Technology

Geometry has some characteristics of a pure science (mathematics), and some of an applied science, which is therefore not as exact. In a similar yet infinitely distinct way, the Holy Torah also has its pure and applied aspects. Torah, being G-d’s wisdom, is absolutely true and accurate, as the Verse states2 “Man does not recognize its worth, and it is hidden from the eyes of all the living.” Yet, its purpose is in its application, as expressed in its name. “Torah” means “hora’ah”, instruction — a lesson and directive for daily life in this physical and materialistic world.3

The difference between the above concepts demonstrates the fundamental and infinite difference between the Torah — about which it is said4 “For it is your wisdom and your understanding before all the nations” — and the wisdom and knowledge of the nations, as well as the intellect of the animal soul of a Jew. And that is:

The endeavors of human intellect, including those aspects which are called “exact sciences,” are built on assumptions that have no connection with science per se. Science itself, especially the exact sciences, only accepts conclusions that can be proven. Yet, the prior assumptions upon which the sciences are based, including even mathematics and geometry, have no proof. A person may choose to accept them or reject them.

This is especially blatant in the area of geometry, where there are three main approaches, each of them based on several assumptions (axioms). The a priori assumptions of each approach contradict the assumptions upon which the others are based.

In other words: Science cannot tell you anything certain. Everything is conditional. If you accept certain assumptions as true, and you accept the methodology used to reach conclusions based on those assumptions, then you will reach the corresponding results.

Therefore:

a) It is up to the person whether to accept the assumptions and the method of analysis, or to reject them, and

b) even if he does accept them, he is in no way compelled to act in accordance with their implications.

Science only says: “If you do this, then the result will be that.” If a person is not bothered by the anticipated consequences of a scientific prediction, even if potentially harmful, nobody will force him to do or not do anything about it. In other words: Science does not provide direction for life. It merely informs us — much like fortune telling — that according to collective experience and current data, and according to assumptions that one may choose to provisionally accept as true, events will unfold in a given manner.

On this issue, too, our holy Torah is completely different. Since it is the Wisdom of the True Being, the Holy One Blessed be He, it is absolute and perfectly true5 with respect to both the fundamental principles of Torah as well as the methods and arguments one uses to build upon these foundations. Moreover, since it is the Wisdom and Will of the Creator, of the world and of man, it is obvious that all of its conclusions oblige a person to act and behave in a specific manner.

This is the meaning of our Sages’ statement: “If someone tells you that there is wisdom amongst the nations, believe him. But if someone tells you that there is Torah amongst the nations, do not believe him.”6

This is one of the ideas that an engineer must always keep in mind: It is impossible to mount a challenge to Torah from science. Torah’s truth is absolute, whereas science itself only claims its findings to be provisional, dependant upon the choice of the researcher. For example, one may choose to create contradictory theories, each with its own basis and viability. An example of this would be the three approaches in geometry: Euclidian, Lobatschewsky , and Riemann and Alia which are all mutually exclusive yet valid in their own context.

This is one of the ways that intellect itself dictates that there must be something higher than intellect. It feels that its own source cannot be logic, since the very point from which it springs forth, the a priori assumptions, are not dictated by logic but rather by man’s choice; i.e. they are matters of faith integral to the soul.

Who has not fallen prey to the oh-so-human tendency to compare his life to the lives of others? “I am thirty (or thirty-five, or forty) years old. Do you know what so-and-so had achieved by age thirty? What a meager, inconsequential existence I am leading!” Or: “If only I had so-and-so’s mind (or talent, or money), then I’d be able to make a difference and have some impact on the world!”

Such sentiments express a certain perspective on life: life as a solid, contiguous body, whose impact and weight are proportional to the volume and density of its opportunities, experiences and achievements. Life, however, can be experienced not as a solid but as a fluid substance, whose impact is measured by entirely different criteria. But we are getting ahead of ourselves; let us explain what is meant when we speak of a “solid” versus a “fluid” vision of life.

The Torah refers to itself as “water.”8 “Just as water descends from a high place to a low place,” explain our sages, so, too, does Torah descend from its heavenly incarnation as the divine wisdom and will and gravitates to the lowest possible point of earthly terrain, saturating the most commonplace aspects of everyday life.9 More specifically, we find the Torah compared to the “seven liquids”10– water, wine,11 milk,12 oil,13 honey,14 dew15 and blood16– describing the particular ways in which various elements of Torah impact our lives. Otherwise stated, a life lived by the dictates of Torah is a “liquid” life— a life with the properties of a fluid.

