The 2nd of Iyar, which comes out on Sunday this year, marks the first yahrzeit of Prof. Eliezer (Eduardo) Zeiger obm. Prof. Zeiger was a world-famous researcher, lecturer, and author on Plant Physiology working at UCLA. He met HaRav Ginsburgh some 35 years ago and immediately recognized him as his teacher in his lifelong pursuit of unification between Torah and science. One of Prof. Zeiger’s fields of research was photosynthesis, particularly the effects of different colors of light on the process. Inspired by his scientific expertise, HaRav Ginsburgh wrote a monograph on Photosynthesis, which is now nearing completion.
The following is an excerpt from this latest addition to HaRav Ginsburgh’s Torah and science library, which will be dedicated and renamed in honor of Prof. Zeiger. It is also related to this week’s Torah portion. Prof. Zeiger is survived by his wife Dr. Yael Fischman and their two sons. May his soul be a good advocate for them and their families.
The spectrum of Visible Light
Beginning with Isaac Newton, visible light has been traditionally divided into seven sub-regions, named after their main color: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Today, indigo’s standing as a primary spectrum color is questioned. It seems that Newton identified indigo as a primary color in order to produce a seven-fold division, which fit his mystical theories.* For this reason, some modern texts omit indigo altogether and present a six-fold division.
* Though unknown to Newton at the time visible light makes up only part of the full spectrum. The visible light region in the middle divides the full electromagnetic spectrum with three regions to its left (infrared, microwave, and radio waves) and three regions to its right (ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma radiation). Altogether there are then thirteen (seven colors and six additional regions). This fits perfectly with the complete model of the sefirot—the Divine channels with which God creates and guides reality—which has thirteen components.
As explained elsewhere in depth (Kabbalah and Meditation for the Nations, pp. 71-4), there are two variant descriptions of the colors in the rainbow (which are of course identical to the seven visible colors). The second, less commonly known description appears in the Zohar and divides the visible light of the rainbow into three colors (white, red, and yellow-green). Using this account, we get altogether nine regions, which fits perfectly with light’s numerical property. The numerical value of “light” (אוֹר) is 207, which is also the product of 9 and 23, where 23 is the value of “luster” (זִיו), revealing that light (electromagnetic radiation) is inherently composed of 9 elements.
There is no source in Torah that clearly identifies seven primary colors. The six-fold division has certain logical advantages over Newton’s seven-fold division, as it is very similar to the additive color model used by artists (e.g., red plus yellow produces orange and in the spectrum, orange is defined as the region between red and yellow). Still, the seven-fold division, with a few reservations, fits well with other logical schemes found in Kabbalistic models.[1]
In trying to understand the significance of the seven color regions in visible light, the most straightforward approach is to map the seven regions to the seven emotive and habitual sefirot (also known as the seven lower sefirot) from loving-kindness through kingdom. Similarly, the seven regions of the entire electromagnetic spectrum also correspond to these seven sefirot. However, it would not make good sense to map the sefirot with the color regions based on their order in the soul: loving-kindness, might, beauty, victory, acknowledgment, foundation, and kingdom. Rather, we must identify a stronger correlation criterion to base our mapping on.
The first step in defining this criterion is to note that reds and blue-violets appear at opposite ends of the spectrum. In Kabbalah, the sefirot are depicted using a chart with three axes as follows,
| might | loving-kindness |
| beauty | |
| acknowledgment | victory |
| foundation | |
| kingdom | |
One of the best-known correspondences of the sefirot is to the four elements of antiquity used as a model for matter: fire, air, water, and earth. In this correspondence, loving-kindness is associated with water and might is associated with fire. Whereas water is the stuff that life is made from, fire has the power to consume and break life into pieces or forge it and make it tough and robust. Though water itself is colorless, it is almost always associated with blue and therefore loving-kindness too is associated with blue. Likewise, fire displays many colors (even a candle flame has a few colors), but is most commonly associated with red.
