Yin, Yang & You: A Chinese Take on Torah

Finding the Foundational Pattern of Chinese Thought in Our Tradition

It’s well known that Yin and Yang are the foundational building blocks of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Their dynamic polarity undergirds all things—Heaven and Earth, fire and water, male and female, motion and stillness. Everything is either Yin or Yang, or in the process of shifting from one to the other.

But if Judaism is navigating the same world, how come Torah doesn’t speak in the same binary language?

The answer is—it does. Only, it wraps its insights in a different idiom. To see this more clearly, we can turn to the work of Rabbi Akiva Tatz, whose book Living Inspired outlines a three-part spiritual pattern intrinsic to Torah (and life) that maps perfectly onto the Yin-Yang worldview. And in fact, the Yin-Yang model also includes a third—the integration of both opposites. The graphic image of the two teardrop shapes entwined represents not just polarity, but resolution and unity. The Torah model is therefore a direct match: a trinity composed of yang, yin, and the transcendent third.

The Three-Step Pattern of Creation

According to Rabbi Tatz, every process in reality unfolds in a threefold structure. These are not arbitrary stages, but essential expressions of the world, itself, and how it operates.

1. The first principle is the pure flash of origin—creative, indivisible, infinite. This is the yang dimension: active, initiating, seed-like. In Torah terms, it’s symbolized by the patriarch Abraham and his role as a catalyst; in the human body, it is represented by the right hand; in the world of numbers, it associates with the number One. It is the male contribution to life, a pure act of giving, unencumbered by specifics of form or resistance.

2. The second principle is the descent into form—finite, divided, receptive and responsive to circumstances on the ground. This is yin: the field that receives and crystallizes. Torah understands the patriarch Isaac as the one who embodies this principle and, in the body, it is represented by the left hand. In the world of numbers, the number Two is its avatar. The second principle is the feminine domain, the realm of gestation and internality, the realm of boundaries, and is characterized by the time, pain, and labor involved in bringing anything into fruition.

3. The third principle is the harmony of opposites—truth, unity, the child. This is the union of yin and yang, the middle path, the emergence of a higher whole. In Torah, Jacob is the patriarch who represents the middle way. This principle represents centrism, the number Three and the marriage of heaven and earth, a new reality that transcends yet includes both.

This triad is found everywhere—in time (past, present, future), in space (right, left, center), in the body (right brain, left brain, integration), and especially in the human being. The pattern of male and female producing a child is not just biology—it is cosmic architecture.

The Polar Dance of Torah

Genesis begins by setting this pattern into motion:

In the beginning, G-d created Heaven and Earth…”
“G-d separated the light from the darkness…”
“Male and female He created them…

These are yin and yang couplings, foundational pairs that frame all experience. Torah doesn’t name them as such—but it expresses the exact same dynamic.

• Heaven (shamayim) is yang: transcendent, above, active.
• Earth (aretz) is yin: receptive, grounding, manifesting.
• The Garden of Eden, the harmony of both, is the third space—a glimpse of integration before the fall into duality.

Torah’s Yin and Yang—Encoded, Not Explicit

In TCM, Yin and Yang are stated outright—symbolized in the black-and-white circle, always in motion, each containing the seed of the other.

In Torah, the same truth is encoded in stories, people, and metaphors. Abraham (the initiator), Isaac (the sacrificer), and Jacob (the reconciler) aren’t just historical figures—they are psychological archetypes, spiritual templates.

Even Jewish ritual follows the pattern:

• Shabbat begins with the masculine energy of lighting candles, of invoking sanctity.

• Then comes the stillness, the quiet, the receiving of the day—a yin surrender.

• And finally, Havdalah, the ritual of return, of integration. A new week is born, ideally uplifted.

Pain, Joy, and Transcendence

Rabbi Tatz explains that each phase also brings with it an emotional quality:

• The first is ecstasy—the thrill of creating or experiencing something new.

• The second is pain—the cost of making something real, doing the heavy lifting and wrangling with limitations.

• The third is transcendence—a joy that comes from having persisted, seen the process through, integrated both principles, and brought something new into existence (an achievement, a child, a friendship, etc.). This mirrors the TCM understanding of transformation: yang turns into yin (activity becomes rest), and yin gives birth to yang (stillness incubates new inspiration and new movement). The third is not just the return—it’s a higher spiral, where both opposites are preserved and transformed.

A Book Recommendation

Readers who find this fascinating are strongly encouraged to read Living Inspired by Rabbi Akiva Tatz. The book takes this three-part pattern and applies it across many areas of life—emotion, human development, relationships, even humor. For example, laughter, he explains, arises when the mind is moving in one direction (step one), then suddenly confronted with the punchline, swings in an opposite direction (step two), experiencing surprise and joy as the resolution of this tension produces a release of laughter (step three). Again and again, readers will begin to recognize this cosmic pattern surfacing in unexpected places.

Conclusion: The Two Traditions Are Speaking to Each Other

The language of Torah and the philosophy of Chinese Medicine are like two mirrors angled at the same truth. They each recognize that reality emerges through polarity and resolves in unity. While TCM gives us a systematic vocabulary—yin, yang, Tao and more—Torah gives us narrative and metaphor.

What we need now is dialogue between these traditions. A meeting of East and West. A partnership where ancient Hebrew wisdom and Chinese philosophy help each other uncover the fullness of the human path.

As Rabbi Tatz writes, the process of understanding this pattern is not just academic—it is a Torah learning experience in itself, a path of spiritual insight.

And perhaps the same could be said of TCM. When traditions share the same architecture of thought, even if painted in different colors, they can walk together. Heaven and Earth can meet. Male and Female can build together. And the world can move one step closer to its integrated self.