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There is a well known and popular interpretation of quantum mechanics known as the Many-worlds interpretation (MWI) interpretation of quantum mechanics.

It says that, "... all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realized in some "world" or universe.[1]"

The many-worlds interpretation implies that there are very many universes, perhaps infinitely many. MWI views time as a many-branched tree, wherein every possible quantum outcome is realised... every possible outcome of a quantum event exists in its own universe.[2]

Is it possible that MWI is in accordance with the Torah?

I spoke to a few people who know their Halacha/ Kabbalah and they disagreed with me and said that there can -not- be 2 or more Matan Torah's nor can there be 2 or more Avrahams. They also argued that there is only one Torah and the MWI would mean there are multiple Torahs.

This is where I disagree with them.

I believe that MWI is possible and still not violate Torah.

Let us say that it is the year 2171 and Issac just blessed Jacob. Later during the day a new world was created due to some sort of fluctuation in the quantum realm. (I don't want to focus on the quantum fluctuation too much; it will take this post off topic )

After the quantum fluctuation, a new world comes into place and now we have 2 worlds with 2 Jacobs, 2 Isaacs, 2 Rebeccas etc. doing their thing and living normally. In one world Rebecca is wearing a green rob and in the other she is wearing a blue robe to shul.

But in BOTH worlds one of the main truths is eventually realized. ( The Torah has hundreds or Thousands of these truths )

The truth is that Timna ends up being Eliphaz's concubine in both worlds.

Timna becoming Eliphaz's concubine is absolutely imperative since the Torah is the absolute truth and the concubinage of Timna to Eliphaz must occur in both; which is possible.

As far as MWI is concerned, the other semantics like what Issac ate for breakfast on the 14 of Elul, 2171 is irrelevant.

It seems that MWI can hold water and not contradict the Torah.

I would like you guys's opinion too on this.

Thank you for the replies!

[1] Tegmark, Max (1998). "The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words?". Fortschritte der Physik. 46 (6–8): 855–862.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation

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Mars Sojourner
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    this is an awesome question but not a good fit for the Mi Yodea format – יהושע ק Dec 15 '21 at 17:12
  • Are you also OK with universes in which there's no mattan Torah? Or where the Torah has a different text? Or where there is no Torah? The MWI involves more than "irrelevant" details. – magicker72 Dec 15 '21 at 17:17
  • https://merrimackvalleyhavurah.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/the-multiverse-in-jewish-thought/ http://markset565.blogspot.com/2013/04/can-multiverse-exist-in-jewish-thought.html – rosends Dec 15 '21 at 17:29
  • @MarsSojourner Then you're not talking about MWI, and you agree with your interlocuters that MWI is incompatible with the Torah. – magicker72 Dec 15 '21 at 18:05
  • @MarsSojourner I'm not making a judgement either way. I'm only trying to understand what you're talking about. In the MWI, every possible change is assumed to have happened in some universe. So if you require that in all your universes, the "relevant details" occur, then you're missing lots of universes predicted by the MWI — and so you're not talking about the MWI. – magicker72 Dec 15 '21 at 18:34
  • Lemai Nafka Mina? Let's say Hashem is creating and running multiple parallel universes at once, so what? We're here and have our own thing to do, whether or not some other universe exists is irrelevant to us (assuming, of course, that Marvel is scientifically inaccurate and we're not having any Multiversal Wars in our timeline ;) ). – Salmononius2 Dec 15 '21 at 20:09
  • @MarsSojourner World=universe in this theory. If your question is "is it a contradiction to have branches universes each with its own Avraham, each with its own Har Sinai, etc.", then you need to make that clear in the question. – magicker72 Dec 15 '21 at 21:03
  • @MarsSojourner You seem to be asking about the full MWI, and not just about the multiple Abraham issue. Consider clarifying, as it's not clear to me. – magicker72 Dec 15 '21 at 21:50
  • There are many notional worlds and many moral realities even in this world. So to say that there is a physical representation somewhere of a notional world that exists in this world does not seem relevant to the narrative of the Torah. – pcoz Dec 15 '21 at 22:30
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    See קונטרס תכלא דפלזון https://www.techeiles.org/library_main/kuntrus-tichla-depilazon-a-satirical-response/ – Alex Dec 16 '21 at 00:04
  • I feel as though Yitzchak may have been fasting in Elul – Dr. Shmuel Dec 16 '21 at 06:36
  • Rabbi Jack Love (formerly of Passaic) suggested that MWI is inherent in the medrash about Moshe checking the Egyptian taskmaster's future descendants before deciding whether it was worth killing him. If time is linear, all Moshe would see about the man's future would be death in a few minutes, and no (more?) children. Implied is that the alternate where the man would have lived has some reality that Moshe could peer into. – Micha Berger Dec 16 '21 at 14:11
  • What this does to concepts of free will and reward-and-punishment is a different question. – Micha Berger Dec 16 '21 at 14:12
  • @Micha Berger Did Rabbi Love move to Florida? I dont mind contacting him to ask him more. Can you guide me as to how I can get a hold of him? Ty – Mars Sojourner Dec 16 '21 at 14:15
  • @Micha Berger BTW, Didn't that bad Egyptian end up having a child with the lady? I think the child ends up becoming a trouble maker of some sort later in the Midrashic narrative. – Mars Sojourner Dec 16 '21 at 14:20
  • @MarsSojourner, the child he saves becomes the Mikhah who leads the tribe of Dan into idolatry in the book of Shofetim. But since Moshe immediately kills the taskmaster, the taskmaster's future doesn't include any additional children. (As for R Love's contact info... I can't give that out in public. PM me on Facebook, under the same name.) – Micha Berger Dec 16 '21 at 17:56
  • @MichaBerger How can Moses look into the future if G-d doesn't grant it? – Turk Hill Dec 17 '21 at 00:18
  • @TurkHill, I didn't raise the subject of Hashem granting or not granting Moshe's peering into the future. Just that the midrash implies a reality to the possible future that didn't happen, in that it is real enough for Moshe to look at. – Micha Berger Dec 19 '21 at 19:26
  • @MichaBerger That is interesting. – Turk Hill Dec 20 '21 at 02:48

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The Midrash says that God created many worlds before ours, then destroyed them because He "did not like them". The Zohar says that God destroyed them because they would not follow the Torah. He asked, and no one would. In our world, only Israel did:

The Torah is the salvation of the world... [We must understand that] God created worlds and destroyed them in the following way: Those who do not keep the precepts of the Law [destroy themselves of their own account]. It is not that God destroys His own works, as some fancy. For why indeed should He destroy His own children? [Zohar Bereshit 1:25a]

So a world without Torah will destroy itself. It is not God who will do it. Along those lines, the Midrash notes that bereshit can also mean “with reshit”, that is “with the beginning”, “the beginning” being the Torah. So the first phrase should read: “With the beginning (that is, with the Torah) God created the world.” [Gen. R. 1:1]

We conclude that God will not allow the existence of a world without Torah. This does not invalidate the theory of parallel universes. It just removes some of these universes from the mix.

Maurice Mizrahi
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  • I heard the idea before that G-d created other cultures before the present one and destroyed them. However, we can't take midrashim literally. There are many midrashim with all kinds of imaginative stories, a kind of science fiction. On the other hand, it's theoretically possible that there are parallel universes. Science has been posturing the multiverse, like little bubbles, uncountable. – Turk Hill Dec 17 '21 at 00:12