Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the kashrus idea that certain prohibited items, even ritual impurities, though nullified in a majority and permitted, if a new influx of the same material gets added, the balance changes. Not only that, but the old substance that was nullified can be reawakened and add to the prohibited amount.

This is one of the physical and halachic ideas that hold true morally as well. A silent opposition group may choose to be quiet, but then be emboldened to join if a later group coalesces and starts to protest.

With knowledge too we have this idea. The Gemara (Niddah 30b) states: “And a fetus is taught the entire Torah while in the womb… And once the fetus emerges into the airspace of the world, an angel comes and slaps it on its mouth.”

What is the purpose of learning the entire Torah if we are going to forget it at birth? There must be a belief that it will be easier to learn the second time, or even that it is still somewhere within and just has to be reminded and brought out. In essence a reawakening of a substance that was dormant and in the minority. This is not only a Jewish tradition but an ancient tradition that Plato had regarding Universals.

Plato’s universals (the Forms) are perfect, eternal, unchanging realities that exist apart from the physical world. For example, there is the idea of a triangle. That idea is a perfect triangle, while in the real world there are things that look like triangles, but their angles are not perfect. The physical entity can only exist if the universal spiritual idea exists on its plane. This can be true for any intellectual concept. There is the idea of a circle, the idea of intellect, the idea of colors. This idea is what a person’s soul knows on some unconscious level, and in essence. According to Plato and others, one is not learning, but relearning. This is known as the doctrine of anamnesis. In Meno (81), Socrates demonstrates with a slave boy how he was able to understand a complex mathematical concept as if he already knew it, and it was as if he was just being reminded of it.

There is a Jewish tradition that the Third Temple exists up in heaven in a complete form, and in Messianic times will migrate downward and become a structure in this world (see Rashi, Succah 41a, s.v. iy nami). This idea is close in concept to the Platonic universals, and perhaps the ancient Greeks got the idea from us.

At first, you might scoff at this so-called ancient belief. As we have noted many times in this blog, the ancients were smarter than people give them credit for. For example, can you imagine a new color that is not built on blending other colors? Can you imagine a new kind of taste that is not a blend of prior flavors? No, you cannot. You can only take existing ideas and blend them or combine them in new ways. This shows in some way that we are limited to a framework that could be considered Universals.

There is something comforting and humbling to ponder that we do not actually learn something new, but we rediscover something that we know inside as true. This is different from modern thinking, where everything is about achievement and personal attainment, with no reflection that what we know, and even what we are, is due to partnership and connection with God. As a matter of faith, religious Jews believe in the world to come, but this is not only about some future world, but a reality that exists right now — not as a far-off place, but as a source of inspiration and recollection of wisdom.