Science and the Creation of the World

 Dear Rabbi,

"Fake news", "alternate facts", "don't believe the science" are quotes taken from today's headlines but could they applied to the very beginning of what we read for wisdom?

I am a person of faith and I do believe in G-d especially when it comes to creation because despite whatever scientific explanation for how we got to where we are now, some being had to create it in the first instance and except for divine intervention, there can be no other explanation for something that cannot be proven any other way. But here is where I have a problem and it is in the first chapter of the Torah which loosely interpreted says the following:

First Aliyah: This section recounts the story of creation in six days. On the first day G‑d made darkness and light. On the second day He formed the heavens, dividing the "upper waters" from the "lower waters." On the third day He set the boundaries of land and sea and called forth trees and greenery from the earth. On the fourth day He fixed the position of the sun, moon and stars. Fish, birds and reptiles were created on the fifth day; land-animals, and then the human being, Adam, on the sixth. G‑d ceased work on the seventh day, and sanctified it as a day of rest.

I know for the most part Jews are firm believers in scientific findings and although our "beginning" is calculated as 5781, to me based on what I have read, the Earth is almost 65 billion years old and "life" has been around for more than 5,781 years.

I also know from reading articles that even Jewish scholars acknowledge that Darwin's theory has validity and that a blind reading of that First Aliyah has to give many pause.

This whole concept of the Earth being created in six days and on the seventh day G-d rested gives me pause and should be something that should be debated within the Jewish religion. Those that blindly believe in the six day turnaround really don't understand Jews and how they act. Getting ten Jews to agree on anything is an accomplishment. To do so within a six day period would almost seem impossible. Many synagogues have been formed because ten people with a "better solution" to our religious problems break away from an established institution to form a new one. Has Israel formed a new government yet? 

In previous emails, you have indicated to me that the Jewish concept of a "day" or time in general is something that you have trouble with. What is your opinion of this "six day" accomplishment?

Shalom, 

Mordecai

Dear Mordecai,

This is exactly what’s been on my mind the last two weeks. It’s interesting that you juxtapose science and wisdom. Indeed, that is one of the Torah’s primary purposes: to be a source of wisdom. The alternative to Creation is that the universe is eternal and has always existed. That doesn’t seem reasonable to me, though Aristotle thought it. The latest scientific explanations like the Big Bang just reinforce the overall message of Genesis – that something arose out of nothing. You offer a useful and succinct summary of the Creation narrative day-by-day. This is indisputable. The mistake that some Jews have made is in mistaking the Torah for a scientific text. It is not. Needless to say, the scientific method did not exist at the time of the Torah’s composition. The need to make the Torah the source of all knowledge leads the charedim down the path of affirming impossible ideas like the age of the universe being 5781 years old. Darwin’s Theory was one of the most challenging ideas to the Bible’s veracity. Ultimately, liberal – Reform and Conservative rabbis – were able to come to terms with the theory, but the grandeur of man seemed to be compromised by demonstrating that he shared origins with apes. The way that I read the six day Creation narrative is to view it as a treatise on Shabbat. Shabbat is perhaps the most important idea in the entire Bible. Beginning this sacred work with the schedule of a six day week and a seventh day of rest is a way of highlighting Shabbat’s importance. The issue with a “day” is that our days begin in the evening. Our sense of time does not function on a midnight to midnight schedule. The purpose of our framing of time is to organize around night and day. I have heard some argue that each day really represents a period of hundreds of thousands of years even millions. The reading of a day is therefore completely figurative. I don’t find this satisfying. In sum:

1. The Creation account is a treatise on Shabbat
2. The Torah does not purport to be a work of science.
3. Science is a powerful way to understand the truth, but not the only way, so we may discover other truths – not factual truths – in the account of Creation in our Torah 

Shalom,

Rabbi

Dear Rabbi

I like your interpretation leaning toward an explanation of the Shabbat. My main concern with the "six day period" is that many take this literally and "G-d fearing people", who cling to the concept that the Torah was "written in stone" without rational thinking make me nervous. It is interesting that you interject the word "wisdom" into what I said, which I gladly accept as a compliment, but to those that do not want to "think" about what is said and then give it some kind of "black and white" explanation, I believe they are the cause of many of the problems we have in this world today. 

Shalom,

Mordecai

Dear Mordecai,

They should make you nervous. We’re seeing the ramifications of a thoroughly literal understanding of the Torah on display in certain zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens. The question is why do the charedim freely choose irrationality? Is this the outcome of the traumas of Jewish history? The unwillingness of the human being to exercise his rational faculty – thinking – is a great danger. As people who live in a thinking world, we might understand how disorienting thinking can be, which makes “black and white” attractive. By denying themselves the development of this special human tool, they harm there own lives, and since we are interconnected, our own lives are compromised too.

Wisdom is severely underrated today. The real goal is knowledge, and wisdom is looked upon as a quaint holdover from earlier times. 

Shalom

Rabbi

Dear Rabbi,

Let me leave you with this. If you look at another part of this week's parshah, you will see G-d telling Adam not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. The innocence of not having "wisdom" was shattered and G-d took away the "ideal" setting known as Eden and replaced it with what we have today. The Amish are notorious for attempting to limit the amount of education their people should have and the Hasidim are a close second. Before you condemn this way of life, it is my understanding that looking out for each other, arranging marriages and similar directives to limit what you have to think about, has led to lower blood pressures and and longer life span. Not having to think has some advantages.  

Shalom,

Mordecai

Dear Mordecai,

In general, I am in favor of simplicity and believe that prayer and study should strengthen our ability to simplify our lives, which is another way of saying focusing and focusing on what’s important. Eve’s decision to eat the fruit was one of the best decisions that anyone has ever made.

Your point about longer life spans and lower blood pressure is well-taken. That said, what we have is a free-rider effect wherein society at large innovates so that the quality and quantity of life increases yet those who don’t contribute still benefit. 

Shalom,

Rabbi