number theory

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The Primacy of the Prime Numbers

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: “We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.” (Genesis 32:7) On this blog, we primarily focus on structural parallels between Torah and Physics and, more specifically, quantum physics. Today I would like to explore an interesting parallel between this Torah portion and the number theory. In my previous essay on the Torah Portion Vayishlach, “Jacob Meets Esau and his 400 men,” I wrote “Esau and his 400 men together were 401 strong. 401 is a prime number that is the sum of seven consecutive prime numbers (43+47+53+59+61+67+71).” In that essay, I focused on the significance of the number seven. Let us now focus on the significance of the prime number. The structural parallel I see [...]

Creatio ex Nihilo and the Number Theory

As we began this Shabbat reading the Fourth Book of Torah—Numbers, I thought, it would be appropriate to post on this blog an excerpt from my article Creatio ex Nihilo, Number Theory, Quantum Vacuum, and the Big Bang, originally published in B’Or HaTorah (Jerusalem: 2007, No. 17, p.115). Introduction The kabbalistic principle of yesh m’ayin or creatio ex nihilo—creation of something from nothing—is difficult to fully understand because we have no experience of creating something from nothing. Although many human creative activities seem to create something new, in fact, they merely change the form or nature of things. Never do we create something from nothing. A sculptor takes a preexisting slab of marble and shapes it according to his imagination. So does a potter, who molds pottery out of clay; a glassblower, who forms liquid [...]

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