When the sefirot are placed along three axes as in the chart above, loving-kindness is on the right and might on the left. In Torah in general and Kabbalah in particular, the distinction between right and left carries a great deal of meaning. Perhaps the most basic is that the left is considered feminine and the right masculine. Another way of stating the difference between them is that the right represents a descending vector going from a high place to a low place (just as water, which corresponds to loving-kindness on the right, is always following gravity and descending from a high place to a low place). Left represents an ascending vector, from a low place to a high place (just as the flame of a fire somehow defies gravity and rises upward). Likewise, between the masculine and feminine archetypes in Kabbalah, the masculine is considered descending (in order to subsequently ascend) while the feminine is considered ascending (in order to subsequently descend). It turns out then that the right axis, like photons with blue wavelengths, represents higher energy and the left axis, like photons with red wavelengths, represents lower energy. The energy of the right axis is many times described as “greatness” (גְּדֻלָּה) alluding to the inherent and essential exaltedness in the right’s source. The energy of the left axis is associated with the power to overcome or hold steadfast against opposition (גְּבוּרָה).
Considering the above differences between the right and left axes and the sefirot that populate each, we can ask how relatively left or right each of the seven emotive sefirot is. Of course, loving-kindness would be on the extreme right and might would be on the extreme left. Projecting* the remaining sefirot, based on how much they lean left or right, we get the following chart:
* In many ways, such a projection parallels T. W. Engelmann’s early action-spectrum experiments, which established that photosynthesis uses only particular wavelengths of visible light. A description of his experiment method follows: “Englemann projected a spectrum of light onto the spiral chloroplast of the filamentous green algae spirogyra and observed that oxygen-seeking bacteria introduced into the system collected in the region of the spectrum where chlorophyll pigments absorb” (Taiz and Zeiger, p. 116).
So far, we have been identifying the red region with the left side of the visible spectrum. This is because we have been plotting the spectrum based on frequency, in order to stress the amount of energy in each color and to ensure that the energy increases as we move to the right. But actually, the spectrum can be plotted using two choices for the horizontal axis: wavelength or frequency. When plotted against wavelength, the reds appear to the far right, while the violet-blues appear on the far left.
The Ratio Between Red and Blue Light
Though the red and blue light most used by photosynthesis indicate a range of wavelengths, most texts cite the wavelength of red as 780 nanometers and the wavelength of violet as 420 nanometers. Since both 780 and 420 are multiples of 60, and specifically, we have that 780 = 13 · 60 and 420 = 7 · 60, then the ratio of the wavelengths of red to violet is a pure ratio: 13:7. The ratio of their frequencies will of course be its reciprocal 7:13.*
* In other texts, we find 400nm and 700nm for violet and red, respectively. Using these values produces a pure ratio of 4:7 between the wavelengths of violet and red and the reciprocal, 7:4, between their frequencies. But note that 4 is the midpoint of 7 and that 7 is the midpoint of 13. This gives us an indication that, as above, there is a mathematical progression that motivates dividing the full spectrum into 13 areas: 6 regions around visible light plus the 7 colors.
In Torah, we find that the numbers 13 and 7 go together like two words in an idiom.[2] From experience, there are many instances where our mathematical analysis of two related words or concepts will yield that one is a multiple of (or related to) 13 and the other to 7.[3] Kabbalah explains that indeed 13 and 7 form a male-female pair. As explained elsewhere,[4] the reciprocal properties, frequency and wavelength, themselves form a male-female pair. Spiritually, frequency is the masculine component of radiation; wavelength is its feminine component. Frequency is a measure of time; wavelength a measure of space. In Kabbalah, time is associated with the masculine sefirah of wisdom and space is associated with the feminine sefirah of understanding.
Thus, considering electromagnetic radiation based on its frequency is a relatively masculine analysis; considering it on the basis of wavelength is a relatively feminine analysis. Normally, in Kabbalah, 13 is considered masculine and 7 is considered feminine.[5] Because we have been using frequency as our horizontal axis when plotting the visible spectrum, it follows that we have been utilizing a more masculine analysis. Indeed, the frequency-based analysis yields violet on the right and red on the left, matching the ratio between their frequencies, which is 13:7, and identifies violet as masculine (further to the right) and red as feminine (further to the left). If we were to use a wavelength-based analysis, red would be to the right indicating that it is more feminine and violet would be to the left indicating that it is relatively less feminine, retaining consistency across the spectrum based on wavelength and based on frequency.
