Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
copyright notice at the end. |
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Believing
the Bible
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Many
people have expressed the thought to
me that they have a hard time taking
the Bible literally...or expressed
more bluntly, they have a hard time
believing the stories in the Bible at
all. A frequently cited example is the
Bible's explanation that the world was
created in just 6 days. The creation
of humans coming at the end of this
busy week for God.
"What
about the lessons we learn from
science about evolution?"
"How do you explain the dinasaurs
that lived for so long...and so long
before humans showed up?"
Typical
questions of children when they are
exposed to scientific explanations and
hypotheses for the first time...and of
course, many adults have the same
questions.
One
good answer to these kinds of
questions was recently posted in the
message board in my area that is
called: I am not sure I believe in
G-d. Here is that posting:
On
the first day, (of
creation............)
But
what referent of time does G-d use?
In
many cultures a "day" is the
completion of a cycle.
Earth
day - 24hrs
Moon
day - 28 days for moon to cycle the
earth
Solar
day - 365.25 days for earth to cycle
the sun
Galaxy
day - 250 Million years for our solar
system to cycle our Galaxy
Universal
day - > Trillion years?? For our
Galaxy to rotate in the Universe
Who
are we to "humanize" and
limit G-d to a 24hr day??? Just a
thought.
I
assume the person who wrote this is a
scientist. I am guessing that
because--who else would know how long
a galaxy day is other than a scientist
or a Star trekkie! :)
No
matter who this person is, I found the
explanation mind expanding and wanted
to share it with readers. There is a
saying that the Torah has 70 faces.
One explanation of this saying is that
you can see so many things in the
Torah. There is another saying that
the Torah is written in human langauge
so that we can attempt to comprehend
what is written there.
I
think that all of the above makes a
literal translation of every word in
the Bible difficult if not impossible.
Yet just this week, I spoke with a
Jewish person who said to me "I
have a hard time believing all that is
in the Bible." I detected in his
words some kind of guilt.
I
feel the same way as this
person--without the guilt. I think
much of the Bible is mysterious with
answers and definitions impossible to
know with certainty...but definately
worthy of study. This is one of the
reasons I think Jewish tradition and
emphasis is to never stop studying the
Torah and looking for answers and
explanations that can add meaning and
guidance to our lives. Personally, I
have found many valuable lessons in
the words of the Bible--and especially
the commentaries on these
words--though I must say that I have
also found someTorah ideas and
commentaries that are hard for me to
swallow.
A
hot potato that I will end with (that
seems like an appropriate choice of
words since Hanukkah and latkes are
just around the corner) is: Was the
Torah written by God or man? I invite
your comments on this question and/or
any of the above for a future response
of the week.
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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