Fractal Torah
by reaperofthefield
“Ten sefirot belimah ['numerals of nothingness'], ten and not nine, ten and not eleven… Their measure is ten, yet infinite” (Sefer Yetsirah 1:4-8).
“Rabbi El’azar taught, ‘In these ten utterances were engraved all the commandments of Torah, decrees and punishments, pure and impure, branches and roots, trees and plants, heaven and earth, ocean and depths. For Torah is the name of the blessed Holy One’” (Zohar 2:90b).
“This verse bears numerous nuances, as does every word of Torah, each and every one including countless colors, all fitting. So they are, the entire Torah assuming seventy aspects, seventy faces. So it is with every single word of Torah, and whatever emerges from each and every word diverges into numerous nuances in countless directions” (Zohar 1:54a).
“… You cannot find a single word in Torah that is weak or broken; rather, when you contemplate and know it, you will find it as strong as a hammer smashing rocks. And if it is weak, this comes from you, as we have established, for it is written: For it is not an empty word from you [Deuteronomy 32:47]. Thus it is written stronger and stronger [Exodus 19:19]” (Zohar 3:7a).
“In the school of Rabbi Yishma’el it was taught: ‘Is not My word like fire,’ declares YHWH, ‘and like a hammer smashing rock?’ [Jeremiah 23:29]. Just as a hammer splits into many sparks, so every single utterance issuing from the mouth of the blessed Holy One splits into many meanings” (Leqah Tov, Exodus 20:2).
“The scroll of the Torah is written without vowels, so you can read it variously. Without vowels, the consonants bear many meanings and splinter into sparks. That is why the Torah scroll must not be vocalized, for the meaning of each word accords with its vowels. Once vocalized, a word means just one thing. Without vowels, you can understand it in countless, wondrous ways” (Bahya ben Asher, Commentary on the Torah, Numbers 11:15).
“Fractalized Aleph” courtesy of Tel Aviv based artist Sharon Pazner. View more of her beautiful work at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonpazner/.
“According to a rabbinic tradition, the Ten Commandments include all 613 commandments of the Torah. The total number of letters in the Ten Commandments (620) which corresponds to the 613 commandments plus the seven commandments of the sons of Noah (basic laws of morality) or the seven days of creation [or the seven rabbinic commandments]” (Daniel Matt, Zohar 2:90b, n.543, cf. Bahir 124).
“…Then the heavens and the earth were completed: These three verses conclude the biblical account of creation. They contain 35 (5×7) words. The entire creation narrative (Genesis 1:1-2:3) is constructed in multiples of seven [it contains 35 verses in total which mirror the 35 words of Genesis 2:1-3]. The word tov ‘good’ appears seven times, the word Elohim thirty-five times, and the word eretz ‘earth’ twenty-one times. The opening verse contains seven words, the second fourteen, and the complete text 469 (7×67) words. From the very outset, seven dominates, as if to signal from the beginning that the seventh day was the culmination and purpose of creation: ‘last in deed, first in thought’” (Jonathan Sacks, Koren Siddur, p.351).
“Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line” (Benoit Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature).
“The human body contains 100 trillion cells. Within each cell is a nucleus. Within each nucleus is a double copy of the human genome. Each genome contains 3.1 billion letters of genetic code, enough if transcribed to fill a library of five thousand books. Each cell, in other words, contains a blueprint of the entire body of which it is a part. The cumulative force of these scientific discoveries is nothing short of wondrous. In ways undreamt of by our ancestors, we now know to what extent the microcosm is a map of the macrocosm. From a single cell, it may be possible to reconstruct an entire organism” (Jonathan Sacks, What Counts? A Study of the Counting of the Omer).