Judaism, Physics and God

David W. Nelson

Description

Hear the Voices of Ancient Wisdom in the Modern Language of Science

Ancient traditions, whose only claim to authenticity is that they are old, run the risk of becoming old-fashioned. But if an ancient tradition can claim to be not only ancient but also timeless and contemporary, it has a far greater chance of convincing each new, young generation of its value. Such a claim requires that each generation’s retelling use the new metaphors of the new generation.
—from Chapter 1

In our era, we often feel that we can either speak about God or think scientifically about the world, but never both at the same time. But what if we reconciled the two? How could the basic scientific truths of how the natural world came to be shape our understanding of our own spiritual search for meaning?

In this provocative fusion of religion and science, Rabbi David Nelson examines the great theories of modern physics to find new ways for contemporary people to express their spiritual beliefs and thoughts. Nelson explores cosmology, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, relativity, and string theory in clear, non-technical terms and recasts the traditional views of our ancestors in language that can be understood in a world in which space flight, atom-smashing, and black holes are common features of our metaphorical landscape.

Judaism, Physics and God reframes Judaism so that it is in harmony with the conquests of modern scientific thinking, and introduces fascinating new ways to understand your relationship with God in context of some of the most exciting scientific ideas of the contemporary world.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• God
• Jewish philosophy
• Judaism
• Religion
• Albert Einstein

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 22 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580235488
• Langue: English

Extrait

Judaism, Physics and God:
Searching for Sacred Metaphors in a Post-Einstein World
2006 First Quality Paperback Printing
2005 First Hardcover Printing
2005 by Rabbi David W. Nelson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or reprinted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information regarding permission to reprint material from this book, please write or fax your request to Jewish Lights Publishing, Permissions Department, at the address / fax number listed below, or e-mail your request to [e-mail] .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, David W. (David William)
Judaism, physics and God : searching for sacred metaphors in a post-Einstein world / David W. Nelson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-252-4
ISBN-10: 1-58023-252-3 (HC)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-306-4
ISBN-10: 1-58023-306-6 (PB)
1. Judaism and science. 2. Physics-Religious aspects-Judaism.
3. Metaphor-Religious aspects-Judaism. I. Title. BM538.S3N45 2005
296.3 75-dc22
2004026716
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cover Design: Tim Holtz
Cover Art: Fractal image Paul Bourke, visualization researcher,
Swinburne University
Published by Jewish Lights Publishing
A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc.
Sunset Farm Offices, Route 4, P.O. Box 237
Woodstock, VT 05091
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]
www.jewishlights.com
Dedicated to my father, Sol Nelson z l , who died weeks before this book first appeared. He would have been so proud! And to all those with the courage to confront new and strange ideas. Such ideas stretch the mind and the soul and challenge what we thought we knew. Looking them in the eye can be exhilarating-and scary.
C ONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Jewish Tradition and Frogs Legs
1 Cosmology and Creation: In Search of Beginnings
2 Quantum Mechanics: God in the (Subatomic) Details
3 Chaos Theory: When Random Things Happen to Regular People
4 Albert Einstein and Special Relativity: The Cosmic Speed Limit
5 General Relativity: Jewish Meaning in Curved Space
6 String Theory: Tying It All Together
7 Physics in Shul : Integrating New Metaphors into Traditional Jewish Life
Notes
Discussion Guide
Suggestions for Further Reading
Illustration Credits
Index

