible, to humankind — “The Earth” (more specifically, the universe). As part of the description of the six days of creation of The Earth, the narrator relates to two separate parts of the universe (“The Earth”):
That part that God calls heaven (“The” omitted) — “and God called the sky (Rakia) heaven (Shamayim)…”, Gen. 1:8;
That part that God calls Earth (“The” omitted) — “and God called the dry land (Yabashah) Earth (Eretz)…”, Gen 1:10. However, The Heaven (Ha-Shamayim) is not repeated again, neither described nor implied. When alluding to Shamayim, Genesis 1 refers only to Rakia-Ha-Shamayim, as if to emphasize that this is not Ha-Shmayim of the first verse of Genesis.
These two worlds, The Heaven and The Earth, are they communicating with one another?
The Bible is mostly mute about it. Existence of free-will for the human species cannot co-exist with the explicit and undeniable knowledge that The Heaven does exist, that it influences our experiences in life and that… it responds to our decisions.
This should be contrasted with our explicit knowledge of The Earth (the scientifically observable universe), governed by law-of-nature. The latter allows us knowing, or potentially knowing, how “it influences our experiences in life and respond to our decisions“. For example, we know well in advance how nature would respond if we have decided, out of free will, to jump from the rooftop of a highrise.
So, is the Bible indeed utterly mute about communication between The Heaven and The Earth? Is there such communication at all?
There are stories of communication between the Divine and human beings, either one-way communication, like the Ten-Commandments, or two-way communication, like biblical stories of dialogues between the Divine and human beings (“…perhaps ten shall be found there? And He said: I will not destroy for the sake of the ten”, Gen 18:32). Yet, these stories relate to direct communication between man and God, not between “The Earth” and “The Heaven”, both created (according to the first verse of Genesis). Also, they are not as compelling as Law-of-Nature — You believe these stories or you do not. Same cannot be extended to Law-of-Nature:
Free-will is preserved, maintained and protected with regard to possible “dialogues” between human beings and The Heaven — these are completely invisible to us; Free-will is not so with regard to “dialogues” between human beings and Law-of-Nature (The Earth) —these are visible to us in their entirety.
Areas in our lives that are not subject to Law-of-Nature are areas where free-will is exercised. These are the areas where The Earth and The Heaven communicate. However, to preserve free will, Scripture is mostly mute about this communication‼
There is one exception — a single verse in the Bible that describes, in a very vivid way, the basic condition of humankind, namely, the untold and intuitively unrecognizable continuous dialogue, maintained by us all, between The Heaven and The Earth:
“And he dreamed and, behold, a ladder set up to The Earth and its top reaches to The Heaven; and behold angels (Malachim) of Elohim ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12).
To fully understand this verse, and the function of ladder in Jacob’s dream, let us be reminded what “Angel” (Malach) is in biblical Hebrew — a messenger (human or non-human), dispatched for an explicit purpose, to deliver a certain message or to perform a certain task. Examples:
“The Lord God of The Heaven, who took me from my father’s house… He shall send his angel (Malacho) before thee…” (Genesis 24:7);
“And Jacob sent messengers (Malachim) ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom” (Genesis 32:3);
“The angel (Ha-Malach), who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads…” (Genesis 48:16);
“And there came a messenger (Malach) and said…” (Job, 1:14).
We realize that same word, Malach, serves in Scripture to describe delivery of two sorts of “messages” — one via words, another via actions; Also, same word, Malach, is used for both human and non-human messengers.
In view of the new insight about the meaning of Malach, what does it mean that messengers are ascending and descending on a ladder that connects “The Earth” and “The Heaven”?
