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Related: Schrödinger's cat and yibbum

That question assumes that Schrödinger's paradox is possible, and that someone can be both dead and alive at the same time.

So, is that actually true in Halacha? Can a person (or anything else) have a status of being both dead and alive at the same time?

What kind of effects would it have if someone was in a dual life state?
Could he count for a minyan? Would it be tumat meit?

I know that the cat is actually reductio ad absurdum, but seems to be taken quite seriously by some people (i have seen it in Stephen Hawking's books, for example).

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Scimonster
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  • Do you have in mind legal ramifications other than the one you linked? Is there reason to believe that the general answer to this question is not covered by the generalized parts of the yibum question's? – WAF Dec 24 '14 at 20:44
  • I did mention a couple of other things. The other question and answers didn't really address, to my knowledge, whether it's actually possible to be both dead and alive. – Scimonster Dec 24 '14 at 20:45
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    What does it mean to have the status other than to have a legal ramification? – WAF Dec 24 '14 at 20:46
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    I think the term you're grasping for is safek. – Isaac Moses Dec 25 '14 at 02:29
  • I vaguely remember someone connecting the mishna in Kiddushin, Chapter 3, Mishna 2 to this idea: http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=37944&pgnum=302 . The Mishna talks about someone telling a woman that she is betrothed to him on condition that he gives to her within 30 days. If he gives it to her within 30 days, she is betrothed. If not, she is not betrothed. Rabbeinu Ovadya (and others) explain that once he gives the money she is retroactively betrothed. If he does not she is retroactively not betrothed. ------ Within the 30 days, before she receives the money, she is Schrödinger's cat – Menachem Dec 25 '14 at 06:01
  • AFAIK no scientist at any time in history actually believed that the single cat is both alive and dead at the same time. The machlokes is about why not. As such, I don't think this question really has any basis in reality. – Daniel Apr 19 '18 at 00:23
  • http://www.quantumtorah.com/chanukah-menorah-burning-bush-and-sotah/ – SAH Apr 19 '18 at 06:15

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I think that the best you can use in this sort of case of safek (which not append every day ) is use hazakoth... Just like if you have 2 witnesses who are saying dead and 2 who are saying alive. In general witnesses are see the as reality itself. here a example.

I need to find the exact source but in talmud, but there is this case of eshet ish. If 2 are saying that the husband is alive and 2 are saying dead, the wife can't marry someone else because there is the hazaka that she is a eshet ish.

But if she is saying that she knows that is husband is dead, she can marry with one of the witnesses that was also saying that the husband is dead, because that there also a hazaka "wives investigate very well if theirs husbands are dead".

But the "reality" that the husband is dead is only "available" to these 2: this witness and the wife.

edit: So to answer directly to the question, there seem to be in this case 2 realities, opposed but also true, that a person can be dead and alive.

David
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