Spensorium

137, an exemplary number of Kabbalistic significance – tying physics, math,  science and mysticism.

In mysticism, the Hebrew word קבלה (Kabbalah) has a numerical value of 137.

There’s a rare, non dimensional, atomic constant in physics known as the “Fine Structure Constant”. 
It’s reciprocal number which is equivalent to 1/137, is related to the probability of electrons and charged particles absorbing or emitting photons, and is the ratio of the strength of electromagnetic force compared to the strong nuclear.

The number is needed in order to gage how specific wavelengths of light interact in precise ways with atomic forces/ how electromagnetic forces hold atoms together.

This number is one of the constants determining the size of the atoms, and therefore, the form and structure of the visible universe.

This number appears explicitly for the first time in the Bible in the Torah portion of Chayei Sarah: Ishmael lived 137 years.

Levi  and the father of Moses, Amram, also lived 137 years. Akeidat Yitzchak/Binding of Isaac took place when Abraham was 137 years of age.

The root of the word “KaBaLah” – K-B-L appears for the first time in Exodus: 26:5 and 36:12.

“Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite one to another. (Ex. 25:5)

Fifty loops made he in the one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain that was in the second set; the loops were opposite one to another. (Ex. 36:12)”

The word “opposite” – “maKBiLot” has a root K-B-L.

These verses speak of a curtain separating Kodesh Hakadoshim, the Holy of Holies – from the Kodesh, the area called “Holy” immediately adjacent to it. It is viewed symbolically as the curtain separating spiritual and material worlds.

The number 137 is, therefore, seen as appearing on the cusp of the physical and the spiritual.

“It describes the “corresponding loops” which clasped together enjoin the two sections of the Tabernacle’s ceiling. These loops divided the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies — the physical dimension and the spiritual dimension — and at the boundary line of the physical world, the number 137 emerges.”

– Moses’ Tabernacle, the earthly dwelling place of God, was 13.7 meters long

Just as the fine-structure constant relates to the absorption of a photon by an electron, the  symbolism of the number 137 in Kabbalah is the “receiving (kabbalah) of the Infinite Light – Ohr Ein Sof (1) – into ten vessels-sephirot comprised of the three (3) sephirot of sechel (intellect, ChaBaD: Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at) and seven (7) lower sephirot-midot = 137 (1 + 23 + 27 = 137).”

Physicist Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung were both enamored with the power of certain numbers, including 137.

They were fascinated by the atom’s fine-structure constant and its Kabbalistic significance. They formed a friendship and began a study that led them through alchemy, kabbalah, dream interpretation, and the Chinese Book of Changes.

They were two people who believed 137 was at the intersection of modern science with the occult.

One of the important physicists of the 20th century, Richard Feynman, wrote about the number 137:

“It has been a mystery ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago, and all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry about it. It’s one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding by man. You might say the ‘hand of God’ wrote that number, and ‘we don’t know how He pushed his pencil.”



“The mystery about α is actually a double mystery. The first mystery – the origin of its numerical value α ≈ 1/137 has been recognized and discussed for decades. The second mystery – the range of its domain – is generally unrecognized.” — Malcolm H. Mac Gregor, M.H. MacGregor (2007). The Power of Alpha. World Scientific. p. 69.