A solid, by definition, is a body that holds its shape, resisting the deforming influence of its own weight. A large pillar of marble may rest solidly on a stone floor and transmit a great deal of pressure to that floor, but it will itself remain unaltered by its own weight. The pillar will not, for instance, bulge outward in the middle, and if you place your hand against the side of the pillar you will be aware of any pressure thrusting out sideways. Imagine, however, a similar pillar made of water. It could not remain in existence for more than a fraction of a second– – the gravitational force of its own weight would cause it to belly outward at every point and collapse. If this pillar of water is encased in an aluminum cylinder, the weight of the water would press against the cylinder at every point— not only at the bottom. If a hole is punched in the side of the cylinder, water will spurt out sideways by the force of this pressure.

The degree of pressure exerted by a fluid on the inside walls of its container varies in accordance with the height of the column of fluid above it, but it is the same in all directions: downward, sideways, and even, in containers of a certain shape, upwards. This principle was first clearly stated by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) and is known as “Pascal’s Law.”

While the laws of gravity dictate that every physical body exerts a downward pressure upon the surface upon which it rests, there is a major– – at times, extreme– – difference between the downward pressure exerted by a solid at rest on the ground (or on a table or in a box) and the downward pressure exerted by a fluid in a closed container. Instead of translating overall mass into pounds of pressure and dividing the sum by square inches of nether surface (as we do with solid blocks), we take the tallest square-inch column of fluid in contact with the container-bottom and calculate its mass; this gives us the pounds per square inchof pressure exerted by this column on the square-inch of container-bottom on which it stands. Then we multiply this psivalue by the total number of square inches of area in the container bottom to arrive at the net pounds of pressure exerted by the liquid on the container bottom.

With a solid body, it is the net mass of the body that determines the net pressure it exerts on the area beneath its nether surface; the size of this area, as well as the other parameters of the body (shape, height, nether surface) are not relevant. If a greater mass has a smaller area in direct contact with the ground, it will still exert pressure proportional to its mass; the pressure per unit of area will simply increase.

In contrast, when calculating the equivalent behavior of a liquid, it is the mass that is irrelevant. Rather, the degree of downward pressure exerted by a liquid upon the lowest point of its container is determined by the height of the highest column of liquid in the container (no matter how narrow this column might be), and by the area of the liquid’s contact with the lowest point of the container bottom.

A Full Life

If life is a liquid, the human being is its vessel. The soul that channels its essence, the psyche and character that give form to its potentials, and the body that actualizes them on the physical level— these contain and shape a life, and also focus its “downward pressure”— its impact upon the physical reality.

Human containers of life come in many shapes and forms. There is, however, one value that is the same in regard to them all ~ their height. Every soul comes from the same place. Each is, in essence, “a part of G-d Above,”17 a spark of divinity that extends downward to physical earth to animate and sanctify a human life. Other than that, the shape of human potential varies from individual to individual. Some “containers” are broad at the “top,” with the capacity for a rich and profound spiritual life (one might describe such a “container” as similar in shape to the one pictured in fig. 2). Others might be somewhat “narrower” at the apogee of life, but are endowed with a broad capacity on one or more of life’s various levels: one might possess a prodigious capacity for intellect, another for depths of feeling, while yet others are blessed with an abundance of creative skills, leadership skills, organizational skills, etc.

Every life has a “nether surface”— a point of contact with and impact on the physical reality. This, too, varies from container to container. One may be top-heavy but narrow at the bottom; his area of contact with earth is relatively small. Another may have but a trickle of life from his supernal height all the way down, until it comes to a broad base, signifying a limited spiritual or philosophical sensitivity, yet an extensive capacity for getting things done— we might exemplify him as the simple soul who sustains hundreds of families with his charity. Another shape of container, broad and cylindrical, represents the rare individual blessed with a voluminous capacity for life top to bottom: profound spiritual identity, prodigious intellect, acute emotional sensitivity, and a broad spectrum of involvement with material life.

Indeed, we might sketch any number of differently shaped containers to describe any number of personalities and vessels of human potential, but the principle is clear: man is a multi-faceted conduit of life extending from its supernal source to physical earth. If the containers that hold and mold its expanse are of variant dimensions and forms, they all share two common features: each is of an identical “height,” and thus has the full force of its lofty origins behind it; and each has a “container bottom,” an area of physical life, upon which the “nether surface” of its fluid exerts its downward thrust.

