Age-Old Question
How can the Torah say that the world is only 5000 years old when scientists say that the earth was created millions of years ago and that life came about through evolution, not in six days?
Rabbi Kook
“Our Sages teach that there were many earlier epochs preceding the world as we know it, as the Midrash says, ‘He was building worlds and destroying them.’
“Excavations may teach us that there were living creatures, including human forms in prehistoric periods, but there is no proof that there was not in the interim a planetary cataclysm, and a new creation.
“There is no conflict at all between the Torah and Science. We do not have to accept scientific theories as fact, no matter how popular they are, for they are like flowers that fade away. Within a short time, scientific technology will be advanced, and all of today’s theories will be rejected and scorned, but the Word of Hashem will endure forever (Igrot, Letter 9).
“Even if it were proven true that the order of Creation came about through evolution, this would not contradict our calculation of time. The Torah speaks in allegories and parables regarding the Creation. What is most important about the act of Creation is what we learn about God and the true moral life. (Letter 6).
“In another letter, Rabbi Kook explains: ‘The Torah obscures the actual act of Creation and speaks in allegories and parables. Everyone knows that the stories of Bereshit are part of the secrets of Kabbalah and not to be taken literally,’ (Igrot, Letter 91). Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai states this clearly in the Zohar (BaMidbar 152B). Rabbi Kook emphasizes that the essence of the Story of Creation is its fundamental moral teaching that Hashem is the Creator and that mankind is bidden to follow in His paths.”’
“The foundation of everything we teach is that all of Creation is the work of Hashem, and that the means, whether few or myriads, are all the acts of Hashem. Hashem left nothing lacking in the world; there is no limit to his powers, or to His knowledge, or to His glory.
“It is recorded in the Zohar that there were other species of humans (without Divine souls) in addition to the Adam described in the Torah. Excavations may inform us that there were living creatures, including humans in prehistoric periods, but there is no proof that that there weren’t intervening planetary cataclysms and a new Creation. Rather, science presents us with an unproven theory (of Evolution) that need not trouble us. Since even if there was proof that the order of Creation developed via the evolution of one species to the next, this would not alter our calculation of time. We count according to the written text of the Torah’s verses, which is much more significant than all knowledge of prehistory, which is not the Torah’s concern.
Rabbi Kook explains that if primitive man would have known about all of the continents and planets, and that man is quantitatively just a speck of dust in the universe, he would not have realized his responsibility and the importance of each of his actions. Only as humanity matured and grew confident with its place as the center of existence, Hashem revealed the Torah, and eventually added broader understandings of the world, such as through the wisdom of the telescope and astrology, which gave us the proper proportion and perspective, adding the necessary humility to our understanding, balancing our feelings of self-importance with modesty. Rabbi Kook calls on us to remember that the G-d of History is also the G-d of Science, gradually revealing to mankind different aspects of Creation, at each and every stage of man’s development. Thus, he explains, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was publicized when man became capable of understanding how the world is constantly undergoing improvement, a concept he linked to T’shuva, which he saw as the underlying Divine motivator of all development and advancement in the world. Adopting the approach of the Rambam, Rabbi Kook viewed the Theory of Evolution, not as a threat to Jewish Belief, but as tool to substantiate the understanding that the Redemption of Israel is a slowly developing process, which evolves, in the words of our Sages, ‘kimah, kimah,’ little by little, stage after stage, like the gradual rise of dawn (Jerusalem Talmud, Berachot 1:1). In his book, ‘Orot HaKodesh,’ he writes:
“The perception that dawns on a person to view the world as an ongoing process of development, advancement, and continual becoming – this changes him from being ‘under the sun’ to being ‘above the sun,’ from a place where there is nothing new to a vantage point where there is nothing old, where everything takes on a new form. They joy of heaven and earth dwells in him as on the day they were created.”