There can be a single interpretation:
“Messages” are being exchanged between the two worlds, explicitly declared to exist in the first verse of the Bible — “The Heaven” and “The Earth”‼
These messages are being exchanged, unknowingly to us, continuously; And they are delivered by us by thought, by word and by action. Wishes that we express, prayers that we pray, acts of grace and righteousness, or, conversely, acts of evil, these are all “messages” sent by us, via “ascending messengers”, to “The Heaven”; Experiences we go through, which look to us random and not the outcome of interference of Law-of-Nature, these are “messages” sent back to us, by “descending messengers”, from “The Heaven”.
And these experiences, from the realm of “randomness”, where free will reigns supreme, unconstrained by Law-of-Nature, these are doomed to remain unexplainable so long as free-will is preserved and the Divine is hidden, hiding also His hiddenness (“aster astir panai“, Deuteronomy 31:18).
There are three well-known symbols signifying that same idea, an ongoing dialogue between The Heaven and The Earth.
God relates to the rainbow, a bow aimed to Heaven from Earth, as a reminder, a message, sent to Him from humankind and all living beings on earth: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign for the covenant between me and the Earth; Whenever I bring clouds upon the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and all living creatures of every kind, so that never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life” (Genesis 9:13-17);
In the most well-known symbol of the Jewish faith, the Magen David, there are two triangles: One aimed from Earth to Heaven, another directed from Heaven to Earth;
The pyramids of Egypt are similarly built as a triangle directed from earth to heaven.
In Conclusion:
The most basic condition of humankind is existence of a dialogue between “The Earth” and “The Heaven”, the two parts of creation alluded to in the first verse of the Bible (and only there). This dialogue is maintained via two channels:
A visible dialogue between all living creatures and Law-of-Nature; The latter, unexplainable but well described (by science), is all observable; In this “Dialogue”, Law-of-Nature is forced on us for full compliance — no compromise, no freedom of choice;
A hidden dialogue, partially visible to us in the sense that only “messages” from The Earth may be recognizable; By contrast, to preserve free will, messages from The Heaven are invisible, incomprehensible to us; Yet, not always and not completely:
At times, they may be deduced, providing explanation to our experiences as Heavenly response (descending angels) to our own “messages” (ascending angels);
At other times, they may not even be deduced, doomed to remain hidden and utterly unexplainable (“..and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy”, Exodus 33:19; “Why bad things happen to good people”).
“You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.
Why should you become a holy nation, and how do you become a holy nation?
The answer and prescription are delivered in no uncertain terms in a certain segment of the Jewish Torah, generally referred to, in Jewish tradition, as Parashat Kedoshim (Segment “The holy ones”).
First the answer (Leviticus 19:1):
“And Jehovah spoke to Moses saying, speak to all the congregation of the Children of Israel and say to them: “Holy shall you be because holy am I, Jehovah your God”.
In a verse, prior to the end of the Parashah, the same assertion is repeated (Leviticus 20:26):
“And you shall be holy to me for holy am I, Jehovah…”.
The prescription to becoming a holy nation is delivered in the Parashah in a series of ‘Do’s and ‘Do-not do’s. However, throughout the Parashah, the signature of the Divine is repeated, time and again, as if to remind the listener (or reader), of their Divine source: “I am Jehovah” (For example, Leviticus 19:16).
“Do not walk around offering your merchandise of slander” … “Do not stand still, while your fellow human-being is in a potentially threatening blood-shedding situation. I am Jehovah” … “Do not hate your fellow human-being in your heart” … “Do not do wrong in return for wrong-doing committed unto you” … “Do not reserve resentment” … “Love thy neighbour as yourself. I am Jehovah”.
Hebrew for “Resentment” (or “Grudge”) is Tinah. Tin is Hebrew for “Silt” (mud that sinks to the bottom of the pool).
The Hebrew language educates:Resentment is like silt.
The latter rests silently at the bottom of a pool of water, nearly undetected, until the pool’s water is disturbed. The mud then rises up to blur and obscure all that shape up under the surface of the water.
