Years ago, I read the following Q&A posed by Rebbe Tzodok HaCohen:
If God created the universe for people to live the Torah, why is the universe so massive, wouldn’t a much smaller universe do for such purposes?
He answered: One day we’ll learn new mysteries of Torah from what’s discovered in outer space.
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ReplyDeleteComments from the FaceBook post:
Nourit: Interesting
Choni: Very! This connects back to the mini essay I shared last Sunday. Rebbe Tzodok HaCohen was obviously aware that one day all wisdoms will be unified with Torah.
Nourit: absolutely.
יישר כוח
Choni: My pleasure!
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Yaakov: "all wisdoms" I hope excludes religions of avoda zara, philosophies etc...
Choni: I was mainly referring to the academic wisdoms, the material of higher education, most prominently the sciences. The other ideas you are referring to, may have their elevation at some point, as everything has sparks of holiness which need to be returned. However, they were not on my mind when I created this post.
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Ayse: May be that inner space is more vast than outer space and exploring outer space will yield new insight into the immensity of all creation and Its unity. Each question calls for other questions...
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Choni: Very true!
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Morris: Which we now have learned. According to astrophysics, a large universe is necessary to maintain the nuclear reactions in the sun and stars, the gravitational pull of the planetary orbits, etc. It wasn't until Edward Hubble in the 1920s discovered that the universe is still expanding that we began to understand how really vast it is. I recommend Gerald Schroeder's "Genesis and the Big Bang" if you want to delve into this deeper with both the science and Torah.
Choni: It sounds like a good beginning.
Morris: It is a good start. Schroeder is both a physicist and an observant Jew, knowledgeable in both areas.
Choni: He is. But, what I mean is that it’s a good start for a movement. When the latest cures, technologies and discoveries come out of the Bais Midrash then you’ll know that we’ve arrived.
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Maurice: True. Like when Hashem hovered over the water and then separated the land out of the water. Hashem also said after he created the earth. That it was good. So what was not so good in the universe?
Choni: The Midrash notes that on the second day of creation there’s an absence of the statement, “And God saw it was good”. That day the waters were separated and the lower waters cried bitterly over being separated from their spiritual source above. Hence, the phrase was absent.
Of course, everything is ultimately good! It’s just a question of when the underlying good will be revealed in this world.
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