Preface:
What I write here is my hypothesis, not my conclusion. However, since I write more fluidly from the voice of certainty than of uncertainty, please forgive me in advance if the following reads like my conclusion.
I believe that since God looked into the Torah to create the universe, using the Torah as its blueprint, one can glean knowledge of the universe from an in depth understanding of the Torah’s mysteries. I do not necessarily consider myself worthy of discovering these connections. However, what I am about to present, I did not seek. Rather, it came to me spontaneously in the midst of study. Therefore, I leave it to the foremost sages of Kabbalah to determine whether what I present is correct. If correct, one day scientists (who by then may be Kabbalists) will confirm it too.
One may ask, why do I write what I cannot be perfectly certain of? I do so in the spirit of, “It’s not upon you to complete the task. But, neither are you free to desist from it.”(1)
Still, even while accepting my own reservations, I humbly implore God that what I am expressing is the truth. I sincerely hope it's the truth.
Chapter 1
While Adam and Eve strolled the Garden of Eden, the universe was not yet physical. It materialized into its present physical form when they ate from the forbidden fruit. (2)
If the universe Adam and Eve inhabited was not physical, then what was it? It was highly spiritual. Interestingly, the realm inhabited by the snake was not physical either. It too was spiritual, though it was much closer to being physical, as it was spiritually lower. The tree of knowledge served as a tenuous link between the two realms by which the snake could make contact with those who approached the tree.
As a result of eating the forbidden fruit, the two realms mashed and mixed together into a single realm becoming the physical universe we know of today. This is how Adam and Eve were "chased out" of the Garden. (3) The world around them simply became physical. It was no longer a “garden”. Obviously, Adam and Eve no longer looked the same either. Previously, they were clothed in spiritual light. Now, they were clothed in skin. (4)
Although I have not seen this written anywhere, it's my own understanding that the reason why mixing the realms made our universe physical is because Adam and Eve’s realm and the snake’s realm were very incompatible with each other. Imagine bringing together two dancers trained in very different styles of dancing to dance with each other. Their tedious efforts to synchronize their movements will slow them down. Similarly, the elements of Adam’s realm and the snake’s realm were so vastly different that they didn’t “dance well together”. Each slowed down the other. The slower the movement the more concrete an entity becomes. For example, solid is harder than liquid, gas or energy because the molecules in solid aren’t moving as freely. As molecular movement slows down, substances harden, becoming more concrete. (5)
Since Adam and Eve were not initially created physically, but rather as inhabitants of Eden, it logically follows that their experience of space and time was also very different from our own. In our current state, we are incapable of understanding what space and time was like for them. The very same notion in its own way applies to the space and time in the snake’s realm as well. Their experiences of space and time there were unique to each of their respective universes.
Chapter 2
There was something else very unique about Adam and Eve’s Edenic dwelling. It literally sat in the very center of the entire creation, like the hub of a giant wheel.
Jewish mysticism has a layered view of the universes. According to this view the universe is conceptually depicted as layers of an onion. (6) There is a large outer sphere encompassing a slightly smaller sphere, which in turn encompasses an even slightly smaller sphere. This process of “sphere within the sphere” continues until reaching the center sphere – which at the time of creation was Adam’s and Eve’s universe. A two dimensional representation of this would look like a classical archery target with our universe being the bull’s eye. Each of these spheres is referred to as a “universe”. (7)
Naturally, each universe is inhabited by creatures that match its own spiritual level. Accordingly, angels inhabit outer universes and animals inhabit the innermost one. This establishes a spiritual hierarchy of universes and creatures, a spectrum with those higher up having much less limitation and those closer to the center beginning to feel the crunch of limitation. This progression continues until the centermost universe, where the crunch is most intense. Levels of “freedom versus limitation” is a clear distinguishing factor between beings inhabiting universes of different levels.
The Eden in which Adam and Eve strolled along was nested like a glistening pearl in the center of all universes. As the center of all creation, the attention of all creation was centered on them. Once they ingested the forbidden fruit, their universe mixed with the snake’s. Consequently, their universe densified into physical form and was pulled off center, entering a state of exile. It turned physical and was dragged off to the side of emanated/created reality. Sidelined! (8)(9)
Everything in Kabbalah tends to be a repeating pattern. Following along with the style of these patterns, it makes sense that if the universe which contained Eden was sidelined, then Eden itself was sidelined within its own universe. Like shapes in fractal mathematics, in Kabbalah, macro and micro levels tend to mirror each other.
So, what happened to Eden? Well, it became what we call today planet earth. Originally, this entity sat in the center of the universe. It was not a planet, a star, a galaxy or anything else known by today’s astronomers. After eating the fruit, it degraded into a “planet”, a word which derives from the Greek word for “wanderer” (10), and it wandered off into a state of exile.
Clearly, the Torah teaches us that there were astronomical bodies at the time Adam and Eve inhabited the Garden of Eden. But, nowhere does it say that the Garden of Eden existed as an entity like the other astronomical bodies. Only, upon degradation did the Garden of Eden turn into a planet, a wanderer.
