[Avodah] Age of the Universe

[Micha Berger]

The following email exchange serves as a follow-up to discussions we had
when the list was far younger of R Aryeh Kaplan's article on the Age of
the Universe.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

From: Rabbi Kalman Packouz <RabbiPackouz at ShabbatShalom.org>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2019 18:32:03 +0000
Subject: How Old is the Universe? Shabbat Shalom Breishis
...
GOOD MORNING! How old is the universe? 13.8 billion years or 6,000
years? Did Creation take place in 6 twenty-four hour days or were they
longer? This week I bring to you a fascinating approach from a fascinating
man. Daniel Friedmann holds a master's degree in engineering physics and
is the Chairman of Carbon Engineering, a company dedicated to removing
co2 from the air to solve climate change and ex-CEO of the Canadian
company that made the robotic arm for the Space Shuttle. He lays out
his research in his book, The Biblical Clock.

Why did Mr. Friedmann start investigating the connection between the
Torah's story of Creation and the scientific timeline? The Talmudic
sages teach that 'God looked into the Torah and created the world"
(Midrash Rabbah on Gen. 1:2). Mr. Friedmann concluded that if the Torah
is the blueprint of the universe, then the Torah account of creation
and scientific account of the age of the Universe must coincide.

About 700 years ago Rabbi Isaac of Akko made the assertion that time --
while God was creating and man had not yet appeared -- was different
than time as we keep today. Mr. Friedmann, based on this insight and
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.

The factor of 1,000 comes directly from Psalm 90:4: "For a thousand
years in Your sight are as a day" -- where we learn that one day for
God equals 1,000 human years.

The 365.25 number is simply a conversion from days to years (being
the number of days in a year). The factor of 7,000 relates to cosmic
cycles. The Talmud, (Sanhedrin 97a), which was redacted approximately
1,500 years ago states, "The world will exist for six thousand years and
in the seven-thousandth year, it will be destroyed." Various Kabbalistic
works, dating back to the first century, write that there are 7 cosmic
cycles of 7000 thousand years (analogous to the sabbatical cycles). The
factor of 7000 relates to these cycles. (This would explain the finding
of ancient fossils of the dinosaurs).

The Torah provides a detailed timeline of the creation events. Genesis
describes the timeline for the formation of the universe and the
appearance of life on Earth. Each event is provided in sequence with a
time of occurrence. For example, we are told that the sun was completed at
the end of Day 4, that life first appeared in the oceans at the beginning
of Day 5, and that the animals were made in Day 6; careful examination of
the Genesis text reveals about 20 separate creation events. Much of the
information in Genesis is further detailed in the Oral Torah to reveal
a more accurate timeline of events.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 38b) provides the detailed account of Day 6,
hour-by-hour: "The day consisted of twelve hours. In the first hour, his
(Adam's) dust was gathered... in the fifth, he arose and stood on his
feet; in the sixth, he gave (the animals) their names; in the seventh,
Eve became his mate; in the eighth, they ascended to bed as two and
descended as four (i.e., Cain and Abel are born); in the ninth he entered
the Garden of Eden and he was commanded not to eat of the tree; in the
tenth, he sinned; in the eleventh, he was tried; and in the twelfth,
he was expelled (from Eden)..."

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.

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.

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.

The Author of the Torah is one and the same as the Creator of the
Universe. Therefore, there cannot be a contradiction between Torah and
science....

____________________________________________________________________________
From: Daniel Friedmann <friedmann.daniel at yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2019 13:25:11 -0700
Subject: Re: How Old is the Universe? Shabbat Shalom Breishis

On Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 3:38 PM Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
> Isn't this the a minor variant on what R' Aryeh Kaplan wrote in 1979 in
> "The Age of the Universe - A Torah-True Perspective"?

> http://nleresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/the_age_of_the_universe___a_torah_true_perspective.pdf

> If so, you might want to see R' Ari Kahn's obections in Explorations, which
> he excerpted on the Avodah email list at
> http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol13/v13n080.html

Hi thank you, no this is different from Rabbi Kaplan's work as detailed
in my book. RK had the cycles of 7000 occurring before day 1 this was
not in accordance with the Arizal. In the approach here the 7000 is for
each creation day based on commentary on Etz Hayim This provides an age
of the universe of 13.74 vs 15 billion and allows calculation of another
17 events All but one match scientific measurement. Sorry for the short
answer ....