Kabbalah

Kaballah, from the Hebrew word meaning “tradition,” is also spelled Kabala, Kabbalah, Cabala, Cabbala, or Cab-balah. An esoteric form of Jewish mysticism that first appeared in the 12th century C.E., Kabbalah has sparked the interest of nanotechnologists because many of its key teachings have remarkable similarities with emerging aspects of nanotechnology research. For example, Kabbalahs' central idea that an infinite variety of combinations in an infinite variety of ways are the building blocks of nature—whether liquid, solid, plasma, or gas—and that the smaller objects became, the more that order breaks down. These concepts are also reflected in nanotechnology research.

In popular discourse, the link between nanotechnology and Kabbalah was affirmed by Rabbi Yehuda Berg, the personal guide to Hollywood celebrities into Jewish mysticism. Traditionally, Kabbalah was esoteric knowledge that was accessible only to those deemed to possess great wisdom and with personality characteristics making them worthy of receiving such knowledge. However, many see the similarities between Kabbalah and nanotechnology as bringing science and spirituality into unexpected harmony.

The Zohar is the central text of the Kabbalah, whose message has been transported through the ages in an unbroken chain from teacher to student. Kabbalah traces its roots to Jewish mysticism, but is not a religion in itself—it is instead a body of doctrine within Judaism. According to Kabbalah, every single word, letter, number combination—and even the spaces between them—brings with it different levels of truth, and that the defining essence of humankind is desire. Kabbalah also avers that the universe is governed by laws, and that these laws work at both the visible and invisible levels to govern reality. Kabbalah differs from traditional Judaism or Christianity in that rather than taking the Bible literally or metamorphically, Kabbalists believe that the Torah has many tiers, and that the Bible stories that have come down to our generation are only the most simple, literal translations.

Kabbalah goes back to earlier traditions of Jewish mysticism. The earliest roots of Kabbalah are traced to Merkava mysticism that emerged in Roman Palestine in the 1st century C.E., and had as its main concern ecstatic and mystical contemplation of the divine throne, or “chariot” (merkava), seen in a vision by Ezekiel, the prophet (Ezekiel 1). The earliest known Jewish text on magic and cosmology, Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation), appeared sometime between the 3rd and 6th century C.E. It explained creation as a process that involved the 10 divine numbers (sefirot or sefira) of God the Creator, and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Taken [Page 384]together, they were said to constitute the “32 paths of secret wisdom.” Another key text from early Kabbalah was the 12th-century Sefer ha-bahir (Book of Brightness) that had a tremendous impact on Jewish esoteric mysticism. The Bahir not only interpreted the sefirot as instrumental in creating and sustaining the universe, but also introduced into Judaism such notions as the transmigration of souls (gilgul), and strengthened the foundations of Kabbala, by providing it with an extensive mystical symbolism.

Thus, the idea that all things converge on the nanoscale is similar to the Kabbalah tradition that “Creation” is constantly taking place, and that the universe is not a sum total of material, but that it instead exists on a continuum of interdependent realms. According to Kabbalah, God is the sum of all things—a process that ties all things together at its most basic level, and is connected to something other than the sum of its parts. This means that like the famous “butterfly effect,” ones actions, thoughts, and deeds have ripple effects. The universe is not made out of particles. In its core, it is energy, waves, and strings. And so, to contemplate the nature of the universe and to figure out the coming together of matter, is, to Kabbalists, to contemplate the nature of God. Both nanotechnologists and those who study Kabbalah talk of a sense of convergence, a sense of disciplines becoming interconnected, and of the ability to manipulate—and set right—the foundation of matter and “spirit.”

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