Unified Field Theory… and Practice

Albert Einstein had a lifelong quest — to develop a unified field theory — the theory that would describe as a single field gravity and electromagnetism (just as Maxwell unified electric and magnetic fields in a single electromagnetic field). Alas, Einstein did not succeed in his quest. Today, the goal is even more ambitious — to unify all four known fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces in a single model, the so-called Theory of Everything. If the hypothetical fifth force will be confirmed, it will also need to be included in the Theory of Everything.

While theoretical physicists around the world are busy working our various approaches to such Theory of Everything (the leading candidate is the string theory), Jews around the world are practicing this unification during the holiday of Sukkot.

During Sukkot, we take together four species (arba’a minim): etrog (a fruit of a citron tree), lulav (a branch of a date palm), chadassim (boughs from the myrtle tree), and aravot (branches of the willow tree), and hold them together while waving with them in all six directions (na’anuim).

What, you may ask, this has to do with the unified field theory? Consider this.

As I wrote in my earlier posts (see, for example, Joseph teaches Pharaoh a lesson in fundamental forces, Four Camps at Sea – Four Fundamental Interactions, Grand Unification), all four fundamental forces correspond to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton:

The four species, arba’a minim, also correspond to the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. According to the Arizal, this relationship is as follows:

Combining the two tables together we get:

(Perhaps it was Etrog, not the Apple, that fell on Newton’s head causing him to discover the universal law of gravity?)

As far as the fifth force is concerned, as we discussed in another post (see The Fifth Force, The Fifth Force – Epilog), the “fifth element,” on the level of the Divine soul, is Yechidah. It is the person who is holding these four species together and waving them, who corresponds to the apex of the letter yud and, consequently, to the fifth force:

We may not know how to unify these forces in a single equation yet. However, every Jew has the power to unify these forces during na’anuim (waving the four species together in six directions) on Sukkot. This is the unified field theory in practice.

Hag Sameach!

Originally published on QuantumTorah.com on Oct 16, 2016.