This transformation of Eden paralleled Adam and Eve’s own transformation. They lost something of their original divine radiance to become more animal-like. (11) The universe’s constellations relate to animal nature. That’s why they’re called Zodiac, sharing the same Greek root as the word Zoology. Now, their habitation was tossed into exile, among the wider field of constellations, wandering among the very energy centers transmitting vibes of animal nature.
The situation was the reverse of the original state. Whereas, once everything orbited around the original habitation of humanity, now planet earth was reduced to orbiting some of its previous orbiters and even orbiting an orbiter of an orbiter. Thus, earth now orbits the sun and the sun is on its own track orbiting something else.
This is another symptom of the exile. It reminds me how the true center of humanity should be an amazing Torah sage. All humanity should orbit around such a person to receive from his spirituality and wisdom. Instead in his own generation, the great Maimonides was forced to orbit around the Grand Vizier al-Qadi al Fadil who himself orbited around Saladin. Not to disparage these men at all, but if humanity were in a truly elevated state, it’s the great Torah sage who is the center of humanity’s attention, not great warriors. He’s either the Messiah or a Messiah-like figure whom they serve with warrior-like gusto.
Chapter 3
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto reports that the physical nature of our universe will remain until the year 8,000 on the Jewish Calendar. (12) We’re now in the year 5,782 and we have a tradition that the Messiah is supposed to arrive at any time before the year 6,000. So, how will a messianic era occur without the universe sublimating its physical form and without earth returning to its place in the center?
The answer is that the messianic era occurs in stages. Until the year 8,000 there will be many stages. Each will be a vast improvement over the previous one. Among these stages is the arrival of the Messiah, followed later by the resurrection, followed later by a period where the soul dominates the body, etc. These series of transformations represent a transformative journey. Human destiny is not a goal, rather it’s an ever improving journey through time, space and soul.
At some stage in the journey, we’ll be back to where Adam and Eve were when they strolled the Garden of Eden. But even that’s not the destination, as the journey pleasantly continues on, on and on ...
Chapter 4
Kabbalah teaches that when a lower universe emerges from a higher universe, the higher universe continues to exist. It does not go away. Like a mother nurturing a child she birthed, the higher universe continues to provide for the lower universe, in the form of spiritual light, life, wisdom, influence and abundance. Therefore, Adam and Eve's universe co-exists with ours, nurturing it, a state which will continue until our universe merges back into the womb of its source universe.
For centuries, maybe longer, astrologers wondered what is the basis for astrology, by what means does it work. Certainly, the question is stronger post-Copernicus when the geocentric Ptolemaic model of the universe is no longer popular, as astrology seems to fit better with the Ptolemaic model.
It's interesting that the great Torah sages of the past were also invested in the Ptolemaic model. One may dismiss this by quoting Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto's essay on Aggadot that our sages often used the sciences of their day as parables to convey mysteries of Torah, but that does not necessarily mean that they endorsed the ideas they quoted. (13)
However, I would like to suggest the possibility that the Ptolemaic model reflects the universe of Adam and Eve, which still continues to exist on its own level. Somehow either Ptolemy and/or earlier masters intuited this model. There was something more than just celestial calculations at play. The astronomy/astrology he wrote about functions from the level of Adam's and Eve's universe. Then from there, as a mother nurturing her little child, its influence and abundance flows down to our own.
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Endnotes:
1) Avot 2:21
2) “Knowing God’s Plan”, a translation of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto’s “Da’at TeVunot”, Feldheim Publishers, 2016, see pages 320, 440 and 441. Also, see the Ari z”l’s “Shaar HaPesukim”, Siman 2, Discourse 3.
3) Genesis 3:23
4) “Ben Ish Chai” commenting on the Torah portion of Braishit (first year).
5) I subsequently received oral confirmation for this idea from a known Kabbalist. (I just don’t know whether I have permission to publicize his name.)
6) A note to those studying Kabbalah: I am only discussing sefirot igulim here – as they are the chambers which are inhabited by beings.
7) “Sefer Etz Chaim”, “Shaar Igulim V’Yosher”
8) Along with several surrounding universes, affected by association.
9) See Page 3 of Rav Yaakov Akiva Shisha’s diagrams for his commentary on “Otzrot Chaim”. It’s diagram 1. Also, see its footnote # 8. Also, see Rav Shisha’s source, “Eifah Shelaima” to “Sha’ar HaNikudim”, chapter 3, section 1.
10) “The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language”, by American Heritage Publishing Co, 1969, Page 1002, see entry to define “Planet”.( Remember that a Torah scroll written in classical Greek is considered Kosher. Accordingly, this language might be somewhat reliable for deriving spiritual meanings.)
11) See “Pri Tzadik” of Rebbe Tzodok HaCohen of Lublin on the Holiday of Tu B’Shvat where he quotes the Midrash which describes Adam’s anguished cry of being reduced, no longer being nourished exclusively from trees, but now having to eat what grows from the ground like an animal.
12) “Sefer HaK’lalim, K’lalim Reshonim”, see section 9. In the Friedlander edition page 254.
13) "The Elucidated Maamarei HaRamchal" by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Elucidated by Rabbi Abba Tzvi Naiman, a project of the Zichron Yaakov Eliyahu Fund, published in 2014. See pages 207 and 208.
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