Lecture Originally Recorded on Monday, February 20, 1989
Here is the working link: https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecture.cfm/756659/rabbi-ari-kahn/parshat-vayakehl-shabbat-creation-and-infinity/
Starts at 2:54:
"The scientific community has come to the conclusion that there indeed was a beginning. Science has proven clearly that the universe is expanding. And if the universe is expanding, then the implication would be, that if you were to go back in time- the universe is contracting. It's contracting and contracting... go back far enough things contract into one..."thing"...the moment before that, is what we call the moment immediately preceding the big bang; The moment when this one "thing" explodes or begins to expand, is the moment called "the big bang." This is the scientific perspective.
If you were to challenge a scientist, and ask him What was there the moment before the big bang? (what was there before the big bang) the normal answer would be: "nothing- that the big bang is the beginning of something." what is it the beginning of? time, space, and matter. so the point of the "big bang" is when time begins, when space begins, and when matter begins. so when one asks what was before the "big bang"? the response remains nothing, but logically there is a difficulty with that "nothing", because we all understand very well that: NOTHING, IS UNABLE TO GIVE BIRTH TO SOMETHING. so therefore we are forced to say that the "nothing" which preexisted the big bang, if we can coin a term, must have been "PREGNANT NOTHING" because again, if there was simply "nothing", then... something can not result out of nothing, it would remain nothing. but by the virtue of the fact we see SOMETHING that means. [we can ask] where did that [the big bang] come from? the reason why scientists say there was "nothing" before hand: [is] 'Cause what is that "nothing" they are describing? It's "nothing" in terms of...something -correct- It's nothing in terms of what we are AWARE OF. It's nothing in terms of PHYSICS. This "Thing" which is there before there is time, isn't simply on a timeline before time...it's something which exists on a completely different plane. it is OUTSIDE of the realm of time. Something which TRANSCENDS time. and the same in terms of matter, and in terms of space. the EXISTENCE before the "big bang", is AN EXISTENCE WHICH TRANSCENDS WHAT WE KNOW OF.
Scientists have a difficulty with this because a scientist can only explain data which is in front of them. for a scientist to try to explain the data which is obviously not in front of them- which is prior to what is in front of them- The scientist is frustrated. (keep track- 5:32min into the recording) Now. One way of dealing with that frustration is simply to ignore it. another way of dealing with the frustration- is a beautiful quote which i came upon by Robert Jastrow- who was the head of the Goddard Space Observatory for NASA he was also professor of geology at Columbia University (of NY) and listen to his description of this phenomena: "Scientists can not bear the thought of a natural phenomenon which can not be explained, even with unlimited time and money. There is a kind of religion in science- It is the religion of a person who believes that there is order and harmony in the universe and every event can be explained in a rationale way as a product of a previous event. Every effect must have its cause. There is no "First cause". Einstein wrote that "the scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation." (((Quote-ception- me quoting Rabbi Ari Kahn, quoting Jastrow, quoting Einstein))). This religious faith of the scientist is violated by the discovery that the universe had a beginning in conditions in which the known laws of physics are not valid and as a product of forces or circumstances we can not discover. When that happens, the scientist has lost control. If he would really examine the implications, he'd be traumatized. As usual when faced with trauma the mind reacts by ignoring the implications in science this is known as "refusing to speculate", or trivializing the origin of the world by calling it "the big bang" as if the universe were a firecracker. Now we would like to peruse that inquiry further back in time, but the barrage of further progress seems insurmountable. It's not a matter of another year or other decade of work or another measurement or another theory. At this moment it seems as though scientists may never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith and the power of reason, This story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance is about to conquer the highest peak- as he pulls himself over the final rock, He is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." This frustration over here, which Jastrow is trying to describe, is when a scientist realizes that "I just simply can not explain that "nothing" which is there." and logically that "Thing" before creation is not simply "nothing". So let's use the term which I used before: "pregnant nothing."
But lets go a little further with creation- let's try to understand what creation is- (RECAP) What was there the moment before creation? were getting tired of simply saying "nothing", it's something which is outside of time, outside of space, and outside of matter. What is another way of calling that? INFINITE.
Something which is in no way, shape, or form, limited or has any parameters. The term for that is INFINITY. So the moment of creation is the moment when finite matter begins to exist. That moment, I cant call it a moment even...that concept...before there is time, before there is matter...you could call that "antimatter" but that again, is a negative definition based upon what exists... It's something that is just, simply, ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLANE..."
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{IN–FINITE = NOTHING FINITE = {not a person, ,or thing. not a cross, not a devil, not a satan, not an energy, not a power, not a spirit, not a soul, not an energy, not a light, anything we have words for. all we can say right now is that HaShem iZZZzzz, and HaShem iZZZzzz amazing (seeing HASHEM'S אlef בet in their תrue forms, and hearing the sound/story behind each picture BH} (page 57 in sources in the back of book BH)