Likewise, resentment can be hidden from view (even your own) until triggered into action. Once activated, old grudges rise up to blur and obscure all that is shaping up inside your psyche, rendering your soul non-transparent. This results in distorted vision of reality, in impairing relationships with family and friends and ultimately in poor judgement in decision-making scenarios.
However, there is also an extremely positive side to Tinah. Once activated due to stormy water, it generates an opportunity for Tikkun (“Correction”). The dirt in your soul becomes visible, in full view for you to understand the negative sides of your soul, and to take action to purify yourself from all the dirt and poison that have sunk into you, becoming invisible over the years.
In other words: As a result of stormy water, you undergo a process of Detoxification. Your heart becomes purified.
I believe this is an accurate description of the root of the mayhem, now generating big waves throughout Israel.
The process is both positive and negative.
The positive side is that one may consider the gigantic waves, now rattling Israel, and their expected final result, mass Detoxification, as fulfillment of a biblical prophecy:
Ezekiel (11:19): “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will remove the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh”;
Ezekiel (36:25-26): “..I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I would remove the stony heart out of your flesh and gave you a heart of flesh”.
However, this process of cleansing, of Detoxification, is not riskless. It may expose Israel to grave dangers. Israel’s enemies smell internal weakness within the country as predators smell blood. We have been there before. Prior to the Six-Day War (June, 1967), Israel was in decline, economically and otherwise. The general sentiment of Israelis was that of despair and lack of hope. Emigration out of the country assumed unusual proportions. The most widespread cynical joke of the time stated that at the gate of outgoing flights, at Ben-Gurion Airport. there is a label stating: “The last one, please turn off the light” (!!!). Some humor!
Will the current status of the country, outwardly looking like fragile and falling apart, will it trigger an all-out assault against Israel’s very existence?
We hope not.
And we hope that the current internal turmoil the country is going through ultimately prove to be a necessary change of heart (from stone to flesh), and a healing process that started with quarrel (Yariv*) but would end up in great joy (Simcah*).
______________________
* Yariv and Simchah are first names of, respectively, Israel Justice Minister and chair of Knesset Judicial Committee, both main figures to carry out the planned (and controversial) judicial reform.
Living in the period of the Geo-Centric worldview, a Jewish Rabbi wondered (claimed) that it is the sun that should be named Eretz (Hebrew for Earth). With the later science-based shift towards the Helio-Centric worldview (Sun is “still”, Earth is “running” around it), biblical Hebrew once again proved to describe accurately physical reality:
I have now uploaded to YouTube my presentation of March, 2006, delivered at Auburn University (USA), in which I explain my new methodology (RMM) to model variation (random or systematic).
Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has allowed enhancing the quality of the video audio so that it could be uploaded to YouTube.
Associated PowerPoint presentation, first in PowerPoint format, second in PDF format (helps preserve the correct form of the equations):
Comment: This post is based on an excerpt from my book “Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew” (Shore, 2012, 2nd Ed.), Section 8.1.
As reported in Jewish written sources, the name Earth in biblical Hebrew was the subject of much debate and puzzlement over the ages.
The source for these was the fact that the name for Earth in biblical Hebrew resembles the word for… “run”— namely, “move fast” (Earth in Hebrew Eretz; run is ratz).
A Geo-centric world view, according to which all heavenly bodies are rotating around Earth, was dominant for over 1500 years, until the late 16th century and onward, when it was replaced by the Helio-centric model of modern science (Wikipedia, Geocentric Model).
Living in the geocentric world view, Jewish scholars over the ages were puzzled about this resemblance of Eretz and Ratz (same philological root). They explained that this similarity is most probably due to the “fact” that the moon and the sun and all stars are “running” around the earth.
Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel (1437– 1508), a well-known commentator of the Bible, did not accept this interpretation. In his commentary to Genesis, he explained that “since the earth is a still center, it would have been appropriate that the wheel [meaning sun] should be called Eretz, and not the still center around which it revolves.”
