Walking Through Walls

Why can't I walk through a wall? This might seem like a silly question, but if, as Science has discovered, all matter is made up of primarily empty space (try 99.999999%), the question starts to make a lot more sense. Not only are the atoms themselves quite empty, but the space between two atoms are even more so! Imagine two butterflies are flying over Europe - one over the Big Ben in London and the other over the Kremlin in Moscow. That's about the corresponding space you've got between two atoms. One answer to this perplexing question comes from a likely place - Sports. Imagine 2 teams trying to play an organized baseball game on the same field. For the game to actually work according to the rules, there has to be one pitcher, one shortstop, one player at each position. Those are the rules. Except the teams here are divided into Leptons & Quarks, further broken down into 12 'players' each. So the real reason why a hand can't go through a stone table, is because there's a rule in place in the universe that says: When one pile of atoms (a person) tries to move into the realm of another pile (a wall), the two piles better match up on a quantum level - playing by the "same rules" - or they will stay apart; unless you have a huge surge of energy needed to promote the particles to another level. Wolfgang Pauli called this the exclusion principle.

What's amazing about all of this extends far beyond whether a person can walk through a wall (even though that's pretty cool). It's what keeps the universe interesting; if this rule didn't exist, everything would be the same! The fact that our universe is full of so much variety and individuality is only because of this. Pauli was amazed at the universe and "the unity of all being," as he called it. How did the universe "know" to have the right rules for creation. This general idea of how the universe in so many ways is perfectly suited for intelligent life, is called the anthropic principle. Who made these rules?

The holy Zohar writes: 'G-d looked into the Torah & created the world.' This exclusion principle, that causes two objects to remain apart with its own individuality, must therefore have a root in the Torah. Look at the very letters of Hebrew in the Torah. Unlike many other languages, there is no cursive allowed; two letters cannot be touching, otherwise the entire Torah scroll is invalid. If any letter is lacking its white space around it, the wholeness of the Torah is lost. This lesson can be applied to our lives as well: Every soul has its own unique, individual mission that no one else can accomplish. Diversity in society is vital. By denying the exclusivity of the parts, we damage the whole.

May we all recognize the Divine which dictates the "rules of the universe", and learn the importance of individuality helping the sum of parts, the mission of the entire Jewish people and world to bring redemption to the world, through each individual piece.

(Based on an essay by Tzvi Freeman)

Shabbat Shalom!

-Rabbi Daniel