The Talmud of Scicli

Massimo Melli The Talmud of Scicli ( a detailed analysis of the God of Probability Ψ ) Introduction and commentaries by Aharon Nathan PART - I Introduction “…since it cannot be proved that God exists, it can hardly be shown that He spoke to Abraham, Moses or Isaiah. Each reader must decide if the Voice that spoke to the patriarchs and prophets speaks to him, too. If He does, there is no question of needing proof….” Thomas Cahill: The gift of the Jews “The Voice has not spoken to us yet, however all our lives we have tried to figure out if the Voice that spoke to the Prophets has said the truth or simply has invented everything !”( Leo Lopes ) This last quotation, written by my friend Leo, gives to the reader some idea of his project: analyze the Revelation contained in the Scriptures to see if it fits well with the logic of modern Physics and Mathematics and with Leo’s theory of the Logons, considered by him the building bricks of Creation. If the answer were positive, then a few paragraphs of the Scriptures, if well interpreted, could reveal the secrets of the Creation transmitted by the Prophets through whom the voice of the Unknown God inspires us. Besides the theory of the Logons Leo believes that it is important to understand the role of Probability in human affairs. If God exists what role does He have in controlling the Law of Probability? “It is well known that the majority of events have the tendency to end up in disaster” explained to me Leo and he added that in Italy, fatalistically people say: It is the Law of Ψ, the law of Menga, the Devil put his horns in it.” Sometimes, however, rarely, a lucky strike of Fortune can happen when nobody expects it and when one does not deserve it. All this is due to God or to an abstract force that we call Probability? In order to understand this Leo is obliged to understand the relation that exists between God and the physical laws, between Religion and Science. The work to unify Science and Religion had already been attempted with a certain amount of success by the great Maimonides and some Arab philosophers in Spain, around the twelfth century, eight hundred years ago. But after that time things had changed. In modern times Physics and Mathematics had made giant steps forward. It was necessary to review the conclusions of Maimonides to adapt them to the modern science and see if they confirmed or denied the Great Rabbi in his fundamental tenets still held today by many people: the Existence of God, His Unity , His lack of corporeality and His creation of the Universe from nothing. Leo has the double task of analyzing the Scriptures to compare them with the principles of Physics and of Mathematics, matter in which he is quite competent. Being a geologist and a scientist he is used to delve deep and unearth the treasures embedded in nature waiting for us to discover. Myself, being a social anthropologist by training more than by profession, I have both my feet well stuck on the ground surface although often I let my imagination loose into the clouds to speculate. What binds us Leo and I together is that both of us are amateur philosophers who are addicted, like the Talmudists, to confront themselves with questions that they initiate. Therefore we see the Bible from a broader perspective than its restricted historical and literal context. From my side, I had the unfortunate task of subjecting Leo’ theories to my common sense and my little grounding in science. In this limited way I try to refute or confute them or at least I try to create an atmosphere of doubt over them. Doubt is the mother of wisdom. But why unfortunate task? Because while Leo was developing step by step his theories to demonstrate that the revelation of the Prophets seemed to have a possible valid foundation I had serious trouble with that. My interpretation of the Bible and of the religion is very different from Leo’s. However, as I progressively ventured into his intricate theoretical scheme, it was difficult for me to refute completely his thesis because he presented his arguments with prophetic passion. He believes that some spirit, in moments of intimation of divine immortality, inspire us, we mortals, to reach to the eternal truth. The result is typical of how a Talmudist tries to cover the subject from all angles often adding spice to what is already over spiced. Not only the text is commented upon, but even the comments deriving from the interpretation of the text are subjected to new round of commentary. But with particular regard to our suffering readers we often decide to stop as otherwise this process could easily continue “ad infinitum”.) When I see the intensity of his face and his passion in defending his reflections on our life and existence on this earth Leo reminds me of the prophets of the Old Testament. He inspires me to meditate on the poetic text of the Bible to discover its marvelous secrets. When it comes to poetry Leo and I share the same feelings, therefore I cannot end this brief introduction without quoting the beautiful words of Dante when in the last verse of his Paradise, he compares God to the supreme force that moves the Universe: “the love that moves the Sun and the other Stars” ( J. Meron ) Author's Note: The symbol Ψ (the Greek letter Psi) is the probability of quantum physics that appears in the equation of Schroedinger: i h d/dt Ψ (r, t) = H Ψ (r, t) Chapter 1 Bemidbar: in the Desert Like it always happened in the rare days of vacation, Leo had woken up at dawn. He could have slept and had some rest, but the adrenaline of the newly acquired freedom was keeping him awake. As he dressed up to leave the caravan in search of the wolf, he thought that maybe that day something good would happen. He went out from the caravan with his right foot first, placing it carefully on the sand of the desert as if he were entering a mosque or a sacred place. It is well known that one needs to start the holidays with the right foot. Leo therefore entered the world that day with the correct foot for what was going to happen. It was the feast of Id el Kabir. The rig had stopped drilling the night before to allow the Arabs to celebrate. The order had come from Gaddafi himself, through the heads of Veba Oil, from Tripoli. Despite being a very humble work, Leo practiced with commitment and dedication the job of well-site geologist, because to collect data from wells is the first step in the process of exploration, but fortunately that day Leo was not required to work. Regardless of his age, Leo was still working as a well-site geologist, the lowest step of the geologist’s career, which starts from the drilling site, and goes on, through progressively more important positions to Senior Geologist, then Regional Geologist, then Chief Geologist and finally Exploration Manager. At an age well past sixty years, once back from Equatorial Guinea, Leo had returned to work as a well site geologist, not due to his fault, of course, but because of his enemies. At the rig they called him "Shibani" which in Arabic means old man. The days of rest for the "expatriates" who worked in the Libyan desert were rare and therefore the joy and exaltation of being able to spend the day at his favourite hobby, searching for the wolves, woke him up early. Leaving the caravan he took from behind the door the katana, the thin, long and sharp sword that the rig mechanic, Mohammed the Egyptian, had built for him from a piece of scrap iron. So Leo came out of the caravan with the katana in his hand and briskly walked toward the East, towards the sun that was peeking behind the low hills of the Harudj al Asuad, that is the Black Harudj. This was a low plateau, just about black in colour, covered with dark layers of lava and volcanic ash of the Miocene, and segmented by narrow and steep valleys, where the he-wolf lived. At the foot of the Harudj al Asuad was the well-site of the drilling rig where Leo worked. Looking eastward against the sunlight Leo greeted the sun and blessed it and at the foot of the valley that was at the entrance to the Harudj he saw the camels of Hassan Fakri, the blond Bedouin who was his friend. God only knows from what Viking lineage descended Hassan Fakri and what circumstances had brought here in the desert his ancestors, thought Leo as he walked. The camels were lined up at the mouth of the valley where Leo was directed and were intent to graze the few leaves of the thorny acacia trees that still survived in the dry valley. Watching the camels Leo thought: “There is nothing bigger than a camel, say the Bedouins. Except Allah of course”. Those who had caused the circumstances and the chain of events that eventually had forced him to work in the desert. We know that he who works in the desert is never a winner, but rather somebody that has survived some kind of disaster. From the time when he was Exploration Manager at the head of the Norwegian North Sea for Phillips Petroleum, he became only Chief Geologist for OMV in Libya, then Senior Geologist for the Waha Oil Company still in Libya and after a short stroke of luck that had lasted only two years, in which he became General Manager for the UMC in Equatorial Guinea, too little to represent a real victory, he had returned to be a well-site geologist in Congo, for Agip.

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