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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>RGS: <FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>4. The 4th
of the aseres hadibros says to remember Shabbos and sanctify<BR>it.. for in 6
days Hashem made the heavens and the earth and He rested<BR>on the seventh. -
Rav Keller writes about this "Can we seriously consider<BR>this an allegory for
a period of billions of years? Is this the lesson the<BR>Torah is teaching us-
the greatness of God that He took 6 long undefined<BR>periods of time to crate
the world?</FONT><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My husband z"l used to take precisely the opposite
position. He argued that BECAUSE the seven days can be understood as an
allegory, we do not need to take them literally.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In other words: we do not need to posit
that the Torah specifies six days in order to tell us that the
world was literally created in six days. We are permitted to accept the
overwhelming scientific evidence against a young universe. We can understand the
Torah as describing the creation of the world in six distinct stages
(length not defined), followed by a seventh stage of rest. The
Torah calls these stages "days" not because each one lasted 24
hours, but to convey the message that the pattern of creation is
eternally reflected in the sanctification of the seventh literal day of every
week.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As always, Moshe's clear insights lose a lot in
their transmission through me - I wish he were here to write this, but I will
just have to do the best I can and hope that any inaccuracies will be
forgiven.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>(Ironically, RGS's post was originally
submitted the day before Moshe died, but I doubt he would have had the strength
to respond in any case.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gmar chatima tova,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ilana</FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>