Understanding Why to Ask: How Science Reveals Hashem in the Details

Creation cannot exist without a Creator. Without divine guidance, the universe would return to chaos. These are the well-known proofs of Hashem's existence. However, how many of us pay attention to the smaller details? The phrase "Hashem is in the details" is often mentioned, suggesting that those who choose to observe the small details in life will see the constant presence of Hashem no less than in the grand things. This is the power of observation.

Let's take a simple example from our reality and examine it in depth. Do you know what fire is (the combustion process)? Seemingly, this is a simple observed phenomenon we're accustomed to, as we cook with it daily. But how does fire work? Why does it exist?

Well, all materials are made of atoms, which are very tiny particles. These atoms are attracted to each other in varying degrees. Oxygen atoms in the air are attracted to carbon atoms, so when they are brought close together, they bond tightly like a magnet and become carbon dioxide. However, unless these atoms are close enough, they repel each other and separate.

Why does wood catch fire? Wood is mainly composed of carbon atoms and is surrounded by air containing oxygen molecules. But the oxygen doesn't strike the wood hard enough; it only brushes against it and moves away, so the atoms don't bond.

Heat is actually the rapid movement of atoms. By heating, we cause the oxygen atoms to move faster until they finally touch the wood's carbon atoms, immediately sticking to them. This attachment causes further atom pushes, creating a chain reaction of more and more atoms being pushed forcefully until they bond together. This movement releases heat, which is the observable phenomenon we refer to as "fire."

But how did a material like wood originally form, separated from the oxygen around it? Well, a seed is programmed to gather carbon atoms from the air and expel oxygen atoms. But how does the seed accomplish such a remarkable task? How does it sever the strong bond between carbon and oxygen combined so strongly in the air? For this, the seed uses sunlight. Sunlight comes down to earth and "throws" the oxygen atoms off the carbon. Therefore, sunlight is required for a seed to develop and grow into a tree. Sunlight allows the chemical breakdown that expels the oxygen atoms back into the air. This amazing phenomenon is why the air is full of oxygen, enabling us to breathe! Meanwhile, the tree is left with just carbon and water. The seed is programmed to collect water from the ground, forming the tree made of carbon with water and various minerals. Despite this separation, the wood's carbon atoms still "want" to cling to the oxygen atoms in the air, so when heat is created, through fire, everything breaks down and returns to its initial state. The carbon and oxygen reattach as they originally were and turn into carbon dioxide in the air.

This impressive explanation is offered by various scientists including Prof. Richard Feynman, a renowned Jewish physicist. The explanation is simple yet impressive in its elegance as it examines a simple and familiar phenomenon in our reality. These are seemingly "small details," but what divine planning can be found here through scientific observation of those small details...

As known, science continuously deals with the question of "how," explaining how things work, but not dealing with the question of why—why things exist, why they function as they do, who set the laws, and who controls them? These are questions leading to the meaning of life. We can view science as a body—it only deals with the external aspects of the material world, whereas the Torah teaches about the world's inner essence, its soul.

Now, let's consider the small details of the fire phenomenon. Let us ask the questions revealing the Divine in them:

1. The first question is, why do certain atoms bond or repel at different degrees? The very fact that matching puzzle pieces exist in our reality leads to the simple conclusion that there is a creator for the matching puzzle pieces.

2. Why would there be air where carbon and oxygen are combined into carbon dioxide? (After all, there could be a reality where oxygen and carbon atoms never bond or never separate. But in a reality where they weren't combined, there would be no air with carbon dioxide).

3. What then is the force currently present that compels every second the oxygen and carbon atoms to behave exactly as they do? (Giving a complicated Latin name for an observed phenomenon is not a scientific explanation for the phenomenon itself).

4. Why does sunlight separate the atoms of carbon and oxygen? (In other words, there could have been a reality where sunlight does not create separation between these atoms, if it were composed differently. Again, we question why the light is structured in this way? The conclusion, of course, leads to the legislator).

5. We ask why there is a natural law, whereby the vibration of atoms compels other atoms to vibrate likewise? Without this chain reaction phenomenon, there would be no fire.

6. How does the seed "know" to gather the carbon in the air and expel the oxygen? How does the seed "know" to draw water from the ground, and which minerals to obtain from the ground? The answer lies, of course, in the DNA, which contains an amazing series of coordinated millions of codes. Who is the programmer? And again, we arrive at the legislator. The one and only Creator.

"How manifold are Your works, Hashem, in wisdom You have made them all, the earth is full of Your creations" (Psalms 104:24)

Deep contemplation of the small details reveals how Hashem planned nature and operates it precisely. Scientific knowledge attests to the existence of Hashem even in the smallest details of our reality.

There are people in the world who do not contemplate, and even if we ask them, they will simply answer, "That's nature." But anyone with their eyes open cannot be satisfied with this answer and will recognize the fact: there is a Creator for creation. Nature does not operate "just so," for nature is not obliged to function in a specific way or even persist in its operations. The only conclusion is that there is an intelligent designer who created and operates nature at every given moment.

An ancient Midrash describes that during the plague of frogs in Egypt, there was no way to get rid of the frogs, because every time they hit a frog, it split into two, and so on. The magicians tried to prove to Pharaoh that the plague was a natural phenomenon that occurred in the land of Egypt by chance, and not a divine miracle intended to punish them. How did they try to prove this? They placed a frog before Pharaoh and announced that it would now split into two, they struck it, and indeed it split into two. Now they said it would split into four, struck it, and it split into four. The magicians seemingly predicted the "lawfulness" of the plague of frogs, and claimed from this that it was not a miracle. They failed to understand that nature and the miracle are one, that the lawfulness itself teaches about the legislator.

"We have not found Him nor known Him, but through His deeds, we recognize Him—that He alone is the One Creator, living and omnipotent, uniquely wise."

"Because He was before all, therefore He is called the God of Eternity—creating everything from nothing, we know that He is all-powerful."

"For His works are all with wisdom, we know them by their understanding—in renewing them every day, we know that He is the eternal God."

"Since He was before all, we know that He is alive and eternal."

(Shir HaYichud for Friday, 12th century)