Q&A: Torah as Applied to the Person, and the Difference Between Mathematics and the Natural Sciences
Torah as Applied to the Person, and the Difference Between Mathematics and the Natural Sciences
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi,
I wanted to ask about your approach of studying secular sciences as Torah in relation to the person. Does this also include mathematics? Or only the natural sciences? I’m asking because I remember you saying that mathematics is like logic—that is, it is binding even on the Holy One, blessed be He, and He did not create it (unlike physics). Maybe there is nothing here to create at all, and it is an empty domain (the emptiness of the analytic). I can understand studying physics, since it is the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, as counting as Torah in relation to the person. But mathematics, which is not the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, and is in fact empty—how is that Torah in relation to the person?
With blessings,
With blessings,
Answer
I don’t think there is a difference. It is true that logic and mathematics are not the work of the Holy One, blessed be He, but I don’t think that only His handiwork counts as Torah. The study of wisdom in general is Torah in relation to the person. If you want, you could say that we are studying our own capacities to understand mathematics and logic. That indeed is the work of the Holy One, blessed be He. But that’s only a somewhat hair-splitting answer.