"Swords into plowshares," - Transitioning to a world of peace

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation

neither shall they learn war any more.

                                                                             - Isaiah 2: 2-4

"Since these days the heads of state of the nations of the world are
making decisions and announcements regarding the reduction and 
elimination of weapons and the increase in things required for the
maintenance of (their) economies...this is a clear sign of the beginning
of the fulfillment of this prophecy as part of the true and complete
redemption through Moshiach."

                 The Lubavitcher Rebbe, 1991

"The 1990s was a period of remarkable progress in peaceful transition in the world,...Spending on the military plummeted almost 40% worldwide." 
                From Defense to Development, Ann Markusen


“ (We) support and promote the processes by which people, skills, technology, equipment, financial and economic resources are shifted from the military or defense sector towards alternative civilian purposes.”
Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), established in 1994

“The peaceful use of military technology represents the trend of history.”  
         China Academy of Engineering Physics  


                                                       

A new book, Scientific Thought in Messianic Times, documents the transformation of weapons of war into instruments of peace taking place in our time. Here is an overview of Professor Silman's book in a review by Rabbi Dovi Reichman.



Finally, religion is on the offensive. Science not only does not debunk religion, quite on the contrary, it helps us understand and prepare for the coming of Moshiach, as Professor Shimon Silman, Professor of Mathematics at Touro College and Founder/Director of the RYAL Institute, asserts in his new book Scientific Thought in Messianic Times. 

Kabbala calls it “Unification.” Science calls it “The Theory of Everything.” But regardless of the disparate nomenclature, the two terms represent the epicentre of both Kabbalistic and (current) scientific thought. Science is finally coming around to support the mainstay of Kabbalistic and Chassidic thought.  

Myriads of books and articles have been published attempting to explain – to various degrees of success – why science does not conflict, contradict, or disprove religion. Science used to be, and is still considered by many, a foe of religion and everything Divine. Religion has seemingly been on the defensive since time immemorial; even the Rambam, living in the 12th century, had to respond to challenges made by advocates of the scientific disciplines.  

Professor Silman, turning the tables on religion bashers, shows how science is currently coming of age and is rapidly trending in the direction of actually proving the central theme of Kabbala and Jewish Mysticism—the absolute unity of G-d. Not that Kabbala needs support or approbation from science, quite to the contrary. But showing how science supports the central notion of kabbala, and furthermore, prepares us for the raison d’etre of our existence—the coming of Moshiach—is, for the understatement of this millennium, revolutionary.  



                                             *       *       *

 
Bifurcated into different chapters, Silman first demonstrates how science, across a wide range of disciplines, is moving towards transforming military technology initially developed for battle and bloodshed into tools of peace, health, and prosperity, thus actualizing Isaiah’s prophecy of “turning swords into ploughshares.”  

But even more avant-garde, the author then shows how the current scientific vogue, with “string theory” and “the theory of everything” being the all the rage, actually prepares us for the Messianic era! In the Messianic era we will see the unity of G-d, and these theories give us a mindset of unity of the entire universe! The book concludes with an impressive and inspiring view of the nature of science in the era of Moshiach.