Obviously, living prior to the historic shift towards the heliocentric worldview, Jewish sages have tried to fit their interpretations to the scientific knowledge of the time. Abrabanel rejected their explanations, based on pure logic.
The Jewish rabbi was obviously unaware that not many years later, Copernicus (1473–1543), in his book published not long prior to Copernicus death, would start the heliocentric revolution.
This resolved the quandary, raised by the Jewish rabbi, about a single biblical Hebrew word, Eretz, which to this day is used in Hebrew and in other languages (Earth),
describing accurately what planet Earth is actually doing, namely,
I have now uploaded the complete series of thirteen lectures (Hebrew) on “Quality by Design”, delivered by me to graduate students (engineers from Israel industry) in the summer of 2014.
Recent AI techniques to improve audio have allowed me to upload this series to YouTube, for the benefit of Hebrew-speaking quality professionals.
Maccabi World Union is a Jewish International Sports Organization, spanning more than 450 clubs in over 70 countries in 5 continents. Every four years, Maccabi organizes the Maccabiah, routinely called the Jewish Olympics, during which time (summer time), thousands of Jewish athletes come to Israel to compete in various sports branches.
The First Maccabiah opened on March, 1932. A large delegation from Poland participated, among them my late father, Daniel, who was part of the soccer team. My father grew up in Levov, then of Poland (currently Lviv of Ukraine). After the Maccabiah ended, my father decided to stay in Eretz Israel (then named Palestine, under British mandate).
Doing so, his life was spared. Not so with the rest of his family members, most of whom perished in the Holocaust.
On July of 2009, the 18-th Maccabiah was scheduled to take place. About a year earlier, the organizing committee of the 18th Maccabiah approached me with a request to organize a Satisfaction Survey, intended to be administered online after the Maccabiah ended. The survey was to be conducted separately for three groups of people (Athletes, Delegation Officials and Staff).
At the time, I was affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where I served as a tenured engineering full professor (retired 2015). As common practice, Israeli universities allow employees, after obtaining proper permission, to engage in delivering services outside the university, even when services rendered are not in academia. I started negotiating with the representative of the organizing committee of the Maccabiah on the terms of the contract, under which the planned Satisfaction Survey would be carried out.
Shortly after negotiations started, it dawned on me that my own life would not have come into existence were it not for the First Maccabiah, which hosted my father and ultimately caused him to stay in Eretz Israel.
I notified the organizing committee of the 18-th Maccabiah that I would conduct the requested survey free of charge. I explained the motivation.
At the time (summer of 2008), 3rd year undergraduate students in my engineering department were supposed to find a subject for their final project, to be carried out during the final 4th year of study. The final project was supposed to be carried out by a pair of students, although larger teams were occasionally allowed. Two students responded to my call, Rinat Bidany and Keren Farm. During their fourth year of study, the three of us worked diligently to build the necessary tools to conduct the survey. Once the tools were ready, they had been submitted to the Maccabiah, which administered the survey during the summer of 2009. By that time, the academic year was already over, Rinat and Keren got their high mark for their final project, and all three of us were invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Eighteenth Maccabiah, held in Ramat Gan, with participation of the Israeli president, the late Shimon Peres.
I spent most of the summer of 2009 statistically analyzing the results of the survey, culminating in a three-volume report that was submitted to Maccabi World Union Executive body. The first volume is attached herewith.
As a token of appreciation, I was granted a nice three-dimensional figure, representing the Maccabiah 18 emblem. The label (Hebrew) reads:
“Prof. Haim Shore. With Gratitude for Your Contribution to the 18th Maccabiah”.
The Ten Commandments, in their original biblical Hebrew, are — The Ten Devarim, or Ten Dibrot (the singular of which is Diber); The Holy of Holies, where the tablets with the Ten Commandments were held in the Jewish temple, is — Dvir; A plague is — Dever.
All these share a common root in biblical Hebrew — D.B.R (ד.ב.ר).
Haim Shore Blog 