If we have devoted much of our discussion to this “downward pressure” (instead of, for example, analyzing the pressure exerted by the a liquid upon various points on the sides of various vessels), it is because this “downward pressure” is the ultimate purpose and function of human life, indeed of creation. In the words of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, “This is what man is all about; this is the purpose of his creation and the creation of all worlds, supernal and material: to make for G-d a dwelling place in the physical world.”18 G-d created many spiritual “worlds” or realities, and man, a microcosm of creation, incorporates all these dimension of creation in his own soul. But these are not ends in themselves; they exist solely to influence and facilitate the transmission of life’s essence from its source in G-d to its application as a force to develop and sanctify the material reality.

As elaborated above, the physical laws that govern the behavior of a fluid in a closed container dictate that the pressure it exerts on the container bottom is determined solely by the height of the container and the area of its nether surface, regardless of how broad or narrow the container might be at any point in between. Applied to the fluid of life, this means that since all “containers” of life are the same “height,” the sum of a life’s impact upon physical earth— which is the ultimate measure of a life— depends solely on the second factor. The volume or distribution of a person’s potential in the various “areas” of the ladder of life— spiritual, intellectual, emotional, etc.— is less significant than a far more basic criterion: the area of his life’s “nether surface”— the volume and scope of his deeds and his commitment to fulfill his Creator’s will through the sanctification of physical life.

Furthermore, differences in “nether surface” only determine the net downward force exerted by a liquid, not the degree of pressure “per square inch,” which is identical in every fluid-filled container of a given height. (This is in contrast with the psi of a solid block, which is determined by its overall mass). Thus, while different individuals may vary in the size of their “container bottoms”— one person might have been granted the opportunities and resources to effect a great deal of good, while his fellow’s capacity for such achievement is more limited— these differences affect only the sum of a person’s impact on the world, not the degree of force exerted on any given point of his “container bottom.” The power and impact of each individual deed is the same in every life, regardless of volume of shape of that life.

This is not to say that a person need only do good deeds, and needn’t apply himself to the development of his “higher” potentials. On the contrary, as Pascal’s Law dictates, the container must be full for the maximum pressure to be exerted on its bottom. If a broader based container were filled less completely a full yet narrower one, it could be exerting considerably less downward pressure. If a person has been granted certain potentials by his Creator, it is because their realization is indispensable to his mission in life— he needs their “mass” in order to exercise his maximum impact on physical earth. Indeed, Pascal’s law states that “pressure exerted on a confined liquid is transmitted, unchanged, to every portion of the interior and to all the walls of the containing vessel.”

In terms of Torah’s vision of life as a fluid, this means that a person of integrity does not distinguish between the “higher” and “lower” areas of his life. He certainly does not neglect his potential to positively influence the material reality in favor of his spiritual development— he knows that the ultimate purpose of life is to “to make for G-d a dwelling place in the physical world.” But neither does he neglect his spiritual, intellectual and emotional life in favor of his tactile life. To him, every cubic inch within of his “container” is a divine gift and assignment, for him to realize and fill. In fact, it is precisely because he exerts the forces of his life equally in all directions that its downward impact is maximized upon the entire area of its nether surface, even upon those areas over which his more spiritual potentials are more limited.

On the other hand, one whose “container” has not been blessed with voluminous capacities in its upper areas, can nevertheless lead no less forceful a life than his more spiritual peers. As long as his container is full— as long as he realizes his potentials to the utmost of his capacity— the force he exerted downward on each square inch of his container bottom is equal to that of the highest column of fluid in his container, which is of equal height to every other container. So his every deed is as impactful as a deed that has the weight of the broadest, most voluminous life behind it.

Thus, our sages have said: “Every person is obligated to ask himself: ‘When will my deeds attain the deeds of my ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?’”19 The emphasis here is on deeds— not everyone is capable of experiencing Avraham’s love of G-d, or Moshe’s understanding of Torah. But regarding our deeds, we are capable of achieving the same impact on physical earth as the greatest of our ancestors. The greatness of Avraham and Moshe lay not in the vastness of their potential— which was a gift granted them by the Creator— but by the fact that they actualized their gifts to the optimum. Because they filled their vessels, their every deed had optimal impact. The same is true of every individual: each and every one of us is capable of filling his own vessel, which, whatever its form or capacity, extends upward as high as every other container of life. And when we do, the impact of each of “square inch” of our life’s “nether surface” is equal to that of that of the greatest vessel of life that ever inhabited our world.

