Friday, February 13, 2009

Why do we need exact wiring?


(source)

One could ask: why should we put on tefillin? You want connect emotions with intellect? Intellect with emotions? Both with G-d? Sit down and meditate on intellect, on emotions, on connection with G-d, on Exodus from Egypt, whatever. Why do you need a piece of cowhide and two boxes with parchment inside?

This is similar to asking: you want to call your grandmother? Why do you need to talk into a box? Just scream loud enough, and she’ll hear you. Or, if you have to use the box, what do you need to dial the exact number for? Just think about reaching your grandmother, and you’ll talk to her.

In order for me to reach my grandmother, she needs to give me her phone number. Change one numeral — the number is wrong.

We know that in the physical world everything is connected. In our Universe, galaxies are connected through invisible forces. Planets are connected. Jupiter and Saturn have to align properly in order to attract a meteor or a comet from extrasolar space. Moon has to be of proper size and proper distance from the Earth to create movement of liquid metal core inside the Earth — which needs to move to create magnetic field shielding Earth from solar winds which would rip away our atmosphere otherwise.

In the ecosystems, all organisms are connected. Inside the animals’ bodies, everything is connected — from organs to molecules. Each cortical pyramidal neuron has from thousands to tens of thousands synaptic connections with other cells. Studying the molecular machinery of a single synapse, a connection between two neurons (see picture above), takes one’s breath away. In order for me to write this post, billions of changes had to happen — every single second. Billions of molecules moved according to specific paths.

Guess what?

Every atom of our physical world is connected with the spiritual worlds. Every single thing we do echoes in infinity. All for one purpose. For us to do a single mitzva that attracts the Light of the upper worlds into this world, thereby making it a dwelling place for Hashem’s Essence. Uniting two infinities.



A single mutation, a single change in an amino-acid can change a person from a healthy individual to a cripple. Details matter.

In the laws of the spiritual connections between this world and the upper worlds, details matter infinitely more. That’s why we sift through the details, go back and forth, trying to figure out every exact letter of the message, every single pattern of the expression in the specific circumstance. And by the way, even non-coding parts of the message are important.

On Har Sinai, Hashem didn’t just give us a wisdom. A source of blessing in the physical world. A user’s manual. A contract. No, He gave us much more. He gave us Himself. The laws of Torah are strings, wires, IP addresses, metabotropic pathways that connect us and this world to our essence, to G-d.

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