Sunday, December 9, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
14 Kislev 5768, (24 November 2007). Torah Portion. VaYishlach, Genesis : 32:4-36:43.
Yakov was a realist. Yakov is the forefather to understand when we want to examine how to fit in with society, family, and friends. A superficial and unsophisticated approach to Yakov does not give the Torah student the proper perspective. Yakov knew how to put himself into the other guys shoes.
...positive staement about Yakov's character, he was not concerned about public opionion on an egotisitical platform, rather he was concerned that at some point family/smamily at some point Yakov might simply overstay his welcome...
An excerpt from a large overview in progress.
AhMbDvd November 21, 2007 10:41 am EST
...positive staement about Yakov's character, he was not concerned about public opionion on an egotisitical platform, rather he was concerned that at some point family/smamily at some point Yakov might simply overstay his welcome...
An excerpt from a large overview in progress.
AhMbDvd November 21, 2007 10:41 am EST
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Lurianic Kabbalah
Lurianic Kabbalah: "As a result of the Breaking of the Vessels, the Primordial Adam was himself partly shattered into a multitude of individual souls, who themselves are comprised of the same fragments or Kellipot that form our world, and which are exiled and alienated in the 'Other Side.'. The task of individual men and women is to extract (via an act of birur) those sparks (netzotzim) that are his or her fortune to encounter in life, and to raise and spiritualize them, so as to reconstitute the Sefirot and the figure of the Primordial Man as five Partzufim (Visages or Personalities of God) and restore the harmony of the opposites, "
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Einstein Was Not An Atheist!
Einstein Was Not An Atheist!: "To err is human, and adherence to a strict set of rules is not easy for everyone. Mistakes get made, intentions are misunderstood. Words are misquoted. Even silence can be misinterpreted. "
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Primary Conflict Between Science and Religion!
The Primary Problem:
The fundamental issue is that science relies on experimentation, theory, and generally accepted scientific theories and laws that become treated as fact.
Religion however is faith based. Our Jewish Religion system of belief requires that theories, ideas and explanation must come from pre-existing theories, ideas and explanations which can be substantiated by scriptural sources.
(To be continued)
The fundamental issue is that science relies on experimentation, theory, and generally accepted scientific theories and laws that become treated as fact.
Religion however is faith based. Our Jewish Religion system of belief requires that theories, ideas and explanation must come from pre-existing theories, ideas and explanations which can be substantiated by scriptural sources.
(To be continued)
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Did Albert Einstein Believe in a Personal God?
Did Albert Einstein Believe in a Personal God?: "developing the theory of relativity, Einstein realized that the equations led to the conclusion that the universe had a beginning. He didn't like the idea of a beginning, because he thought one would have to conclude that the universe was created by God. So, he added a cosmological constant to the equation to attempt to get rid of the beginning. He said this was one of the worst mistakes of his life. Of course, the results of Edwin Hubble developing the theory of relativity, Einstein realized that the equations led to the conclusion that the universe had a beginning. He didn't like the idea of a beginning, because he thought one would have to conclude that the universe was created by God. So, he added a cosmological constant to the equation to attempt to get rid of the beginning. He said this was one of the worst mistakes of his life. Of course, the results of Edwin Hubble "
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
A Feature Presentation
Don't miss this one!
Only a few shakes left!
http://findinsight.blogspot.com
Click on the link above, scroll down or read and scroll. The Tv screen above my pic is courtesy of SinaiMail!
Hurry, in three shakes of a Lulov, this gevaltic holoday will be over!
Only a few shakes left!
http://findinsight.blogspot.com
Click on the link above, scroll down or read and scroll. The Tv screen above my pic is courtesy of SinaiMail!
