Yesterday's d'var Torah.

[rhu]

Heard an excellent d'var Torah at shul yesterday. There's the pun in the Gemara that Yom ha-Kippurim is Yom k'Purim ("a day like Purim"). How so? They both center on the casting of lots; Haman the wicked cast lots to choose the date on which the Jews were to be killed, and the Kohen Gadol would cast lots to determine which goat would be for Azazel and which would be a sacrifice.

The gentleman giving the d'var explained that the Jewish view was that God directs seemingly chance occurrences, while Amalek used the lots to demonstrate their belief that there is no God. He brought this forward to quantum physics: Heisenberg (who had Nazi sympathies, and was thus Amalek-like in this construct) espoused quantum indeterminacy, while Einstein famously said "God does not play dice". Of course, it appears that Einstein's rejection of quantum indeterminacy was incorrect, but the more moderate position of "what appears indeterminate still allows for Divine manipulation" would fit in better with the theme of the d'var that I'm doing a bad job of summarizing real fast because I have to leave now to take the kids to a birthday party.

Comments

[radtea.livejournal.com]

Heisenberg didn't have Nazi sympathies--he was a German patriot who put the good of Germany ahead of his distaste for the Nazis. Admittedly, this is a distinction that is fine to the point of irrelevance in practical terms, but he's a slightly more sympathetic character than might otherwise be thought.

Michael Frayn's play "Copenhagen" gives what I think is a realistic view of Heisenberg's dilemma, and both in method and conclusion correctly answers the question, "Was Heisenberg trying to build a bomb for the Nazi's?"

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was oversimplifying a little bit because the post was already getting long.