[beth]

Just wanted to know what is the Jewish position on creation? Since it was the Jews who wrote the OT, what do Jews today think regarding evolution theory versus creationism?

[PearlyWrites]

What a great question! When I was teaching, this was a question I was asked by the children and I asked the Rabbi to come into the classroom to give the answer.

The answer he told the children was each Jew believes what they want. I know the OT speaks about the 7 days of creation (on the 7th day G-d rested which is Shabbat). The children were asking which was true, the story of creation or the Big Bang Theory (Biblical vs Science), and the children really wanted to know.

Unfortunately, I cannot speak for the entire Jewish faith when answering this question. If anyone else can add to this, it would be great. I believe in the story of creation but I also believe in Science.

I hope that helped a little.

[beth]

Yep, your answer helps a lot! Since the Jews wrote the OT, I was really interested in the actual meaning they give to it. Obviously this Rabbi you consulted had an open mind on the subject. I'd be interested to hear also about the way the ancient Jews used oral story telling and how much their stories were literally true and how many were metaphors. Any ideas?

[PearlyWrites]

Yes, the Rabbi is def open minded. I think a lot of the stories were used as metaphors to teach the good from the bad. Many of my students would ask did the flood (Noah's Ark) really happen?

The Rabbi told the children if you believe the story, then yes. I feel many of the stories were created to teach ethics.

[beth]

Originally Posted by PearlyWrites

Yes, the Rabbi is def open minded. I think a lot of the stories were used as metaphors to teach the good from the bad. Many of my students would ask did the flood (Noah's Ark) really happen?

The Rabbi told the children if you believe the story, then yes. I feel many of the stories were created to teach ethics.

I think this Rabbi is great! Being open-minded as to how the OT stories are meant to be taken sure makes life a lot easier. To me, they are there as teaching aids, to teach ethics, as you point out. It really doesn't matter if they are literally true or not, the point of the story is the point of the story! Being like this Rabbi sure prevents a lot of knocker-twisting going on!! Thanks for answering this question, it makes a lot of sense that this is how the ancient Jews meant the stories to be taken.

[batsora]

somehow the way i always thought about creation in the bible and creation in science is that they are completely compatible. what is one of gods days. i really dont think that one of gods days could have been 24 hours. 7 of gods days could have easily been millions or billions of years. the evolution of man from ape or so could be that god went thru quite a few creations before he came to what we know as adam. i think science is always compatible with god. just becuz so much of god is unexplanable does not mean that so much cant be explained by science either. god is everything, why not science too.