Faith and Science are Not Enemies – a d’rash on Bere’shit
(for AI audio, with hot pictures, see below).
Have you ever looked at
the Cosmic Calendar? The
Cosmic Calendar is a method to visualize the chronology of the universe,
scaling its current age of 13.8 billion years to a single year in order to help
intuit it for pedagogical purposes in science education or popular science. In
this visualization, the Big Bang took place at the beginning of January 1 at
midnight, and the current moment maps onto the end of December 31 just before
midnight. At this scale, there are 437.5 years per second, 1.575 million years
per hour, and 37.8 million years per day. The concept was popularized by Carl
Sagan in his book The Dragons of Eden (1977) and on his television series
Cosmos - who says Wikipedia
is useless! In other words, the Cosmic Calendar is a visual reminder that we
are but a blip in time, and that we weren’t the creation, we were just a part
of it.
And after reading Bere’shit this
morning, I am struck by how similar the Biblical story of creation is to the
outline by our scientists. Genesis first through the fourth day correspond
perfectly with Sagon’s September through early December of Year One. As for the
time element, remember there was no way to “tell time” (time as a reference
point – the average person’s conception of it) until Day Four when other
animals were created and no one noting the “passage of time” until Day Six when
humans were created. So who knows what a “day” or “year” meant back then –
potato/potato – and if we follow time by the Earth’s fundamental elements, 13.8
billion years sounds about right to me.
What’s the real
difference between the two versions? Bere’shit sounds
better. Think about it . . . Neil deGrasse Tyson wasn’t alive yet, so how else
were the rabbis going to make it interesting, eh? By putting it in a story with
divine beings, magic forces, and strange creatures -instead atoms colliding,
nuclear fusion, and chance occurrences the story becomes a fascinating tale
easily passed down, particularly to children as part of religious education.
Here’s another point of
confusion. On the sixth day (Genesis 1:29-30),
“כָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ
וְאֶת־כָּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה
לְאָכְלָֽה׃
G-d said, “See, I give
you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that
has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food.
וּֽלְכָל־חַיַּ֣ת
הָ֠אָרֶץ וּלְכָל־ע֨וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם וּלְכֹ֣ל ׀ רוֹמֵ֣שׂ עַל־הָאָ֗רֶץ
אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ֙ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֔ה אֶת־כָּל־יֶ֥רֶק עֵ֖שֶׂב לְאָכְלָ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
And to all the animals
on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth,
in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.”
And it was so.
Hashem directs us to eat
all the vegetation we want and gives the same directions to the animals in a
previous verse.
We all know many animals
species, no matter where they are on the spectrum of earthly creatures, that
eat meat, oftentimes each other. Is Hashem implying a certain equity across as well as
amongst species, i.e., we eat what they eat? We have free will so our bad
habits make sense – thus we are greedy carnivores.
But why aren’t all
animals vegetarian?
If it was declared in
the beginning why isn’t vegetarianism Jewish law number 613? And where’s the
enforcement? Where is the wrath should you that should come after you eat that
Whopper with Cheese?
At least at Sinai, you
got some decent smiting.
And I have other
concerns. On Day 7+ (Genesis 2:3-7), after already declaring mission
accomplished and still full of divine pomposity, Hashem must
have realized that something was amiss when the shrubs wouldn’t grow and the
animals collapsed due to severe dehydration. Hashem had
forgotten to create rain and the Great Lakes. And initially, YHVH said
man and woman were in charge of everything else (Genesis 1:28):
וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮
אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ
וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה
הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
G-d blessed them and G-d
said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule
the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep
on earth.”
But Adoni forgot
to offer any specific instructions on what that meant. And when G-d realized
the need for a project manager (Genesis 2:7-9):
וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה
אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת
חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃
the LORD G-d formed man
from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and
man became a living being.
וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְהוָ֧ה
אֱלֹהִ֛ים גַּן־בְעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר
יָצָֽר׃
The LORD G-d planted a
garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the man whom He had formed.
וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה
אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל
וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃
And from the ground the
LORD G-d caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for
food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and bad.
“Holy Project Failure,
Batman!” Make you wonder if Hashem had other oversights? For example, what’s with
the second male. Did Eve kick him out or did he leave her? Or did G-d fire the original man for laziness
and environmental malfeasance? The
second half of this story is equally as confusing. I mean if YHVH knew
Adam and Eve would be up to mischief, why didn’t he keep a better eye on them?
Considering that they couldn’t be more than a few days old, shouldn’t someone
call child protective services and make a neglect complaint?
Well, I guess that
explains Cain and Abel.
Then there is the social
justice angle to all of this. I could understand how even the divine can be
overwhelmed. I mean, let’s face it, Hashem only had 7 days to get it all done. Have you
ever had to make such a deadline? Someone had his foot on G-d proverbial neck
and was pressing hard. G-d could have had three other galaxies to take care of
on $10/hour job. Oy!
Does this mean that Hashem was
abused by “the Man” too?
Or did G-d “forget”
these things on purpose? For if he’d made the world perfect, there would there
be no room for t'shuva (repentance) and no opportunities to secure
our bonds with nature, self and the rest of Beit Yisroel (the
House of Israel). The world is perfect in its imperfections and all are in
their place. And if Adoni knew all along that this world would be
bequeathed to us, YHVH also knew we didn’t like being idle and would
need something for which to define ourselves. So Hashem made
us the COOs, chief operations officers of Planet Earth and in charge for now until
. . . until . . .
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