7. Quantum Judaism

syn·er·gy ('sin-&r-jE) n.

The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

There is an exquisite synergy between Torah and quantum physics. The bad news is that understanding it demands learning a little quantum physics. The good news is that it’s not so hard as it seems at first.

Quantum physics is the science of littlest bits -- anything atomic size or smaller. Examples are the smallest bit of electricity, an electron, and the smallest bit of light, which is a photon.

All subatomic particles may be seen either as waves or particles, but not both at once. For example, when ejected from a "gun", electrons travel fairly straight, forming a cluster of points on a detector screen. This shows their particle nature only (left diagram). However, when the electrons ejected are aimed through a narrow slit, they make a diffraction pattern, which shows their wave nature (right diagram).

So far so good. The problem is that waves and particles are opposites and have mutually exclusive properties. Nothing can act both as a wave and a particle at the same time.

Now which state is the quantum in before it is observed? Wave? Particle? Both? Or none? According to quantum physics, the pre-observation state has the potential of being either but is actually neither. Moreover it is the act of observation itself that brings the thing into being in one of its possible states.

How so? Picture an electron being fired at two slits. There are two ways to observe it. One way is to set up a detector that can check which one of the two slits it went through. This method invariably reveals the electron to be a particle that has passed through only one of the slits. The other way is to record the electron's passage as a diffraction pattern on a screen, which means it went through both slits and is a wave.

It seems impossible that the electron should go through only one of the two slits, and through both of them, at one and the same time. Yet this seems to be the case.

There is no resolution to this conundrum; it’s a paradox. Try as we might, we can’t wish away the fact that how you choose to look at things really makes them that way.

It may interest you to know that the sages of the Talmud (Yuma 21:1) described a similar paradox with regard to the location of the Ark in the inner sanctuary of the ancient temple in Jerusalem. The quote there is, “The place of the ark is dimensionless space.” What does this mean?

The ark measured 2.5 cubits and was placed in the middle of a room measuring 20 cubits. But strangely, from one end of the ark to the wall was 10 cubits, and from the other end of the ark to the opposite wall was also 10 cubits. Adding the ark itself gives 22.5 cubits. Yet, measuring from wall to wall, there were only 20 cubits. Thus, when you measured the ark itself, it took up space, whereas when you measured around it, it did not!

So what state was the ark in before it was observed? Spatial? Non-spatial? Both? Neither? According to Torah, the pre-observation state has the potential of being either but is actually neither. Moreover it is the act of observation itself that brings the thing into being in one of its possible states.

Now how about that? Quantum Judaism! But the parallels don’t really stop there. (More in next post)