Bereshit 2018

Science and Creation

"In the beginning G-d created the heavens and the land."  Rashi (11 century) comments, "...The Torah is not attempting to describe the order of the creation...for if it was how could the Torah say, 'the spirit of G-d hovered over the water,' before it has spoken of the creation of the waters...thus it must be concluded that the Torah is not trying to tell us about the order of the creation at all."  This Rash"i seems a bit unconventional though it is a similar approach to that of Maimonides in the Guide to the Perplexed where he writes that if he had philosophically agreed with Aristotle that the world had never been created, he would have understood the story of creation in the Torah metaphorically. 

Today there are many arguments as to the need to teach creationism or science.  So many other religious people and indeed some of our fellow religious Jews may be apt to put their critical and scientific thinking on a back burner when it comes to studying Torah.    But the Torah wants us to keep our wits intact, not to shy from struggle when things are difficult to understand.  We believe the Torah is G-d's word, and our best spiritual guide, yet we do not compromise our G-d given minds and abilities, and our intellectually honest desire to make sense of both the text and our world.  Indeed, when we are willing to engage all parts of ourselves, all that we know in the struggle to understand the Torah, only then is the world that was created from the Torah nearer to completion.