This past Tuesday, math nerds around the world celebrated Pi Day: March 14th -- or, as it’s written out numerically, 3 [dot] 14, the first three digits of the number Pi. Pi, of course, is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, a decimal that has no end. In honor of this mathematical marvel, geeks around the world celebrated on Tuesday by baking actual pies (the dessert, not the number), eating other round foods, or, in the case of our own Cantor Kleinman, showing her love for the number by reciting its first 100 digits from memory. (No joke.)
We marvel at the number Pi because, somehow, it reminds us of ourselves. Just when you think you’ve understood what Pi is, it reveals yet another digit of itself. Like us -- and perhaps even like God -- Pi is an endless mystery, whose essence we can begin to know, but whose depth is infinitely too great to fathom.
Our prayer Ma’ariv Aravim praises God as a goleil, a creator of circles. On this week of Pi Day, we celebrate the circle, and wonder at the endless mystery they represent.
We say: Baruch Atah Adonai Ha-Ma’ariv Aravim.
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