The problem of the tradition that the world is 5757 years old is in
serious conflict with all scientific facts from a myriad of fields
including astronomy and many earth sciences. It is very unlikely that
millions of separate facts will mature to agree with Joseph Caeser.
There are many solutions that have been proposed icluding that in Genesis
and the Big Bang. Rabbi Kaplan points out Jewish sources that many worlds
existed before out present world. Merely to state that the way I read the
Torah is right and the whole world is wrong is not very convincing.
Maharal spends considerable time explaining aggadot so that they do not
contradict the science of his day. As a trivial example he explains
that "you shall go up to the place that I will choose" means going up
in a spiritual way. He certainly does not take the verse literally
and simply say that the scientists are wrong and Jerusalem is the
highest point on the globe. Does that make the Maharal into an
apologistic who should not be taken seriously? Many responsible people
have seen UFOs. Should extra-terrestials ever really show up Judaism would
look awfully silly if gedolim insisted that it was impossible.
Xtianity had major problems because they insisted that Copernicus and
Galileo could not be right on theological grounds. We need not fall
into the same trap.
Eli Turkel
turkel@math.tau.ac.il