[Avodah] How old is the world?

[Zev Sero]

On 24/09/2013 12:40 PM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> From http://tinyurl.com/l6t88mq
>
> *Mr. Friedmann,* based on classical sources, aligns the dates of key
> events as described in Genesis 1 and 2 with those derived from
> scientific theory and observation. How? One Creation Day = 1,000 x
> 365.25 x 7,000 = 2.56 billion years.
>
> <Snip>
>
> *Mr. Friedmann* then calculates that the Age of the universe from the
> start of Day 1 to today: exactly 13.74 billion years, coinciding with
> the latest scientific measurements.


 From the article:
> Beginnings of life: from first thing on Day 5 ("let the waters teem,"
> Gen. 1:20) to today corresponds to 3.52 billion years which is in
> agreement with the scientific time for "universal ancestor" -- the
> single cell.

Except that the fifth day featured not just unicellular creatures but
all water and air species, including vertebrate fish, sea mammals, and
birds.


> Plant life (on the land): from hours 6 to 9 on Day 6 until today
> ("God planted a garden ... and there He placed the man... And God
> caused to sprout from the ground every tree" Gen. 2:8,9) corresponds
> to 426-106 million years ago which he reports is in agreement with
> the fossil record.

Except that all plant species -- including such complex ones as fruit
trees -- were created on the third day, even if (according to Rashi)
they didn't sprout until it rained for the first time on the sixth day.
(And what does he do with *that*?  No rain for billions of years?!)
Without this addition of Rashi, his case gets even worse, because the
pashtus haksuvim is that all the plants emerged and grew on the third
day itself, not on the sixth.


-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
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