Q&A: Evolution and the Torah
Evolution and the Torah
Question
A: How can evolution be reconciled with the Torah? After all, only after man was created and became an intelligent being did God create the woman.
B: Are Rabbi Gedaliah’s explanations of the creation story correct?
C: Is Maimonides’ view that studying physics counts as studying the Account of Creation, and that one thereby fulfills the commandment of Torah study?
Answer
A. So? Do you know which was created first, the man or the woman? And as for the chicken-and-egg question, science already has an answer.
B. I don’t know. I’m not familiar with the explanations, and I don’t know what happened in the creation story.
C. At first glance, it would seem so, but one should remember that Maimonides lived and worked in a period when there was no distinction between science and philosophy. I don’t know what he would say today. What I do know is that what I would say today is that this is not Torah study. See my debate with Dror Fixler in Tzohar on this issue: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%AA%D7%92%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%91%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%A2%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A2-%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94/
Discussion on Answer
And to that I answered that in any case, the chicken-and-egg problem still exists here. Even regarding the relationship between the first two chapters of Genesis, it is not clear (whether these are two parallel descriptions or two stages in a single process).
What I meant in my first question was: how could man develop in stages without a female, if she was only created afterward?
And if you want to say that the male came first and only then was the female created (and that this is what the Torah means when it says she was created afterward), and from there the development continued until the form of complete man—still, it says that he was already an intelligent being then (since he gave names to the animals and understood that there was no one like him), and only afterward was the woman created.