Kabbalistic writings often stress the principle that every human deed, if performed with proper, spiritual intention, has the ability to influence material reality, enhancing or debasing it accordingly.
This idea is exemplified in the following quote from the teachings of the Ramchal:
“If a person is pulled after the [lusts of] the world to be drawn away from his Creator, he becomes tainted, and the world is tainted along with him. If he controls himself and cleaves to his Creator, using the world only as an aid in the service of God, he is uplifted and the world itself is uplifted with him. For all creatures are greatly uplifted when they serve the perfected human being, who is sanctified with the holiness of the Blessed One.”
We see from here that objective reality can be influenced by the deeds of a righteous individual.
Along these lines, let us look at a fascinating piece of research that substantiates the effect of spirit on matter.
A Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto, has proven that spoken words have a direct and verifiable effect upon water – depending upon the type of statement made. Using extremely powerful microscopes, Dr. Emoto’s conducted the following research:
1. A cup of pure water, drawn from a spring or river, was placed in a room. Those present in the room made positive or negative statements.
2. A small volume of the water was then poured into a Petri dish and frozen at -25º C for three hours.
3. The frozen water was removed from the freezer and examined under a microscope with a magnifying power between 200x and 500x, in a room kept at -5º C degrees.
The results are amazing.
Positive statements, such as compliments, words of praise or of affection, caused the formation of crystals.
If the statements were negative, however, such as insults, curses, or angry words, the ice crystals took other forms.
The Life Force in Blessings and Psalms
While still a chemistry student at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, Tomer Rabiav attended one of the author’s lectures on the power of speech, which mentioned, among other things, the research of Dr. Emoto. The young student decided to conduct a test of his own. The following is Tomer Rabiav’s own description of his research:
In each of three Petri dishes, I placed white beans on a bed of cotton and watered them over a period of two weeks. One dish was watered with standard tap water, without my speaking or thinking any specific thoughts. As I watered the second dish, I uttered curses. And as I watered the third dish, I recited Psalms and had thoughts of gratitute to God over the blessing of water in our world. At times, I would recite the blessing “shehakol” – “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, through whose word everything comes into being.”
After two weeks, I could see significant differences between the bean sprouts in the three dishes.
(It is important to note that an Israeli physicist, Dr. Arik Naveh, conducted similar experiments on a much larger scale and achieved the same results, without knowing anything about Rabiav’s experiment.)
Science has discovered that sound waves can affect material reality in significant ways, depending upon the type of words spoken. However, is Dr. Emoto’s 20th century discovery as new as it appears?
The following statement of the Sages may at first seem strange. However, in light the discussion above, it can now be understood:
“The world only exists by virtue of the breath of the children in the study house.”
In other words, the breath of Jewish children at their Torah lessons in school is the life-giving oxygen that sustains the world. Without this, the world would expire, as the verse states: (Jeremiah 33:25)
“Thus says the Lord: If My covenant is not maintained day and night [i.e. the covenant of Torah, which is studied around the world ceaselessly], I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth (i.e., the world would cease to exist).”
On this topic, Rabbi Chayim of Volozhin states: “The very life and existence of all the worlds depends solely upon our speech and our Torah study. There is no doubt whatsoever that if, God forbid, our world were to be entirely devoid of Torah study for even a single instant… all the upper and lower worlds would be immediately destroyed and would revert to nothingness and emptiness, God forbid.”
On the other hand, the Torah Sages have made the following statement regarding negative speech:
“As a punishment for obscenity, troubles multiply, cruel decrees are reissued, and the youth of Israel die.”
When man utters obscenities, whether in private or in public (even a stand-up comic, who only means to entertain people), the fetid breath spreads through the world and can cause harm and even death to young Jews.
