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Contradictions between science, Torah, and faith

שו”תCategory: Torah and ScienceContradictions between science, Torah, and faith
asked 2 years ago

Hello,
1) For some time now, I have been encountering all kinds of different arguments, whether archaeological, biological, etc., that do not stand in line with what the Torah presents.
I will ask about the issue that in my opinion is most fundamental and fundamental to every religious person and to every person in general – about evolution.
I understand that the Rabbi (correct me if I’m wrong) accepts evolution, I would be very happy to know how it fits together (I would be happy for a relatively simple and general explanation, I’m not well-versed in these matters…)
2) I came to all these issues with questions that loomed and a desire to answer them, although many tell me not to delve into it because it could lead to heresy and that I should only seek answers in what we call kosher places, but in order to understand the overall picture I must be exposed to both sides, the question is really whether what I am doing is necessary and logical or should I believe like this without establishing it too much? I will point out that I personally know people who do not need it because they are more spiritual by nature and do not seek rationality. Are they really more believers than I am? Because when I really think about it, if people were not rational, we as a society would not progress anywhere.
3) Do you know Rabbi Lawrence Kalman? He has a lecture on YouTube in which he explains in several ways the argument of the witness that the Torah was passed down from father to son and this proves its truth, and this really resonated with me, and I highly recommend it. My question is, is this the connection in question between the God who is the cause of the universe and that God from Mount Sinai where the people of Israel received the Torah? After all, I have these two ideas, is this the connection between the two?
Thank you very much.


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מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago
Hello. Questions that require expansion and there is no space here. So forgive me for being brief. 1. There are several solutions to this. In my opinion, the most likely is that the Torah does not give us historical information. It is intended to convey to us the halakha and everything else in it is an educational myth (see the first Rashi on the Torah, who wonders why the entire book of Genesis was written at all). From the perspective of the Torah, the description of the creation of the world is in six days, but there is not necessarily a description of what actually happened. These are stages that are metaphorically described as days. The order perhaps expresses the hierarchy between the various creatures. From the day the plants were created, evolution began, and the following days describe evolutionary stages in a popular way. Various commentators (such as the Ramban on the Torah) have already insisted that the chapters of creation contain no plainness but only a secret, and their intention is to say that they do not come to tell facts as they are, but to convey a message. 2. The claim not to dig into such questions because it could lead to heresy is ridiculous and stupid. In fact, what they are telling you is that you don’t really believe (because if you dig, you will discover that you don’t believe) and therefore it is better to bury your head in the sand and not be aware that I don’t believe. To the same extent, the pagan sages tell them not to dig because they might discover that monotheism (and Judaism in particular) is true. Is this a reasonable demand? A person needs to form a position. The fact that I was born in a certain place does not guarantee that my educators are right. Everyone is born in a certain place, and even the conservatives who scold you will admit that most of the world was born in places that do not educate in the truth. So who said that I was born in a place that does educate in the truth? I must discover that through thought and study. See columns 6 and 576. See also column 74. Those “spiritualists” who don’t have to think and dig are usually (though not always) people who are deceiving themselves and are less believing than you. 3. I don’t know. The connection between the philosophical God and the religious God is explained in the fifth conversation in my first book. Of course, it’s not the same thing; it’s possible to believe in the first without the second (and perhaps the other way around). But after I came to the conclusion that there is a philosophical God, the tradition regarding a religious God already sounds much more reasonable. There’s no room here to elaborate on this further.

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עדי replied 2 years ago

Thank you very much, regarding the first question - I understood that part of the Torah is archaeologically verified, but the fact that it does not give us historical information in general certainly settles a lot of things. Regarding the religious issue, a small question - I understood from your words that it is impossible to know with absolute certainty about the existence of God - in contrast, the lifestyle of a religious person (even if not conservative) is conducted in the nature of certainty, meaning that a person from the outside understands that he is certain of this, do you think this is not contradictory?
Again, thank you very much for the answer.

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

The main part of the Book of Genesis appears like a factual story. Creation seems like a myth. I didn't say that there is no factual dimension in the Torah, but that not everything it says is factual.
This is definitely contradictory. But those who live from certainty are deceiving themselves or us. No one in the world has certainty. Even a religious person is a person and has no way of knowing anything for sure.

אשכול הכויפער replied 2 years ago

Chazal corrected the blessing for earthquakes, lightning, and all kinds of natural phenomena:
Blessed are you, our God, King of the universe, who does the work of Genesis
And doesn't the Torah say in the story of creation about earthquakes and lightning?
Surely even Chazal, with the limited science that existed at the time, understood that such a serious process of creation also includes stages of earthquakes, etc.
And the fact that it is not written in the Torah?
It didn't bother them

And most who were sure that there were stages of creation that were not written in the Torah corrected the blessing for these natural phenomena, the work of Genesis no less.

So who are we, the children of mosquitoes, the innocent, the ignorant, to argue with Chazal who were sure that there were parts of creation that were not written in the Torah

צ'רלס דרווין replied 2 years ago

Adi, in the context of evolution, there is a very interesting book by Abraham Yitzhak Green, "Radical Judaism," and he develops a theology in which evolution stands at the center of the spiritual world. You might be interested.

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