Countless times we have been told, or have said to others, “If you give it your all, that’s just as significant as anyone else’s all.” Often this seems little more than an elitist clichי, or, at best, generous, if not necessarily empirically accurate, words of encouragement to the “smaller players” in life. In fact, this is a fundamental law of reality, which applies to everything from human lives to the gauge on a water tank. It can even be demonstrated in the laboratory.

The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson, quoted the Ba’al Shem Tov as saying that everything that a Jew sees or hears is by specific Divine providence, and there is a lesson to be derived for our service of G-d.21 This is the case even when one just “happens” to see or hear something. The truth is that there are no accidents, since everything in this world — whether a leaf blowing in the wind or the details of the events in one’s life – is by Divine providence.

This is true of occasional, transient events and all the more so with respect to one’s occupation; it is certainly Divinely ordained for a person to derive a lesson from the nature of the work he does.

A person whose job it is to assemble and dissemble machinery can derive the following lesson:

Any engineered machine is comprised of many parts. There are the most important parts, those of lesser importance, and even ones that seem to an onlooker to have no connection with this machine. The engineer who designed it, however, knows the exact purpose of each part, and how each part — even the smallest screw — impacts the functionality of the entire machine.

One might say: “What do I need to follow the engineer’s plans for? I’ll do as I see fit! I think that these little screws serve no purpose; we can do without them. Instead I think I’m going to add another screw somewhere else!” It is obvious that this person’s approach is foolish. If he doesn’t take into account the engineer’s plans the machine will malfunction. He believes that specific screws aren’t needed because he has no concept of how the machine works.

The same is true with regards to the creation of the world and the fulfillment of G-d’s commandments. Only through keeping the six hundred thirteen commandments of the Torah and the seven rabbinical commandments can one create a connection to G-d. If someone transgresses by subtracting or even adding to these — although it may seem to him to be an extremely insignificant detail — he is missing more than that minor component. This disrupts the entire relationship created through fulfilling the mitzvot, just as in the analogy, if one screw is missing the entire machine doesn’t work properly.

Even the fact that G-d arranged things so that this person should work in this particular area while another person works in another is by Divine Providence. Every detail serves a purpose in the overall Divine plan.

… and Social Engineering

When a Jew moves to a city and it is demanded of him that he accomplish things there, he may ask: This city has been around for so many years without my work. Why am I being told now that I am here, that I must change things?

He should consider that his approach resembles that of a person who ignores the engineer’s plans and disrupts the whole machinery, for those events that G-d engineers are also planned and ordered down to the smallest detail.

True, until now you were not needed there, and you were not obligated to fulfill your life’s mission there. But now that Hashem has arranged that you should be in that city, this itself proves that the city now needs your work, and that indeed you have come there specifically to fulfill your mission.

The “Train” of Divine Service22

In general, there are two types of trains: Express trains, which travel quickly and directly to the destination, and collector trains, which stop along the way to pick up those passengers that did not board at the first station.

In spiritual terms: Upon leaving Lavan, our forefather Yakov was personally ready to proceed immediately to the ultimate redemption. However, because of the “sheep and cattle” which could not keep up with his pace, he delayed his trip to “the mountain of Esav” until the end of days.23 He chose a redemption “in its proper time,” rather than a “rushed” one.24

Before the train begins to move, it emits a long whistle. This serves as a reminder that the train is about to leave, for those who have become too involved with their packages or for those who have altogether forgotten about their imminent journey. It whistles once, twice, a third time. When even that does not help, it begins to move slowly, proving that it is serious about leaving. Only then does it begin its rapid travel.

The Spiritual Analogue

Thetrain: A person’s job in this world — the purpose of his creation — is that he should be a “mover.” The ascent accomplished through the soul’s toil “down here” with the limitations of a physical body, is not an orderly or gradual ascent; through it one reaches directly to “the Infinite Essence of G-d Himself.”25 This is represented by the train, which brings a person to a place that he could not reach on his own. This is a person’s service in this physical world, which is all a journey towards the revelation of G-dliness with the coming of our righteous Moshiach.

