The Zohar predicted that a revolution in scientific and mystical knowledge would occur around the year 5600 (1840 in the secular calendar). The publication of Torah Or and Likkutei Torah was a milestone on the way to Redemption. Mystical knowledge is the source of scientific knowledge, and science illuminates the path to Moshiach.
In this week’s Torah reading it states:
In the six hundredth year of Noach’s life . . . all the wellsprings of the great deep burst forth and the windows of heaven opened.
The Zohar, the fundamental work of Jewish mysticism, explains the esoteric meaning of the verse as follows: In the six hundredth year of the sixth millennium the gates of wisdom above and the wellsprings of wisdom below will be opened; the world will then be prepared to enter the seventh millennium.
The two phrases in the Torah – "the wellsprings of the great deep" and "the windows of heaven" – allude to two types of wisdom. "The wellsprings of the great deep" refers to the wisdom below, meaning science or the wisdom of the world, while "the windows of heaven" refers to the wisdom above, meaning Torah.
The Zohar, written nearly two thousand years ago by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a disciple of Rabbi Akiva, predicted that an explosion in wisdom, understanding and knowledge would occur around the Hebrew year 5600 – corresponding to the secular year 1840.
Indeed, in that time period, a hundred years after the Baal Shem Tov officially began teaching Chassidus to the general public – which also corresponded with the beginnings of modern industrialization – just such an intellectual explosion occurred.
During this time – in the years 5607 and 5608, or 1847 and 1848 in the secular calendar – Torah Or and Likkutei Torah, two important works of the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad Chassidus, were finally published. To understand the significance of this event, we must remember that the Baal Shem Tov had described a spiritual ascent he had experienced on Rosh Hashanah. As the Baal Shem Tov’s soul reached higher and higher spiritual levels, it encountered the soul of Moshiach. The Baal Shem Tov asked, when will the master – meaning Moshiach – come? The answer was, when your wellsprings spread forth.
The publication of these two works of the Alter Rebbe represented not just another intellectual milestone. Traditionally, the spread of mystical knowledge is both a pre-requisite to, and a result of, the coming of Moshiach. The prophet Isaiah declares that, in the era of Redemption, “the whole world will be filled with knowledge of the L-rd as the waters cover the ocean.” Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was assured from Above that with and through the Zohar the Jewish people would leave their exile and usher in the Redemption. Still, mystical knowledge remained beyond the education and capacity of most people for over a thousand years. Not until the Arizal, who systematized Kabbalah, did the inner teachings of the Torah truly become available to the public.
Even so, the mystical truths were inaccessible because their form was too intellectual and academic. The task of the Baal Shem Tov – and after him, the Alter Rebbe and Chabad Chassidus – was to "translate," so to speak, the esoteric into a form within the understanding of the average person, even one with little formal training in Hebrew or Jewish subjects – even someone with no background at all! The publication of the Alter Rebbe’s works indicated that a tremendous opposition, on both the physical and spiritual planes, had been removed. The wellsprings – the windows of heavenly knowledge – had been opened wider and the spiritual wisdom – the inner teachings and secrets of the Torah – began to pour forth.
Since the Torah of Moshiach will be such that "the whole world will be filled with knowledge of the L-rd," it’s obvious why the dissemination and proliferation of Chassidus – the inner teachings of the Torah – is a necessary preparation for the coming of Moshiach. After all, Chassidus is a manifestation and revelation of the Torah of Moshiach – a sample and foretaste of the "knowledge of the L-rd" that will permeate the world in the era of Redemption.
But what is the connection of worldly knowledge with Moshiach?
Since the Zohar links the "windows of heaven" – the mystical secrets of Torah – with the "wellsprings of the deep" – the discoveries and inventions of modern science – clearly one is the source and cause of the other. Still we may ask, why does the revelation of a new dimension of Torah – the inner teachings as expressed in Chassidus – result in a scientific revolution, an alteration of principles that reveals more and more of the inner truths of nature?
The answer lies in the fact that nature itself is part of creation. The laws of nature, the axioms, theorems and principles of science are simply observations and deductions about the world which G-d created. Scientific discoveries about how gravity bends light, cells reproduce or the inner structure of a quark are themselves preparations for the coming of Moshiach. The increase in scientific knowledge serves a deeper purpose than satisfying idle curiosity or enabling us to spend more hours on increasingly trivial pursuits.
Rather, like everything else that exists, science was created "for the sake of Torah and the sake of Israel." Or, as it is expressed in the Talmud, "All that G-d created in His world He created solely for His glory." This means that every aspect of creation can be utilized in the Divine service of a Jew. Just as the Jewish people, through the mitzvos of the Torah, reveal the G-dliness within the world, so, too, the natural sciences – scientific knowledge – and our understanding of the world exists to be used in the service of G-d, to deepen our understanding of the true spiritual reality, the Divine nature of existence.
For example, we are told by the prophets that in the times of Moshiach, the "whole world will be filled with knowledge of the L-rd" and that "all flesh will see," meaning that with our physical eyes we will see G-dliness. Our sight will not be simply an "insight," an intellectual comprehension, but a physical seeing. G-dliness will be truly visible.
Of course, such a condition is difficult to conceive. Even if we can grasp a little of this concept theoretically, it’s hard to imagine what the world will be like – what we will be like. We can readily admit that there is a spiritual life-force within every object, sustaining its physical existence at every moment. But how can the spiritual be perceived by the physical?
Modern science provides us with an analogy. One of the most powerful forces of nature is electricity. It has existed since the beginning of creation, obviously, but it was discovered only a few hundred years ago; application of its power is even more recent. By utilizing electricity to transmit sound, a voice at one end of the earth can instantaneously be transmitted to someone at the other end of the earth. The speaker may not even know who the recipient is – or that his words are being heard thousands of miles away. This parallels and makes comprehensible the concept that there is an "Eye that sees and an Ear that hears." The physically fantastic makes it easier to understand the spiritually fantastic. Further, if we know that someone else is listening to our conversation, we become very careful with what we say. How much more so when we recognize that every word, indeed, every thought is "overheard" Above.
There is a practical lesson, one relevant to our current situation just prior to the revelation of Moshiach. As mentioned earlier, the coming of Moshiach depends on the spreading of the wellsprings of Chassidus. When modern scientific inventions, such as the radio (or now, even computers and the internet) are used to teach Torah to millions of people, we surely are in the era of Redemption. Indeed, such an electronic "flooding" of the airwaves and cyberspace with Torah and Chassidus, spreading everywhere without limitation, and available to everyone, actually begins to fulfill the prophecy that the "earth will be filled with the knowledge of the L-rd."
(Based on Likkutei Sichos 15, pp. 42-48)
