The Energy of the Aleph Bet

We have written in the past of parallels and connections between science and Kabbalistic thought. Today's post will continue on that theme.

The Sefer Yetzirah one of the oldest known Kabbalistic works teaches that God used the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet to form the soul of every creation. In his commentary the Vilna Gaon writes that these letters are the spiritual power which the Midrash describes as enjoining the plant to grow. These letters give life to the plant and instruct it to grow.

As I read this the word DNA comes to mind. In truth every plant, animal and human has an alphabet encoded within itself with instructions for growth built in.

Once again I wonder if they are both describing the same process; one from a physical perspective and one from the spiritual perspective...

Furthermore I was reading about the distinction between a human artisan and God. When a human artisan has completed an object the objects continued existence and functionality is not dependant on him. This can be contrasted with God who even after He has created something, including the Universe, His will is needed to keep it in existence. Were he to remove His will for even a moment from something, it would cease to exist. Additionally, we are taught that it is the study of Torah which keeps the world connected to God so that it does not, indeed, cease to exist.

This lead me to some thoughts which still need a lot more fleshing out.

Why is it that all objects in existence need God's constant will for them to continue to exist?

The fact is that even though some object may look very solid to us, everything in existence is made up of atoms and then smaller sub-atomic particles. According to String Theory the most fundamental particles are small "strings" which vibrate. It is the speed of the vibration that determines what type of particle it is (obviously this is an oversimplification). The upshot of this is that it is only through the continued subatomic energy, the continued vibrating of the strings, that anything can go on existing. If the vibrating stops...

We are also taught in Kabbalistic works that the interface between the physical and spiritual worlds, the level at which God touches creation is in what is to us the sub-atomic world of Quantum uncertainty. It is there that God, so to speak, keeps the strings spinning and gently nudges them in ways that are not scientifically predictable.

Back now to the letters of the Aleph-Bet. Earlier I compared them to DNA, and perhaps there is a connection there. But even more fundamentally we are taught that they are the building blocks of the physical world. Somehow the letters of the Aleph-Bet manifest themselves as strings vibrating according to whatever letter they are. Perhaps it is the study of Torah and the articulation of the letters of the Aleph-Bet that result from that study that connects to the fundamental energy of the letters keeping them, and the whole world, vibrating.