The various stations: In the month of Elul, we are aroused to repent and return to G-d. Although we are supposed to ensure that “all of our days are spent in returning,”26 there is still a special emphasis in the month of Elul. We then fulfill the verse:27 “Can a shofar be sounded in the city, and the people not tremble?!” We are given a span of forty days to repent and return; if not… the consequences are as promised to the people of Ninveh.28

During this period, there is a special advantage to the twelve days from the 18th of Elul until Rosh HaShana. During these days, we can correct all the months of the past year, one day for each month.29 Afterwards, on Rosh HaShana itself, we are again aroused to return.

During Elul, we sound the shofar (according to the Chabad custom) ten sounds each day; and on Rosh HaShana — one hundred sounds. On Rosh HaShana, we approach everything in the purest fashion possible.30 Therefore, the way we attempt to correct the ten faculties of the soul is by dealing with all of the details of each faculty, each one of the ten as they are compounded by the others.

On Yom Kippur, if a person is meritorious and has returned to G-d properly, he “takes charge,” and has the right to demand — rather than merely request — atonement and forgiveness.

After Yom Kippur, in the four days until the festival of Sukkot, we “begin,” so to speak, to return anew, on a higher level than before.31

Those that have still not gotten onto the carriage of “tears and bitterness,” can then board the carriages of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, or Simchat Torah, the time of joy. The themes of these cars are “joy and dancing,” yet they, too, join the journey of this train.

Just as there are physically different classes of carriages for different types of travelers, so too there is distinctive spiritual carriage for those who love to dance. Provided that they dance with pure intentions for the sake of Heaven, they too will join the journey. As the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneerson, said:32 Shemini Atzeret accomplishes through joy the very same thing that is accomplished on Rosh HaShana through bitterness.

All of these spiritual revelations during the High Holy Days and the Festival of Joy are so great, that one might become completely enthralled by them. However when it comes to the main purpose through which one actually “draws down the Essence” — man’s service of his Creator throughout the entire year — he may not perform properly.

This is why we were given Shabbat Bereishit. It represents the “leftovers” of the month of Tishrei, and through it we can make up for whatever was missed during the rest of the month. The way a person establishes his conduct on this Shabbat, sets the tone for his Divine service throughout the entire year.

A Lesson from a Train Crash33

The Ba’al Shem Tov taught that every event in the world has a lesson for us in our service of G-d. If it is a negative occurrence, it may be taken as proof that we must change our behavior, thus correcting the underlying negative factors. The same is true in the present case: We must learn from this accident, which severed the connection between the locomotive and its attached railway cars.

The engine is symbolic of the Jew’s G-dly soul, to which we refer in our morning prayers:34 “The soul that you have placed in me, it is pure. As long as my soul is within me, I offer thanks before You…” This spiritual engine motivates the attached railway cars — the animal soul and the body. In more general terms, the engine is the mind and intellect, since the mind rules over the heart.35

However, this Divine service cannot be chaotic and destructive. The Ba’al Shem Tov interpreted the verse “You shall surely assist with him,” in the sense that we must serve G-d together with our bodies, rather than breaking the body with fasts and suffering.36 By serving Hashem physically, we forestall any need for any “severing the connection and derailing the cars.” Every day the good within the person progressively overcomes the evil – “little by little will I banish him from before you”37 – through the fulfillment of Torah and Mitzvot in general, and Chassidut in particular. We are told with regard to this mission that “it is not in heaven… for it is very close to you,”38 as explained by the Alter Rebbe in the title page of his book, the Tanya, and as detailed in the text itself.

Since Torah is eternal, these words are relevant for every Jew, in every place and time.

Cars in Divine Service39

The way a car works is that it has the requisite materials and energy to move from place to place, but it receives its first impetus from a spark. That spark is the catalyst for all of the car’s subsequent movements. If it becomes necessary to reignite the starter for the sake of each individual movement, then it is obvious that the car is broken.

Figuratively speaking, the same is true of every person, and especially every Jew: The purpose of a Jew is to serve G-d with the energies of his G-dly and animal souls. To start off in the path of Divine service, or every now and then, a person needs to receive a “spark,” an impetus from above, which sets off the entire process. But if the spark is needed too often, that is a sure sign that there is something wrong. Certainly, one should not allow this condition to continue. One should pay proper attention to the first spark — the first arousal from above — and then serve G-d with the abilities that He has placed in our control.

Computers in Divine Service

Among technical innovations there is a very basic and essential one, which has applications in many areas: thecomputer.

This instrument does not create anything new. A person can make all the calculations without a computer as well. However, whereas a person on his own could take months or even years to solve a problem, with a computer one can obtain an exact result in seconds.

