[Avodah] kol hamosif, gorea

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 11:40:11AM -0500, hankman wrote:
: Please just explain how you understand the two medroshim I quoted above. 
: 1)"Histakel be'Oraisa ubara alma,"  2) "behiborom" - "behaiborom"? Does 
: this mean that science is embedded in Torah or not?

I assume they mean that the world was created to fit the Torah, not the
other way around.

I have a much further elaboration about layers of abstraction and olamos
in the Maimonidian Qabbalah category of my blog, but defending that would
get involved. Let's just say that the Zohar (source of #1) meant that as
the Or "descended" from higher olamos to this one, the level at which it
expresses itself as the Torah is logically prior and causes that where
it expresses itself as physics.

But knowing that the ideas in the Torah caused the world to be as it is
doesn't mean that a human being is capable of tracing back how HQBH got
from Torah to olam by studying the Torah. In the case of chuqim, we
can't even undertstand how HQBH got from Torah to Torah.

: Also what type of information do you think is implied when Chazal speak of 
: sodos of maaseh beraishis? (Obviously we do not have these details or they 
: would not be sodos, but just a general qualitative notion of the subject 
: matter?)

Personally, the topics qabbalah addresses -- the metaphysics that
explains how the One created the many, and thus how the universe
operates "mei'achorei hapargod".

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When we are no longer able to change a situation
micha at aishdas.org        -- just think of an incurable disease such as
http://www.aishdas.org   inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change
Fax: (270) 514-1507      ourselves.      - Victor Frankl (MSfM)