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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/7/2017 6:05 PM, MIcha Berger
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:mailman.1.1510095919.11122.avodah-aishdas.org@lists.aishdas.org">
<pre wrap="">... that the universe was created at some point in the nearer
past, eg 5778 years ago -- or Last Thursday -- and everything before that is
fake. ...is the position of ... R' Avigdor Miller.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre>He certainly is not of the opinion of last-Thursday-ism. (I suspect RMB did not really mean that.) His opinion is based on the mesora.
Re: ''and everything before that is fake. ...is the position of ... R' Avigdor Miller''
To clarify, R' Avigdor Miller's position is not that fossils, for example,
were planted merely as a test of our emunah.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">Why should the [dinosaurs] need explanation
any more than the</blockquote>
dodo, the passenger pigeon, or any of the other species which <br>
<blockquote type="cite">have become extinct, some even in our time?
The huge <br>
animals of ancient times, as well as many small animals, <br>
became extinct each in the due time decreed by the timetable <br>
of Heaven. ... Their existence is a fact which does <br>
not help th theory of Evolution in any manner. <br>
</blockquote>
<pre>(Rejoice O Youth, pp. 47-48)
However, that Adam was created as a 30-year-old (as Chazal say), with, for example, a full mouth of teeth? Yes. Because:
<blockquote type="cite"><blockquote><pre>''Creation means that the Universe began at once in full-blown development.
The First Man immediately had trees whose fruit he could eat.
But fruit trees must beforehand be pollinated by bees, and bees need beehives with all their
paraphernalia. So you understand that Creation implies that
everything came into existence without benefit of time."
"Trees have in their trunks a number of concentric rings,
each ring denoting a year of existence. If the First Man had
sawed off a tree, would he have found rings inside?"
"Since he had trees, they were what we know a tree
to be."
...thousand-year redwood trees...?"
"Creation included everything. Just as the First Man
had mature fruit trees at the first moment, so also the world
possessed mature lumber trees which were created at the
same time."
"[So]... all animals and insects and bacteria were created,
including those which need rotting old logs and crumbling old
rocks for their habitat or sustenance. Thus, it is selfÂ
explanatory that the world possessed 'aged' materials from the
very outset, including vegetation and animal carcasses with low
carbon-14 content and rocks with heavy lead content.''</pre></blockquote>(Ibid. pp 45-46)
</blockquote>
Zvi Lampel
PS--Again, this is to clarify Rav Miller's position, and hopefully will not evolve (;)) into a discussion of it. Been there, done that, and no time.
</pre>
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