Hurry, in three shakes of a Lulov, this gevaltic holoday will be over!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Aleph to Tav
Aleph to Tav: " do not truly consider myself a Torah Scholar, as much as I consider myself an enthusiatic beginner with a great enthusiasm to learn. Aharon Moshe Sanders 5:20pm September 26, 2007 Chag Sameach! PS: The Gemara in places uses a numeric value of something of the order of 300 or more as a huge number. Therefore that fact that 300 words of Torah explain creation would be enough proof that there was a vast amount of time where things on heaven and earth came into being long before Adam Rishon came into existence. Fianlly when man does come into existence after a complete cycle (like our solar year but on a much grander scale- a complete 'creation cycle' of torah words (over 365 hebrew words) and the creation of man is discussed as 'let us create man in"
Sunday, September 23, 2007
How the Big Bang Theory Proves G-d's Existence
How the Big Bang Theory Proves G-d's Existence: "A further difficulty concerns black holes. A black hole is a collapsed star which is so dense that, if one is sufficiently close to it (the 'event horizon'), nothing can escape from it, not even light. Using general relativity, one can prove that it takes an infinite amount of energy to remove a single particle from inside the event horizon of a black hole. The problem, of course, is that if the entire universe was originally squashed into a singularity, then that singularity was the granddaddy of all black holes. Whatever caused the Big Bang must have had infinite energy. "
The Title itself is a link to where this information was obtained. Below is a link to a nice summary of some well known theories on cosmology.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Circuit/7615/cosmology.html
The Title itself is a link to where this information was obtained. Below is a link to a nice summary of some well known theories on cosmology.
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Circuit/7615/cosmology.html
Creation- A Biological Perspective, and some biographical Info on the Author.
By Aharon Moshe ben-Dovid- AhMbdvd 9/23/07
Throughout these pages you will find one major theme being used consistently, Biology.
The most readily understandable reason for this is that while attending College (it's not enough just to attend, you actually must select a major) I selected Biology for many reasons. The reason of primary significance here is that of all the sciences utilizing a scale of comparative relevance, there was no undergraduate major that would be superior.
A primary concept in the body of work, or method of understanding which is often referred to as Kabbalah, deal with such fundamental principles of the cosmic creation. When bringing up such a seemingly monumental concept as the cosmic creation, one might be tempted to ask, how can this be relevant to anything today.
Then I would always counter with, how can you even ask that question, when you really consider the matter, the cosmic creation encompasses everything!
While waiting for our Professor to arrive, conversations such as the following would take place:
Student A: I'm majoring in Physical Chemistry, how about you?
Aharon Moshe: I'm majoring in Biology for Secondary Education.
Student B: (to AM) You want to teach?
Aharon Moshe: Maybe. The hours are pretty good, and you still get
the summers off.
Student A: Well I'm planning to do research. What could be more
important then chemistry. Particularly physical
chemistry.
At this point another student joined in who happened to be majoring in organic chemistry. The discussion took some interesting twists and turns...
Aharon Moshe: Okay it is true eventually everything is made up of atoms. However by the time you get down to that level your not even looking at living things anymore. What your studying is the building blocks of molecules which are found in or make up the skeleton of the organelles, components of the cells of living things.
The point I was trying to make and did indeed make was that by the time you get to the building blocks of matter which is well documented, you have already missed the more important and larger picture which concerns the building blocks of living things.
Wait a second! Asks someone who just happened upon this web page, I thought this was going to be about:
Trying to break down Torah concepts which seem esoteric or complex into easily understandable concepts for one who is looking to understand Torah concepts on a deep level. Ten luminous Emanations, The Arizal, Chassidus, Kabalah, Zohar.
The link below will take you to a nice little glossary for Hebrew terms that may be helpful.
http://www.chassidus.net/glossary.htm
Okay without further delay here it is:
Physics: Point of singularity. Everything we know of today the so called "known universe" came from a single point in massive explosion called the big bang. Other theories like "steady state" or "pulsating universe" theories seek to explain how various elements in the universe are contracting and expanding. Physical entities that exist in the universe such as Galaxies, Collapsed or collapsing stars, black holes etc are used to argue the validity, or the problems in any of these theories.
The theories are quite involved, here is a link or two, feel free to research these cosmic theories on your own:
http://www.mail-archive.com/eristocracy@merrymeet.com/msg00037.html
http://flux.aps.org/meetings/YR01/APR01/abs/S2390.html
Biology: All living things come from cells. All cells come from other cells.
When you get to the matter of where the first cell comes from, some interesting theories, ideas, explanations, and experiments are invoked:
The names to know from the biological literature are:
Stanley Miller: He conducted an experiment seeking to duplicate the primordial conditions which were thought to exist on earth. In this primordial soup mixture of methane gas, ammonia, and/or Nitrogen gas, stanley Miller added electrical current to duplicate lightning, and was able to produce amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, which are the building blocks of cellular organelles and proteien and enzymes.
Hetertroph Hypothesis
Oparin/Haldane:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen06/gen06323.htm
Throughout these pages you will find one major theme being used consistently, Biology.
