By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent
Can a person believe both what is taught in the Torah and in the science classroom?
Evidently so, because a number of prominent scientists do. Three of them traveled to the east side of Lake Washington last month to spend the day discussing just how they see it.
Rabbi Yitschak Goldman, of Seattle Kollel, which sponsored the event, said the symposium dealt with “a question that is very prevalent in the Torah world and the science world — Can the questions asked by science be resolved by Torah?
“Does the age of the universe reconcile with the Biblical understanding of what the age of the universe is? What does Judaism think of the Big Bang, of black holes and quasars? These were all dealt with in the seminar.” The rabbi said about 85 adults participated, some of whom brought their children.
Morris Engelson is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a former chief engineer at Tektronix, Inc., and adjunct professor at Oregon State University. A firm believer in the word of the Torah, his argument is basically that “ultimately Torah and science should agree with each other,” he said.
“Look at history and see how science and Torah have been slowly getting into closer agreement as time moves on,” Engelson wrote in one of the essays collected in the 1992 book, The Heavenly Time Machine. “This is not because Torah has changed, but rather because science has changed. I express faith in the scientific method and the future of science, which I believe will eventually come into full agreement with Torah.”
In his talk on quantum mechanics and Torah, Engleson quoted Rabbi Dessler, who 50 years ago presaged the 2002 solution to the “loop-quantum-gravity equations”:
“‘He renews’…means each moment of creation is recreated. Not only matter is recreated,” Engleson said, “but time, too. Each successive moment is a new act of God’s will…”
Joining Engelson at the all-day Shabbaton held in Bellevue were Dr. Andrew Goldfinger, senior physicist and assistant supervisor of the Space Computer and Technology Group of Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, and Harold Gans, a retired senior cryptologist with the U.S. Department of Defense, who has published over 180 technical papers dealing with codes. Since 1988, Gans has been a volunteer lecturer for Aish HaTorah throughout the U.S., Canada, Israel and Australia.
Engelson, currently a consultant in Portland, Ore., gave two talks at the event, the first an explication of the relationship between Torah and Quantum Mechanics — the weird but essentially proven theory of how things work at time and distance scales smaller than an individual atom. His second talk dealt with the mysterious origin of a number value “given on page 25a of Babylonian Talmud Tractate Rosh Hashanah, which is used in the determination of the first day of the Hebrew month.”
When he is not lecturing on science and Torah, Dr. Andrew Goldfinger is Senior physicist and assistant supervisor of the Space Computer and Technology Group of Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory. He has also written a book about religion and science, called Thinking about Creation. Goldman said his talk “added more of a spiritual flavor to the science.”
Goldfinger said his two subjects were “How is it possible that a scientist can believe in miracles?” and what he called “religious engineering” — inventing practical engineering solutions to halachic problems.
On the issue of whether the laws of nature preclude miracles, he said, “The answer basically, is yes and no. Miracles are not inconsistent with the laws of nature, they represent a suspension of the laws of nature. The Jewish view,” he continued, “is that God created the laws of nature and he can suspend them when He wishes. One example would be the moment of the Big Bang, which is not describable by the laws of nature because the laws of nature break down there.”
Goldfinger said that God “hides and conceals” Himself by devising patterns which we see as laws of nature because it is necessary if we are to have free will.
“If we saw of God’s presence at all times, we would always do the right thing. It would be like the kid in the presence of Santa Claus.” By concealing Himself behind the veil of natural laws, “we can say, ‘There is no God, there are laws of nature, instead.’ And we can become atheists if we wish,” he added.
Examples he gave of religious engineering in his second talk included gefilte fish, which Goldfinger said was a response to the the problem of deboning fish on the Sabbath. More elaborate engineering solutions include an ink that fades in a matter of days so it is “not a permanent form of writing,” but can be photocopied before it fades, allowing doctors to make treatment notes on Shabbat.
Harold Gans, the retired cryptographer — a professional mathematician and code breaker — worked for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for more than 28 years. He talked about the Big Bang and the origin of the universe, according to Rabbi Goldman. “Also what the number 5764 [the current year on the Hebrew calendar] represents — where it goes back to in time.”
Goldman said Gans proposed, based on commentaries, that the Biblical age of the world as 5764 years old, is dated from the creation of human beings.
“But that definition of human beings, the commentaries explain, is really referring to human beings who relate to our type of identity,” said Goldman. “The difference is that now these human beings spoke a human language and had a soul in them. It could have been that there were other human beings before that, but that wasn’t considered as part of the origin of the universe.”
“Overall the symposium was a very successful event because it opened people’s eyes up to the possibility that there really is no contradiction between Torah and science,” Goldman said. “When you hear from a science point-of-view and a Torah point-of-view, how they intersect, it’s very heartwarming to see that there is a resolution.”