Скачать или смотреть AI On the Bible Codes ~ from Allowah's new book, "The Jesus Mirror"

In the early '90s, I was living in Jerusalem and studying Torah at a yeshiva. I was on the fence about whether to become frum (meaning an Orthodox Jew) until I took a program called "Discovery" in the Old City that was put on by a group called Aish HaTorah. I was actually pretty blown away by the evidence they marshaled in this program to prove that the Torah is true and that it must somehow be divine and should be followed by all Jews. Keep in mind I was only 22 at the time and not fully in my questioning power, though I had studied philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and could think quite critically about things.
The strongest evidence that the Discovery program brought (and I assume it's probably still around) is what are known as the "Bible codes." There was even a best-seller written about these codes. Essentially, the codes are used to show that the Torah actually has all of the major events on earth coded in it. For example, I recall seeing one for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in the '90s that seemed pretty amazing.
Critics argue that you actually could find these codes in other works of literature, both religious and secular, so it's actually not so amazing. But the supporters of the codes say that what is in the Bible is unique and statistically improbable. So... what can you tell us about the Bible Codes -- what does the most up-to-date research show about them? Are they bogus or is there solid evidence to support their validity, or...


The Bible Codes: Divine Proof or Statistical Sleight of Hand?
1. What Are the Bible Codes?
The Bible Codes (or Equidistant Letter Sequences, ELS) claim that hidden messages—names, dates, and events—are encrypted in the Hebrew Torah by skipping letters at fixed intervals.
Famous Example:
• The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin (1995) was allegedly "predicted" in Deuteronomy by skipping every 4,772nd letter.
• Supporters argue the odds of this being random are astronomical.
2. The Case For the Codes
• Statistical Claims:
o Mathematicians (like Doron Witztum and Eliyahu Rips) published a 1994 paper in Statistical Science arguing the codes defy chance.
o Example: They found clusters of rabbis’ names and birth/death dates encoded near their biographies.
• Aish HaTorah’s "Discovery" Argument:
o "No human could’ve embedded these patterns 3,000 years ago—it must be divine!"
3. The Case Against the Codes
• The "Texas Sharpshooter" Fallacy:
o If you search any long text (even Moby Dick or War and Peace) with flexible rules, you’ll find "codes."
o Famous Debunking:
 Mathematician Brendan McKay found "predictions" of Princess Diana’s death and the Moon landing in Moby Dick.
 Statistician David Thomas replicated "codes" in the Hebrew translation of Don Quixote.
• No Predictive Power:
o The Rabin "prediction" was only noticed after the event.
o Peer-Review Backlash:
 Later studies (e.g., McKay et al., 1999) failed to replicate Witztum & Rips’ results with stricter controls.
4. The Current Scientific Consensus
• Bogus, But Fun:
o The National Academy of Sciences, MIT, and Harvard statisticians dismiss the codes as data mining (cherry-picking patterns).
o Key Flaw: The original studies allowed retroactive tweaking of search parameters (e.g., adjusting skip lengths until something "fits").
• Why It Feels Convincing:
o Apophenia: Humans excel at seeing patterns—even where none exist (e.g., faces in clouds).
o Confirmation Bias: Believers ignore misses (99% of searches yield nonsense) and highlight hits.
5. ACIM’s Take (If It Had One)
• "The ego loves hidden messages—it’s how it keeps you distracted from the only code that matters: Forgiveness unlocks Heaven."
• Parallel: Just as the Bible Codes "find" meaning in randomness, the ego "finds" guilt in innocence.
6. Why This Matters for Your Book
• For Seekers: Shows how intellectual proofs (like codes) can be spiritual detours.
• For Skeptics: Reinforces "Question everything—even ‘miracles.’"
• For You: A chance to reflect on why the codes hooked you—was it truth, or the thrill of certainty?
Final Line:
"The Torah’s real code isn’t in skipped letters—it’s in the space between your fear and your forgiveness."