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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=storySummaryna><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">R' Yakov Homnick, a
writer, a scholar, my neighbor and relative-by-marriage, has written an
outstanding article--"First Things First"--about science and Torah. It
appeared in last week's Jewish Press. Some of his themes will be at
least somewhat familiar to regular Avodah denizens, but this article is
well worth reading in full. </DIV>
<DIV>
<P align=justify><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have compressed his article,
dispensing with ellipses for ease of reading. </FONT></P>
<P align=justify> </P>
<P align=justify><FONT face=Arial size=2>==begin quote==</FONT></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">First we need to establish
perspective by seeing how the Oral Law processed the Bible’s presentation. One
Mishna encapsulates the entire subject. It begins the 5<SUP>th</SUP> chapter of
<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Avot</SPAN>:
"The world was created by ten Divine statements. Why was this necessary?
Couldn’t everything have been created in one statement? It must be to punish the
wicked who destroy a ten-part world and reward the righteous who maintain a
ten-part world."
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P></P></SPAN>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">In other words, the
surprising part of the Bible’s Creation story is that it has phases. In purely
religious terms, we would presume that the world was created at once, since an
omnipotent Creator has no need for steps. Had Creation not been mentioned in
Genesis, the natural assumption would be that it was done simultaneously. The
purpose of the Bible story </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">is to introduce a staged
process. This somehow raises the stakes on the table of existence, making the
righteous maintenance of the enterprise a more profound achievement.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">We
can extrapolate from this Mishna to the arena of time as well. The intuitive
sense would lead us to think that all of Creation would be accomplished at once.
Instead there is a span of development described as seven distinct days, with
new components added each day until the full architectural vision is realized at
the very end of this schedule.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Again, in the intellectual
sense this version of events can be fairly termed more scientific than
religious. The faith system not only did not "need" this information, it is to a
significant degree undermined by it. Why impose artificial limits on the
Almighty and say He used stages and time periods? It is just a weird and
uncomfortable idea to posit an omnipotent Creator who chose to limit the pace of
His creating.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Even more mystifying is
the insistence in the biblical text that a point existed at which no observer
could glean an inkling of where all this was heading. By the eleventh word of
Genesis, we have already been plunged into a dark world of chaotic images that
defy any decoding.
<P></P>
<P align=justify>"A man seeing this vista would be utterly confused by the
havoc," Rashi (1035-1105) explains. (The Midrash says it would have been heresy
to say this had it not been written.) What possible purpose would there be in
forcing existence to pass through an amorphous state?</P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The
point here is that the Torah is spending all its initial effort on teaching you
science rather than religion. The first sentence would have been quite enough.
"In the beginning the Lord created the heavens and the earth."
<P></P>Instead, the Jew is being forced to train his mind to relinquish
simplistic constructs of how divinity meets humanity. </SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">To review, the concept of
creation taking time was introduced by the Bible, only later – much, much later
– to be echoed by scientists. The idea of creation having distinct "ages" along
the track to completion was taught here first as well.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The next shock comes when
the Bible teaches that all living creatures were somehow fashioned out of the
preexisting stuff of inorganic matter.
<P></P></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Creatures of the sea are
said (Genesis 1:20) to be spawned from the water. Animals emerge from the
instruction (1:24) "Let the earth bring forth…" Then man was fashioned from
"dust of the earth" (2:7).
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Once again the basic
religious impulse is stood on its head. Every time we are told that God made a
new creature, the biblical text hastens to clarify that He used available matter
as his clay. No new material is added to make the fish, the birds, the animals
or even man. The introduction of life is somehow accomplished without the
addition of a single new element. All the ingredients were built into the earth
in its initial structure (as Rashi repeatedly reminds us in his commentary).
