Alexander I. Poltorak, at The Blogs

Apr 2, 2026, 7:47 AM

“Why is this night different from all other nights?” The child’s question at the Seder is asked about a single evening, but it opens onto a larger question: what makes Pesach (the Passover) so singular in the Jewish calendar? Pesach...

Mar 30, 2026, 7:40 AM

Exodus as a First-Order Phase Transition

Introduction The Exodus from Egypt (Yetziat Mitzrayim) can be read as a rapid collective reconfiguration. A population long trapped in a stable “slave phase” abruptly reorganizes into a new macroscopic state: publicly distinct, synchronized, and capable of coordinated action. Landau...

Jan 2, 2026, 6:22 PM

Phase Transition: How Close Are We to the Geulah?

The Macro Instability Index and early warning signs of an approaching transition Synopsis This essay is the fourth installment in the series on dreams and phase transitions. It turns the metaphor operational. Having established that instability is the main symptom of...

Dec 28, 2025, 3:43 AM

Phase Transitions in Human History

Metastability, nucleation, and the logic of tipping points Phase-transition language can illuminate not only Joseph’s story but also the history of humanity. To be clear, this is a metaphor, not a reduction. Human history is not governed by thermodynamic laws. Still,...

Dec 25, 2025, 6:57 AM

Phase Transitions II: Galut as Dream, Geulah as Awakening

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like dreamers.” (Psalms 126:1) Abstract This essay reads Exile (Galut) as a dream-state: a mode of consciousness in which meaning blurs, contradictions coexist, and reality can feel fragmented. Drawing on...

Dec 22, 2025, 4:11 AM

The War of Light and Darkness

There are moments in history—often tragic—when one event becomes emblematic of a long chain of preceding and forthcoming events. Such a moment occurred on the first day of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where an act of...

Dec 18, 2025, 10:19 AM

Phase Transitions I: Sleep Architecture of Joseph’s Dreams

Synopsis The Joseph narrative in Genesis is stitched together with dreams—his own, the courtiers’, Pharaoh’s—yet the story itself unfolds according to the grammar of sleep. This essay maps Joseph’s life onto the architecture of sleep stages (N1, N2, N3, and...

Dec 14, 2025, 9:59 AM

G‑d Who Dreams

Divine Dreams - Generated by ChatGPT 5.1

The last three Torah portions—Vayetze, Vayeshev, and Miketz—are saturated with dreams. What if the whole universe is one continuous dream of the Creator? Does G-d dream us into existence? I think so. From Plotinus to Schrödinger The idea that the universe...

Feb 7, 2025, 4:26 PM

Collapse and Revelation

The Splitting of the Sea as a Metaphor for the Collapse of the Wave Function in Quantum Mechanics And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel...

Feb 5, 2025, 5:47 AM

Manna in a State of Superposition of All Tastes

The Gathering of the Manna, Old Testament series, gouache on board, c. 1896–1902 by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (Public Domain)

And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna; and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31). The taste of it was as the taste of a...

About Me

Alexander Poltorak is a physicist and brain researcher. He is Founder and President of NeuroLight, Inc. He served in the past as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at The City College of New York, Assistant Professor of Physics at Touro College, Assistant Professor of Biomathematics at Cornell University Medical College. He writes a blog on Torah and Science www.QuantumTorah.com.

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