It follows that once we associate wavelength with the feminine and frequency with the masculine we should do the same for the wave-particle duality. As discovered by Einstein, every entity in the universe exhibits both wave-like and particle-like behavior. The larger and slower the object, the more difficult it is to measure its wave-like behavior. The smaller and more energetic an object, the more difficult it is to measure its particle-like behavior. Considering that from a philosophical perspective all objects are composed of both matter and form, identified as feminine and masculine properties in Kabbalah, we can identify particle-like behavior with an object’s material-feminine aspect and wave-like behavior with its form-masculine aspect.
Heat loss
We have already established the correspondence between the red wavelength light and femininity and between the blue wavelength and masculinity. This of course is only a symbolic correspondence, not to be taken literally, but it does provide us with a frame of reference for analyzing and better understanding scientific findings regarding photosynthesis.
One of the most central representations of the relationship between male and female found in the Torah pertains to arousal during the act of procreation. Based on the first verses of parashat Tazria, the sages learn that when the male’s arousal comes first the tendency is for the couple to conceive a female. And vice versa, when it is the female whose arousal comes first, the tendency is for a male child to be born. Without considering the possible objections one might think that genetics presents to this notion, let us see how it can be applied to chlorophyll excitation from blue and red wavelength light.
Since blue represents loving-kindness, it can be identified, relatively speaking, as more masculine. Accordingly, red represents might and can therefore be identified as more feminine. However as discussed elsewhere, male and female actually contain aspects of one another, a quality known as inter-inclusion. Scientifically speaking, when chlorophyll is excited by (higher energy) blue light, the energy immediately dissipates through heat loss bringing the chlorophyll molecule to its lower excited state. From there, the energy can follow two pathways: it can be a) used for photochemistry (either by the original molecule, or by transfer to another chlorophyll), or b) it can be released as heat or as light, making it unavailable to the photosynthetic reactions. The first pathway is in a sense viable because it allows the energy to be used for photosynthesis. The second is in a sense inert because the energy never reaches photosynthesis. As far as science currently knows, it is impossible to predict which pathway the energy will follow. But as far as Torah is concerned male arousal, i.e., chlorophyll excitation due to blue light, comes in two flavors: either the male’s arousal is independent of the female’s or it is a result of it.
Applying this distinction, we would say that when the chlorophyll’s excitation due to blue light was entirely masculine, it will yield a feminine—a relatively inert—response, causing the energy to be dissipated through either heat or fluorescence and made unavailable to photosynthesis. But, if the chlorophyll excitation due to blue light is akin to male arousal caused by female arousal, then the energy will find its way to the photochemical reactions. Of course, describing things this way adds a level of complexity in the excitation of chlorophyll which is not yet scientifically documented. But this is an example in which following the correspondence between Torah and science can lead science further by pointing at possible new phenomena or qualities of matter that have yet to be discovered.
Why Are Plants Green?
Most leaves are green because chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for photosynthesis, is green. The fact that chlorophyll is green reveals that while blue and red light is used in photosynthesis, green light is (rejected, or) reflected. Apart from the energy considerations behind this fact, we can find spiritual significance alluded to in the reflection of the green wavelengths.
In our model of the visible spectrum as its colors correspond to the sefirot, we saw that green corresponds to the sefirah of foundation. The most important verse in the Bible describing the nature of foundation is, “A tzaddik is the foundation of the world.”[6] This verse identifies the sefirah of foundation with a tzaddik—a righteous individual, which the Talmud tells us serves as a beacon of Divine light among men.[7] Elsewhere, we find that the tzaddik, the righteous individual is himself likened to plants. So strong is this relationship that the tzaddik is not only likened to a plant metaphorically but is actually referred to as “a righteous plant,” as in the verse, “Behold, the days are coming declares God, when I will raise up a righteous branch of David’s line. He shall reign as king and shall prosper, and he shall do what is just and right in the land.”[8] The words translated as, “a righteous branch,” literally mean “a righteous plant” (צֶמַח צַדִּיק). As we will see shortly, the identification of the chlorophyll molecule, its functionality, and its structure with the righteous individual carries quite deep.