The most readily understandable reason for this is that while attending College (it's not enough just to attend, you actually must select a major) I selected Biology for many reasons. The reason of primary significance here is that of all the sciences utilizing a scale of comparative relevance, there was no undergraduate major that would be superior.
A primary concept in the body of work, or method of understanding which is often referred to as Kabbalah, deal with such fundamental principles of the cosmic creation. When bringing up such a seemingly monumental concept as the cosmic creation, one might be tempted to ask, how can this be relevant to anything today.
Then I would always counter with, how can you even ask that question, when you really consider the matter, the cosmic creation encompasses everything!
While waiting for our Professor to arrive, conversations such as the following would take place:
Student A: I'm majoring in Physical Chemistry, how about you?
Aharon Moshe: I'm majoring in Biology for Secondary Education.
Student B: (to AM) You want to teach?
Aharon Moshe: Maybe. The hours are pretty good, and you still get
the summers off.
Student A: Well I'm planning to do research. What could be more
important then chemistry. Particularly physical
chemistry.
At this point another student joined in who happened to be majoring in organic chemistry. The discussion took some interesting twists and turns...
Aharon Moshe: Okay it is true eventually everything is made up of atoms. However by the time you get down to that level your not even looking at living things anymore. What your studying is the building blocks of molecules which are found in or make up the skeleton of the organelles, components of the cells of living things.
The point I was trying to make and did indeed make was that by the time you get to the building blocks of matter which is well documented, you have already missed the more important and larger picture which concerns the building blocks of living things.
Wait a second! Asks someone who just happened upon this web page, I thought this was going to be about:
Trying to break down Torah concepts which seem esoteric or complex into easily understandable concepts for one who is looking to understand Torah concepts on a deep level. Ten luminous Emanations, The Arizal, Chassidus, Kabalah, Zohar.
The link below will take you to a nice little glossary for Hebrew terms that may be helpful.
http://www.chassidus.net/glossary.htm
Okay without further delay here it is:
Physics: Point of singularity. Everything we know of today the so called "known universe" came from a single point in massive explosion called the big bang. Other theories like "steady state" or "pulsating universe" theories seek to explain how various elements in the universe are contracting and expanding. Physical entities that exist in the universe such as Galaxies, Collapsed or collapsing stars, black holes etc are used to argue the validity, or the problems in any of these theories.
The theories are quite involved, here is a link or two, feel free to research these cosmic theories on your own:
http://www.mail-archive.com/eristocracy@merrymeet.com/msg00037.html
http://flux.aps.org/meetings/YR01/APR01/abs/S2390.html
Biology: All living things come from cells. All cells come from other cells.
When you get to the matter of where the first cell comes from, some interesting theories, ideas, explanations, and experiments are invoked:
The names to know from the biological literature are:
Stanley Miller: He conducted an experiment seeking to duplicate the primordial conditions which were thought to exist on earth. In this primordial soup mixture of methane gas, ammonia, and/or Nitrogen gas, stanley Miller added electrical current to duplicate lightning, and was able to produce amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins, which are the building blocks of cellular organelles and proteien and enzymes.
Hetertroph Hypothesis
Oparin/Haldane:
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen06/gen06323.htm
Friday, September 21, 2007
Ratzon- The Will of Hashem
Original words by Aharon Moshe ben-Dovid AhMbDvd September 21, 2007. Erev Yom Kippor 5768.
Hashem's Creation is a concept that keeps coming back because we can only truly understand the will of Hashem by at least touching upon the purpose of Hashem's creation.
The inital problem with even discussing Hashem's creation is because the concept is so fundamental and everything else extends from it. For example how can understand the nature of the seed when we already know that it exists solely to create a tree. Can we even consider that the seed itself has some purpose other then the one that we immediately connect with it. The origin of the seed can be found within the fruit or the flower which contained the seed.
One can then get pulled into the purpose of the flower which actually serves as an accessory to the pupose of the seed. Finally one might even be so bold to state that the entire purpose of the tree is to create the seed. The seed (furthering an analogy using one of Hashems's creations) then needs to find a suitable surroundings so that it may develop roots leaves, and utlimately create seed as well.
Often the term consciousness gets invoked when discusssing living things. While we are invoking the seed and the tree analogy we should try to remember that we are discussing something more complex, and the tree is simply serving as a readily available example.
