"A hundred and fifty years ago, it was thought that science and physics spoke the absolute truth. Kant and Einstein proved that science never did and never will be able to establish absolute truths… [whereas] G d is true unconditionally. This is the essential meaning of absolute truth." - The Rebbe, Mind Over Matter p.68-69. |
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Written by Arnie Gotfryd
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Wednesday, 18 July 2007 |
Sometimes a confrontational question gets you a lot more than you bargained for, as one provocative young physicist discovered. – as told by Arnie Gotfryd
If you have ever studied college physics, you probably know that the word “eccentric” applies less to the orbits of stars and planets than to the physicists who trace their paths through the heavens.
But stupid they are not.
 Prof. Herman Branover with the Lubavitcher Rebbe
My friend the physicist admired the Rebbe for his wisdom, his saintliness, his leadership. Moreover he respected him for his genius, both in Torah knowledge as well as the secular sciences. After all, the Rebbe had studied sciences at the University of Berlin with Einstein and Schrodinger between 1928 and 1932 before moving on to the Sorbonne and the Paris Polytechnic.
So how could a man of such sophisticated schooling, scrupulous integrity and intellectual acumen blunder so abysmally as to equate the validity of the archaic Ptolemaic system with that of Copernicus? Galileo? Kepler? Newton? He had to find out. My friend penned a letter of his own, asking the Rebbe to explain his apparently untenable position in the light of modern science.
The Rebbe’s approach to responding to this challenge was virtually unprecedented. Countless tens of thousands of letters had been dictated directly by the Rebbe in the course of the 30-odd years between his assuming the leadership of the Chabad movement in 1951 and responding to this particular letter. This time, the Rebbe chose to consult.
But with whom does the leader of world Jewry take counsel in order to answer one of his flock? In this rare case he called upon another living legend, Prof. Herman Branover, for advice. Branover is probably the world’s foremost expert in magnetohydrodynamic engineering, the high energy physics of liquid metals. With over 20 patents and several hundred books and articles in peer-reviewed literature to his name, he knows his stuff. In addition Prof. Branover is a world leader in elucidating the interplay of science and faith.
The Rebbe called in the good Professor, read him the letter, and asked him how he should respond. Knowing the greatness of the Rebbe, and realizing that he couldn’t tell him anything he didn’t know, he responded simply, “The Rebbe himself knows.” Still the Rebbe insisted he wanted advice, so he engaged Prof. Branover to canvas all his contacts and find the very best person to respond to this enquiry, and pose the question to him. (I have had the privilege of transcribing Prof. Branover’s Rolodex, and I can tell you that it reads like a Who’s Who of intelligentsia and other elite.)
After researching the matter carefully, and as you can understand, a man like this knows how to do research), Branover settled on an aspiring Relativity Physicist, a Russian Jew with sterling academic credentials, bonafide brilliance, a serious commitment to Judaism generally and respect for the teachings of Chabad specifically. Who better to ask a question like this than Alexander Poltorak.
Branover made an appointment and went to see Dr. Poltorak on the Rebbe’s behalf. After some preliminary conversation they got down to business. Branover related how the Rebbe approached him and asked him to find just the right expert to deal with this concerned correspondent, and how he had come to choose him, Poltorak, as the ideal candidate for the job.
 Dr. Alexander Poltorak
Chassid that he is, Branover didn’t miss a beat. Knowing that with the Rebbe, there are no mistakes and he must have figured all this out in advance, Branover turned the question around. “If so, then you are indeed the best person to answer your own question,” and the two of them set out to discuss what form such a response might take.
After some discussion and probably quite a bit of cajoling, knowing Alex, he finally agreed to undertake some research to see how Einstein’s theory of relativity might be applied to equate geocentric and heliocentric models of planetary motion, and by the end this resulted in a research paper that was presented at one of the International Torah and Science Conferences, co-sponsored by the Religious Studies Department at Florida International University, Prof. Branover’s B’Or HaTorah Journal, and the Shul of Bal Harbor.
Now where is that paper you may ask? Well, Prof. Branover never had it published in the B’Or HaTorah Journal because in addition to demonstrating scientifically that relativity has no preference for one system over the other, Poltorak also states his opinion that these arguments are unconventional, unpopular and unpalatable. Alexander Poltorak on his part never had it published elsewhere because he didn’t really like the paper.
And like good eccentric physicists, neither of them can find a copy. No matter, once concepts like these are launched, they may orbit erratically for a while but eventually it will turn up because what goes around comes around. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 July 2007 )
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