About Jewish Lights
Copyright
P REFACE
It has been said that all writing is, in some way, autobiographical. And although I never thought of this book as being connected with my life s story, it now seems that the links are deeper than I realized. My father was born in New York City to recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. He grew up in a highly traditional, immigrant Jewish community. Yiddish was his first language, and Shabbat afternoons were often spent with his grandfather, a very pious Jew for whom I was named. As a teenager, my father became disenchanted with much of traditional Jewish culture and left it all behind. He went to New York s City College, became a chemist, and embarked on a professional career in science that lasted until his retirement. Shortly before I was born, when my father was in his early thirties, he resumed active participation in Jewish life, joining and eventually becoming quite involved with Reform congregations. Nevertheless, the intellectual tone of the household in which I grew up was clearly scientific, rational, and liberal.
As a child, I was certain that I would become a scientist, like my father. Throughout elementary school, I read voraciously about the space program, physics, and chemistry. I remember with particular fondness a book called The Story of the Atom and another called The How and Why Wonder Book of Chemistry . The latter title was one of a series, each of which was devoted to a different branch of science. I had them all and had read them all so many times that I had essentially committed them to memory. My course in life was clearly laid out before me. During these same years, I attended Sunday school, prepared for and celebrated my Bar Mitzvah, and led an active, if not terribly traditional or well-informed, Jewish life. My family had wonderful Passover seders and lit Hanukkah candles. Jewish identity was unquestionably a part of my life. Even so, it was the ethos of scientific rationality that shaped my sense of self.
When I was fourteen years old, my father changed jobs and relocated, and for several months we saw him only on weekends. That put a tremendous amount of stress on the family, and that stress exacerbated the early adolescent rebellion that was already brewing in me. By the beginning of high school, I was much less committed to a future in science.
Then, during high school, I became involved with a synagogue youth group and the movement (NFTY, the umbrella of youth programs run by the Reform synagogues of North America) of which it was a part. I got to know several young rabbinical students who worked as youth group advisers and came to admire them tremendously. I spent summers at Jewish summer camps where worship services, Israeli songs and dances, and Jewish study were a core part of the daily schedule. These experiences had a profound impact on my sense of who I was and what I cared about in life. For my sixteenth birthday, I asked my parents for a copy of the Soncino edition of the Pentateuch, with commentary by Rabbi J. H. Hertz. I had come quite a long way from The Story of the Atom and The How and Why Wonder Books. Thus, just as I was turning away from my interest in science, I began turning more and more toward Judaism. I decided to become a rabbi and spent a great deal of time and energy, as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University, with the campus rabbi. After college, I enrolled at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and received rabbinical ordination five years later.
The conflicts and tensions in our lives often drive us to do what we do. This book arose from my own need to reconcile science and Judaism, for they represented some of the fundamental personal tensions in my own family life. My father left the Judaism of the Eastern European immigrant world and embraced a life of science. I left childhood dreams of following in his scientific footsteps and developed a love of Judaism that links me more closely to the legacy of the great-grandfather for whom I am named than to anyone else. Now, in the pages that follow, I have searched for a way to integrate and harmonize these two worlds.
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Because the writing of this book required me to learn and ponder deeply so many things about which I am not an expert, I am especially grateful to those who encouraged me and who provided technical assistance. Professors Bob Dorfman, Jerry Gollub, and Saul Perlmutter were especially generous with their time and expertise.
I am thankful for the time and efforts of the members of the roundtable, whose insights and analysis made the final chapter possible: Professor Bob Dorfman, Dr. Ilan Chabay, Rev. Jim Miller, Rabbi Michael Paley, and Professor Neil Gillman.
Professor Bruce Lewenstein, of Cornell University, has always been willing to listen to ideas, make suggestions, and provide thoughtful guidance throughout this project. I appreciate his friendship and his willingness to help.
My family shared my enthusiasm for the project from the first, and lovingly tolerated my obsession with the mysteries of physics for years. Without their understanding and support I would never have tried anything so ambitious.
Because I am a first-time author, the tender loving care given me throughout the final year of the book s gestation by the professionals at Jewish Lights Publishing was most welcome.
I am grateful also to all my friends and former colleagues on the staff of CLAL-the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, who, for more than fifteen years, provided me with an environment that nurtured my mind and encouraged me to think in new and creative ways.
And finally, I must make special mention of National Public Radio. I have lost track of the number of news stories, interviews, and features over the years that made me drop what I was doing and scribble a few notes about some part of what was to become this book.
Introduction
J EWISH T RADITION AND F ROGS L EGS
Metaphor is the currency of knowledge. I have spent my life learning incredible amounts of disparate, disconnected, obscure, useless pieces of knowledge, and they have turned out to be, almost all of them, extremely useful. Why? Because there is no such thing as disconnected facts. There is only complex structure. And both to explain complex structure to others and, perhaps more important-this is forgotten, usually-to understand them oneself, one needs better metaphors .
My father always said if you translate a proverb from one language into another, you pass for a poet. The same for science. Work strictly within one area, and it s diminishing returns, hard to make progress. But translate a concept from its field for use where it is unknown, and it is always fresh and powerful.
-Luca Turin, quoted in Chandler Burr s The Emperor of Scent 1
NORMAL JEWS AND NONEXPERT SCIENCE
This book is about science and Judaism and how they relate. But most of all, it is about ordinary people. Not scientists or theologians but average, normal, ordinary people. You might ask: What do normal people have to do with either Judaism or science? Isn t Judaism run by pious old men with long beards who spend all their time studying Talmud? And isn t science the exclusive domain of brilliant thinkers who can t seem to explain anything without using a computer and lots of very sophisticated math that I never learned in high school? My answer to both is: no.
As far as Judaism goes, it