The "Ten Luminous Emanations" is a an extremely important Sefer which while I have had the occassion to learn from, I did not in fact go through it word by word. However by understanding at least one small aspect one might be able to get a glimpse of its entire meaning. Such is the power of the seed. At one point in my my life (perhaps a dozen or so years ago, I had the zechus to listen to a Rabbi's explanation of how the Sphierot of Binah is different from the Sphierot of Chochma.
The analogy invoked after several different expalnation were put forth was the only one that I was able to understand and have retained to this day:
An introduction to this Spierot system is:
The concept of the "Ten Sphierot" is that the mechanichics of creation consisted of ten individual utterances from G-d. These utterences created the intital aspect of (lets say energy/substance until a better word/term is found or developed). To gain an understanding of the nature of a lower level of sphierot one must climb the ladder of the sphierot system to get a a look at the sphirot immediatly above the given spierot.
Back to our example:
On the Chcohma is the spheirot (energy level) immediately above Binah. The spheirot of Chochma by definition is closer to the source of creation then is Binah. Therefore we can begin to develor a perfect understanding of Binah, by realizing that it a something less then Chochma. We further this logical explanation by realizing that the the spheirot of Chochma has within it a (plan/design/seed/piece) of Binah. Chochma is of a higher energy level then Binah, yet Chochma is not Binah. Binah is different then Chochma, definitely not better, and definitely not worse.
So here is what the Rabbi told us:
In order to become Binah as it own unique energy level the spierot has to let go of being Chochma. Or to use the anaology which rang so clearly :
In order to become a tree the seed has to first let go of being a seed!
(to be continued)...
Aharon Moshe ben-Dovid
Passaic NJ
http://alephtotav.blogspot.com/
Hashem's Creation is a concept that keeps coming back because we can only truly understand the will of Hashem by at least touching upon the purpose of Hashem's creation.
The inital problem with even discussing Hashem's creation is because the concept is so fundamental and everything else extends from it. For example how can understand the nature of the seed when we already know that it exists solely to create a tree. Can we even consider that the seed itself has some purpose other then the one that we immediately connect with it. The origin of the seed can be found within the fruit or the flower which contained the seed.
One can then get pulled into the purpose of the flower which actually serves as an accessory to the pupose of the seed. Finally one might even be so bold to state that the entire purpose of the tree is to create the seed. The seed (furthering an analogy using one of Hashems's creations) then needs to find a suitable surroundings so that it may develop roots leaves, and utlimately create seed as well.
Often the term consciousness gets invoked when discusssing living things. While we are invoking the seed and the tree analogy we should try to remember that we are discussing something more complex, and the tree is simply serving as a readily available example.
The "Ten Luminous Emanations" is a an extremely important Sefer which while I have had the occassion to learn from, I did not in fact go through it word by word. However by understanding at least one small aspect one might be able to get a glimpse of its entire meaning. Such is the power of the seed. At one point in my my life (perhaps a dozen or so years ago, I had the zechus to listen to a Rabbi's explanation of how the Sphierot of Binah is different from the Sphierot of Chochma.
The analogy invoked after several different expalnation were put forth was the only one that I was able to understand and have retained to this day:
An introduction to this Spierot system is:
The concept of the "Ten Sphierot" is that the mechanichics of creation consisted of ten individual utterances from G-d. These utterences created the intital aspect of (lets say energy/substance until a better word/term is found or developed). To gain an understanding of the nature of a lower level of sphierot one must climb the ladder of the sphierot system to get a a look at the sphirot immediatly above the given spierot.
Back to our example:
On the Chcohma is the spheirot (energy level) immediately above Binah. The spheirot of Chochma by definition is closer to the source of creation then is Binah. Therefore we can begin to develor a perfect understanding of Binah, by realizing that it a something less then Chochma. We further this logical explanation by realizing that the the spheirot of Chochma has within it a (plan/design/seed/piece) of Binah. Chochma is of a higher energy level then Binah, yet Chochma is not Binah. Binah is different then Chochma, definitely not better, and definitely not worse.
So here is what the Rabbi told us:
In order to become Binah as it own unique energy level the spierot has to let go of being Chochma. Or to use the anaology which rang so clearly :
In order to become a tree the seed has to first let go of being a seed!
(to be continued)...
Aharon Moshe ben-Dovid
Passaic NJ
http://alephtotav.blogspot.com/
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