<P></P>
<P align=justify>There is no question that without these verses it would be
sacrilege to suggest such a scenario. How dare we suggest that God did not
deliver these creatures fully formed out of nothingness?</P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify>As startling as this approach must have been to the assumed
orthodoxies in other religions and secular systems, nothing can compare in
bombshell status to the biblically hinted, and Talmudically expounded, notion of
prehistoric man. </P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The
Talmud in <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Shabbos</SPAN>
(88b) indicates there were 974 generations of prehistoric man. In <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Chagiga</SPAN>
(13b) the Talmud sounds more like those generations were never actualized. The
<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Midrash
Rabba</SPAN> (Genesis 28) says they were wiped out.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">While it remains somewhat
unclear exactly what these 974 generations represent, this seems to be a matter
of prime importance that is stressed in two verses (Psalms 105:8, Chronicles I
16:15). These verses point out that the Torah was given to the thousandth
generation, which is explained by the Midrash to mean the 974 prehistoric
generations plus the 26 from Adam until Moses.
<P></P></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P></P>
<P align=justify>If geology and archaeology have indeed yielded specimens that
are indisputably prehistoric men (I am not expert enough to be certain of this),
they are substantiating one of the most mysterious parts of the Jewish
intellectual tradition. (The late David Brown makes this point in a work that
received the imprimatur of Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">,
zt"l</SPAN>, considered one of the supreme scholars of the last generation.[The
book is called *Mysteries of Creation* -- TK])</P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Even many Jews are not
aware that the dating system existed before the seven days of Creation. The
tradition (<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Midrash
Pesikta</SPAN>) is that the first day of Creation was the twenty-fifth day of
the sixth month, so that man emerged on the first day of the seventh month:
hence Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of mankind’s birth.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Another point relating to
time is in the area of compression. Sometimes time seems to accommodate much
more than we would expect, as in the Talmudic tradition (<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Sanhedrin</SPAN>
38b) that Adam was created on the sixth day, Eve two hours later, and their two
children were born an hour after that. On the other hand, we find early man
living eight or nine hundred years. However these things are explained, the
overriding message comes through: do not expect to compute the early time frames
for events with great retrospective accuracy.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify>All this being said, there is one other Mishna which holds
another very important key. That is in <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Chagiga</SPAN>
(11b), where it states that the story of Creation should only be taught to one
student at a time, not in the classroom. Creation is a matter that must be
conveyed with great accuracy and subtlety.</P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The
Talmud and Midrash explain that this is an area in which God hides more than He
reveals.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Furthermore, we encounter
a phenomenon in the Creation story that is inconceivable in other biblical
tales. There are entire sections of the presentation that are understood to be
conceptual rather than actual.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">The
Talmud in <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Brachot</SPAN>
(61a), <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Eruvin</SPAN>
(18a) and <SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-STYLE: italic; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Ketubot</SPAN>
(8a) says the verse (Genesis 5:2) "He created them male and female" refers to a
"prior concept" of Creation rather than to what happened in the end, where man
appeared without immediately having a companion. Rashi (ibid 1:1) seems to go
much further, understanding a Midrash to say that the entire first chapter of
Genesis is communicating a conceptual model.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Once again, this type of
interpretation is never applied to any other part of the Torah. It is clear that
Creation is being transmitted in a unique system, where the principle – not the
medium – is the message.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">In
summation, the Bible does not claim to be presenting a complete version of
Creation. What we can derive from the first chapters of Genesis is a broad
outline with a few critical high points. Those keystones tend to be supported by
the clearer conclusions of science.
<P></P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN>
<P align=justify><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">Long before modern
science, we Jews said it took time to create the world. Long before modern
science, we said it was created in stages. Long before modern science, we said
living things were developed from preexisting matter.
<P></P>
<P align=justify>Long before modern science, we said there was something encoded
into the evolving planet to drive it toward perfection. Long before modern
science, we said the most sophisticated creatures came last, with man as the
climax. </P>
<P align=justify>The indications that these claims are accurate serve as a
dazzling testimony that our revelation, counterintuitive though it was, was
indeed the truth.</P></SPAN>
<P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: Times New Roman">
<P align=justify></P></SPAN></SPAN>
<P>==end quote==</SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><FONT color=#000000>For the entire article, please see </FONT><A
href="http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfmmode=a&sectionid=61&contentid=29737&contentName=First%20Things%20First"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.jewishpress.com/displayContent_new.cfmmode=a&sectionid=61&contentid=29737&contentName=First%20Things%20First</FONT></A><BR><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. <A title="http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565" href="http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565" target="_blank">AOL Music takes you there.</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>