Chlorophyll can be excited to two different states by red (lower excited state) and blue light (higher excited state). We have just seen that red light corresponds to might and blue light to loving-kindness. Each of the sefirot has a psychological or experiential counterpart, which both drives its functionality and serves as the psychological state to which it strives. The inner experiential counterpart of might is fear (or awe) and that of loving-kindness is love. Serving God involves both emotional qualities—serving Him out of an experience of fear or awe and serving Him out of love. Just as chlorophyll absorbs blue and red wavelengths—meaning they are not reflected outwards—so the true tzaddik conceals his love and awe of God. Because every Jew is to a certain extent a tzaddik, this is relevant to all of us. The analogy extends further, because just as the absorption of light produces carbohydrates—physical sustenance—in plants, so Divine service with love and awe produces both spiritual and physical energy in the tzaddik. The most striking example of this conversion of Divine energy into physical sustenance happened during Moses’ 40 days on Mt. Sinai, when he neither ate nor drank but was sustained by God’s energy.
Now recall that in practice, only the energy of the lower excited state, i.e., the energy in red photons, can be used to drive photosynthesis. The higher excited state induced by blue photons must first decay to the lower excited state. Interestingly, there is an exact parallel to this phenomenon in the relationship between love and awe. First, it is explained that love of God already contains fear of God.[9] In other words, it is impossible to love God without first being in awe of God. This relationship between love and awe is identical to the relationship between blue photons and red photons. The higher energy state induced by blue photons, which correspond to love of God, also includes the lower excited state induced by red photons.
Still, when serving God, it is explained[10] that the primary mode of service in our present reality is service out of awe, because that is the manner in which God revealed Himself to us at Mt. Sinai[11] and because a true experience of loving God is considered a gift that will be realized only in humanity’s future state. In other words, though love of God, corresponding to blue wavelength photons can be experienced, it cannot be utilized fully in our present state without first being converted to fear of God, corresponding to red wavelength photons. Just as the higher excited energy state induced by blue photons must decay to the lower excited energy state induced by red photons, so inspired love of God must first reduce, as it were, to a state of fear of God to provide us with energy. Still, that we are promised that in the future, pure Divinely inspired love of God will be translatable into sustenance suggests that though we cannot, as it were, survive on love alone, in the future this will be possible.
But the analogy carries even further. Chlorophyll absorbs blue and red wavelength photons, but reflects green photons, which in our model correspond to the sefirah of foundation, whose inner experiential counterpart is self-fulfillment. As the tzaddik absorbs love and fear of God and transforms it into sustenance, he also reflects to those around him true self-fulfillment, encouraging others to strive for the highest level of fulfilling their destiny in life.
The purpose of every righteous individual is to be a living example for the people of his generation. In the Zohar,[12] Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is quoted as saying, “I am a sign in the world,” meaning that he exists only to be like a signpost for others, pointing them in God’s direction (one might say that the tzaddik, the righteous individual, is like a green light, encouraging others to move forward). Some righteous individuals (like Rabbi Nachman of Breslov) felt that anyone who wished to do so, could attain his level. Still, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was of the opinion that few can attain his own level.[13]
[1]. Kabbalah and Mediatation for the Nations, pp. 62-7.
[2]. See Wonders, issue 4, p. 7 for more on the occurrences of 7 with 13 in the Torah.
[3]. See for example 913: The Secret Wisdom of Genesis, p. 8.
[4]. See our forthcoming article, “The History of the Discovery of Electromagnetism from a Kabbalistic Perspective.”
[5]. One example that we have offered elsewhere (see Kabbalah and Meditation for the Nations, pp. 22-7) is that Jews have 13 principles of faith, while righteous gentiles have 7. Relatively speaking, the Jewish people and the nations of the world form a male-female pair based on God’s choice that the Jewish people provide the nations of the world with true spiritual sustenance.
[6]. Proverbs 10:25.
[7]. Yoma 38b.
[8]. Jeremiah 23:5.
[9]. See in length Tanya, chapters 18 and 41
[10]. Ibid.
[11]. Exodus 20:15-17.
[12]. 1:225a.
[13]. Sukkah 45b.
