Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

Photo Credit: unsplash.com

The relationship between the Torah and quantum mechanics is a subject that has fascinated both scientists and Torah scholars. In this article, I aim to show how the rules and wisdom of the Torah actually reflect and even anticipate some of the most foundational discoveries in quantum mechanics, the science that explores how the tiniest parts of our universe behave.

While quantum mechanics is a relatively new area for scientists, many of its core ideas—such as the importance of observation, the role of potential and actualization, and the limits of human knowledge—are already present in the way God interacts with the world and in the rules He gave us in the Torah. The laws of the Torah are deeply in sync with how the universe truly works and are designed for our well-being.

Quantum mechanics teaches that, at the deepest level, everything is made up of waves of possibility. For example, before you look at an electron, it does not have a set place or state—it exists as a wave with many possible positions or outcomes. Only when someone observes or measures it does the wave “collapse” into a single, definite reality. This means that the act of observing or measuring something shapes what it becomes.

Furthermore, the tools or methods used to measure something limit what you can find. In other words, what you see is shaped by how you look. As one physicist said, “Man’s ability to inquire about the world is limited. He can go up to here and no more. So too in quantum mechanics, he can deduce that a quantum object exists as a wave of probabilities, but if he tries to go further and measure it, even in elaborate and sneaky ways, his plan will be foiled. The object will collapse its phantom nature and materialize into a real object”. This is a direct parallel to the Torah’s teaching that reality, in many ways, is shaped by the observer and by the act of recognition.

A mikvah is a special pool of rainwater used by Jewish people to achieve spiritual purity. The most common use is for women after their menstrual cycle and for people converting to Judaism (for men regularly as well). For a mikvah to be kosher, you cannot use human intervention, such as buckets or any kind of container, to bring the water to the pool. Water carried in this way is called “drawn water” and is not valid for use in a mikvah. The water must be rainwater that flows naturally from the sky, running down a roof and then directed into the mikvah through specially designed pipes or troughs that are never touched by human hands or tools.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, once wrote a very insightful note ( 9 Adar 5714)  on this topic, recommending: “It would be of utmost importance….from here and on, you should use a Mikvah entirely rainwater or water of a well, and not water that passed any measuring instruments etc. ….”

In this note, the Rebbe acknowledges the same quantum idea: when you measure something, you limit it and collapse its greater potential into something smaller and more defined. The Rebbe advised this person on how to benefit from the mikvah’s special qualities to the fullest, when there is no interaction whatsoever or influence of any measuring device upon the mikvah’s waters. This reflects the quantum principle that measurement collapses the wave of possibilities into a single outcome, and only water that has not been “measured” or interfered with retains its full Godly spiritual potential.

Another example of Quantum Mechanics in action is in our Torah rules.

The Torah commands us not to plant Kilayim—grape seeds with other kinds of seeds. For example, you cannot plant wheat, barley, and grapes all together. This rule applies explicitly when two types of seeds are planted with grape seeds.

The Zohar (Volume 3, 86a on Devarim, ch. 22), a mystical Jewish text, explains that mixing different species, Kilayim, is like creating “entrapments,” forcing things together in an unnatural and harmful way. To avoid this, grapevines should be kept apart from other plants, either by placing a divider between them or by ensuring there is enough distance so they are not considered growing together.

Maimonides, in Kilayim Chapter 5 Halacha 9, writes: “When a person sees mixed species growing in a vineyard belonging to a colleague and maintains them, that observer is forbidden to benefit from them. Every other person is permitted. Were the owner of the vineyard to have maintained them, they would be hallowed (and forbidden) for all people as explained….”

The keyword Maimonides uses is “sees and observer.”

The act of seeing and accepting what you see actually creates the prohibition for that observer. This is a fantastic law because it means that the reality of the situation depends on the perspective of the person who observes it.

If the field owner does not see the mixture and removes it when he finds out, it was never really forbidden for him, while it is forbidden for the first fellow. This idea is precisely what we find in quantum mechanics, where the observer’s perspective shapes reality.

The world is made to be observed. Without an intelligent being to observe it, it is all meaningless. As Rabbi Avigdor Miller explained, this is why the first statement by God in the Torah is “let there be light.” For without light, man cannot observe God’s beautiful handiwork.

In the Patach Eliyahu, the very special teaching of Elijah the prophet to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, he says the reason and purpose for this Creation is so that we recognize and see God in everything. Our personal perspective and seeing God in everything fulfills the person for Creation.

The Talmud explains that dreams, sometimes prophetic, can be good or bad depending on how they are interpreted. How you see, measure, and understand the dream collapses and influences its outcome and direction. This, too, is a quantum-like idea: the observer’s interpretation helps define the reality that results.

In summary, the Torah’s laws are not just random rules. They are deeply connected to the way the universe really works. Whether it is the rules about mikvah or about planting seeds, the Torah teaches us that observation, natural flow, and our own perspective all play a role in shaping reality.

Modern science is only now discovering what the Torah has taught for thousands of years:

God’s wisdom is built into every part of creation. As some Jewish thinkers and physicists have noted, “Quantum Mechanics expresses everything Kabbalah and Mysticism have told us for thousands of years, comprises the mind of G-d!”

The more we study Torah, the more we see the harmony and the power of our actions and awareness in shaping the world around us.

www.rabbishlomoezagui.com

38