Another advantage: Because it takes a lot of time to go through all of the equations manually, it is very possible to make a mistake somewhere and thus arrive at a mistaken conclusion. When using a computer, as long as the proper data is entered and the machine is working properly, we can be certain that the result is correct.

We Will Do and Then Understand

The lesson from this:

When trying to convince a Jew to put on Tefillin, or to keep Shabbat, etc., we tell him not to wait until he fully understands it in his own mind. Rather he should begin to do it immediately, as the Jews said at Mount Sinai, “We will do, and then we will understand.”41 He may argue: Since G-d created me with a head on my shoulders — indeed, the very fact that I am obliged to fulfill the commandments is because I posses an intellect, for if not, I would be exempt — how can you ask me to act before I understand? First direct me as to which books and topics I should study, and teach me how to study them. Only after I’ve learned and understood the ideas behind the Torah and its commandments will I begin to do them. How can you ask me to do them before understanding?

Another argument: You are telling me that the Torah is a “Torah of truth.” If so, there is no doubt that since I’m an intellectual person, if I make the “calculations,” I will surely reach the conclusion that the Torah is true. In other words, there is no danger posed by my first making all the calculations in my own mind. If so, why do you ask that I “do and then hear”?

The response is that this argument is identical to one who says: I have a brain in my head. Why should I use a computer? I’ll take a pen and paper and make the calculations myself!

It is self-understood that any normal person wouldn’t make such a suggestion. He would rely on the computer, since he knows that more knowledgeable people have already figured out that the computer works. It would be a waste of his time to recalculate what wiser people have already done in the past.

Of course, a person must use his intellectual abilities, and not allow them to go to waste. However he should use them in order to move forward and accomplish new things, and not waste them on things that have already been figured out in the past.

Just as a person relies on the computer, since he knows that the designers who set up its operating system considered his problems and they can therefore be relied upon, the same is true with regard to Torah and Mitzvot. Great sages over a span of thirty centuries have delved into and discussed the details of the commandments of Tefillin, Shabbat, etc. They definitely did not allow any ulterior motives or personal agendas to cloud their deliberations, since these issues were holy to them, and they dedicated their lives to these pursuits. It is therefore patently clear that we can rely on these great sages who have already made all the calculations and considerations, and begin with the “doing” even before we have achieved “hearing” — understanding and comprehension. If someone wants to figure all these things out for himself as well, more power to him. But the pursuit of such understanding should not delay the actual fulfillment of the Mitzvot.

If this is true in worldly areas which are by nature limited, how much more so does it apply to Torah and Mitzvot. This is the way in which the Jewish people accepted the Torah — with faith, as the Verse states, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them.”42

Recent Innovations

An additional aspect of this lesson:

Some people claim that since, in the era of our Sages, knowledge about all of the recent discoveries was unavailable, it is possible that the more recent innovations do not come under the rulings of Torah, heaven forbid. The response to this too can be derived from the computer.

Despite the fact that the developers of the computer and its operating system programmed it for certain specific uses, it is still used for many other purposes as well. Thus experience shows us that it is entirely feasible that something that works properly in one context may work equally well in a different and largely unrelated context as well.

The same is true with regard to Torah and Mitzvot. There is no need to assume that our Sages knew all about recent developments or discoveries. Nevertheless, Torah includes within it everything in this world, since it is the blueprint by which the world was created.43 It is therefore understood that one can reach the proper conclusion from within Torah even with regard to recent discoveries.

“It Has Already Been Entered into the Computer ”44

A group of the Rebbe’s Shluchim (emissaries) in South Africa sent the Rebbe a report about a conference they had organized for the end of Cheshvan 5747 (the fall of 1986). The Rebbe responded that although he did not have the time just then to fully read the report, the content had been completely transmitted by him at the tziyun, the gravesite of his father-in-law, the Previous Rebbe.

He explained that in order to make it easier for us to relate to this process, we have been shown by Heaven, specifically in recent times, this obvious example according to which all sorts of people govern even their most important affairs. The computer is comprised of “dumb” material, lowly and seemingly inanimate objects, and yet as soon as the data are entered, the results are there, including practical directives regarding how to behave.

If this is true of “inanimate objects,” how much more so is this true — on an infinitely greater and more distinguished level — at the Rebbe’s gravesite, since “righteous people after their passing are even greater than during their lifetimes.”45