Opposition by Judaism to evolutionary theory

In the Jewish global community, some Haredi rabbis have remained staunchly opposed to certain teachings in evolutionary theory. In contrast with the literalist biblical interpretation of some Christian creationists, they express an openness to multiple interpretations of Genesis, through Jewish oral tradition and Jewish mysticism. They have also expressed an openness to evolutionary theory in biology, except where they perceive that it is in conflict with the Torah's account of creation.

Judaism has no creed or catechism that prescribes normative beliefs about evolution, or any other matter. In his "Guide to the Perplexed", the medieval Sephardic rabbi Maimonides stated, "what the Torah writes about the account of creation is not all to be taken literally."

According to the Rabbinical Council of America, an organization of Orthodox rabbis, "Recent rabbinic leaders who have discussed the topic of creation, such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, saw no difficulty in explaining Genesis as a text rather than a account." [cite web
url = http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100635
title = Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
author = Rabbinical Council of America ] Later, they conclude, "Judaism has always preferred to see science and Torah as two aspects of the "Mind of God" (to borrow Stephen Hawking's phrase) that are ultimately unitary in the reality given to us by the Creator."

Avigdor Miller

Rabbi Avigdor Miller (1908-2001), a leading Haredi Rabbi, was known for his opposition to the theory of evolution, and wrote extensively on the subject is many of his books, and often spoke of it in his public lectures. Rabbi Miller, who would often criticize all other religions in his writings, often told his students to read Creationist writings from Christian sources as support for a literal understanding of Genesis.

Moshe Feinstein

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986), a Haredi posek who was known for his opposition to evolution, was one of the most famed Orthodox rabbis and decisors of Jewish Law for the ultra-Orthodox community. Rabbi Feinstein (also known as "Reb Moshe") ruled that the reading of an evolutionary textbook is unequivocally forbidden, because belief in evolutionary history is tantamount to heresy (Shu"t Iggerot Moshe Y.D. 3:73). If a textbook was indispensable for other purposes, Feistein directed that those pages containing references to evolution be torn out and discarded. [cite web | title=Parshat Bereshit (Torah Commentary on Genesis) | publisher=Torah Mi-Zion | url=http://www.torahmitzion.org/heb/resources/show.asp?id=206 ]

Rabbi Avi Shafran, a spokesman for Agudath Israel, writes a weekly column that is widely syndicated in the Jewish press. Shafran's comments on intelligent design illustrate the distinction that Feinstein was making, that there is an essential distinction between animals and humans that evolution does not uphold. He writes, "There is simply no philosophically sound way of holding simultaneously in one’s head both the conviction that we are mere evolved animals and the conviction that we are something qualitatively different. And no way to avoid the fact that when schoolchildren are taught biology, if they are taught to embrace the one, they are being taught to shun the other." [cite web | publication = Cross-Currents | date=Dec 22, 2005 | title=Rabbi Avi Shafran on Intelligent Design | last=Menken | first=Yaakov | url =http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2005/12/22/rabbi-avi-shafran-on-intelligent-design/ ]

Responses to Feinstein's ban

Torah MitZion is a religious Zionist movement in Israel that promotes Torah study together with service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The organization operates a yeshiva in Jerusalem where soldiers in the IDF can study Torah. According to Torah MitZion, the study of evolution itself does not present a conflict with Jewish Law:

"If biology is so prized a discipline, then so must be evolution — a central pillar of the life sciences. It is indisputable that organisms adapt to the environment via natural selection, as is evident for instance, by the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antiretroviral-resistant HIV. Further indisputable is the fact that the same DNA which encodes the blueprint for simple organisms also encodes the blueprint for higher organisms (including human beings) with exquisitely minor variations, demonstrating that evolution need not be limited to microbes. Hence, one might expect on the basis of the foregoing that Halacha would welcome the study of evolution with open arms." [cite web | title=Parshat Bereshit (Torah Commentary on Genesis) | publisher=Torah MitZion | url=http://www.torahmitzion.org/heb/resources/show.asp?id=206 ]

Torah MitZion resolves this conflict between Feinstein's responsa on evolution and the observations of science by distinguishing between "evolution that we can observe" and "evolutionary history." Its resolution of the matter allows for the study of evolution as a science, but forbids its use to "extrapolate backwards in time" to speculate on matters of creation:

"Evolution that we can observe and measure with our senses is certainly part of the science curriculum that ought to be encouraged. But to extrapolate backwards in time on the basis of circumstantial evidence to so absurd an extent as to supplant the account of the creation of life given by the Torah with that of unverifiable human speculation is not a question of science but rather a revision of history." [cite web | title=Parshat Bereshit (Torah Commentary on Genesis) | publisher=Torah MitZion | url=http://www.torahmitzion.org/heb/resources/show.asp?id=206 ]

lifkin affair

In 2004-2005, three popular books by Rabbi Natan Slifkin (Yiddish, Nosson) were banned by a group of Haredi rabbinic authorities on the grounds that they were heretical. Known to his admirers as the "Zoo Rabbi," Nosson Slifkin was the author of "The Torah Universe", a series of books on science and religion that were widely read in Orthodox communities until they were suddenly banned. "The books written by Nosson Slifkin present a great stumbling block to the reader," the ban declared. "They are full of heresy, twist and misrepresent the words of our sages and ridicule the foundations of our "emunah" (faith)." The ban, which prohibited Jews from reading, owning, or distributing Slifkin's books, prompted a widespread backlash in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Jennie Rothenberg, reporting on this ban in the secular Jewish journal, "Moment", asserted that the incident represents a major breaking point within ultra-Orthodox society. Rothenberg interviewed several rabbis who wished to remain anonymous. According to one of them, "Over the past 15 years, the rabbis of Bnai Brak and the more open American ultra-Orthodox rabbis have been split on a number of important policy decisions. The Slifkin ban is a huge break. It’s a kind of power struggle, and those who didn’t sign the ban are outraged right now. I’m talking about rabbis with long white beards who are furious about it." Slifkin’s views, according to this rabbi, are shared by countless figures within the ultra-Orthodox community. "He’s saying out loud what a lot of people have been talking about quietly all along. To those people, he’s a kind of figurehead." [ cite web | publisher=Moment Magazine | title = The Heresy of Nosson Slifkin | last=Rothenberg | first=Jennie | date= Oct, 2005 | url=http://www.momentmag.com/features/oct05/slifkin.html]

References

ources

* Carmy, Shalom. "A Religion Challenged by Science — Again? A Reflection Occasioned by a Recent Occurrence". "Tradition, A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought" Volume 39:2 (Summer 2005).
* Cantor, Geoffrey and Marc Swetlitz, (editors). "Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism". University of Chicago Press. 2006. ISBN 9780226092768
* Feinstein, Moshe. "Iggerot Moshe". (Brooklyn, NY: Yoreh Deah) 1959.
* Ginsberg, Joanna. "An Animal-Loving Rabbi Seeks to Reconcile Science and Torah." "New Jersey Jewish News" July 7, 2005.
* Greenberger, Josh. "Human Intelligence Gone Ape". (New York: Orthodox Union) 1990.
* Rothenberg, Jennie. "The Heresy of Nosson Slifkin." "Moment Magazine" (October 2005).
* Slifkin, Natan. "The Challenge of Creation: Judaism's Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and Evolution". Zoo Torah, reprint edition (2006). ISBN 1933143150
* Slifkin, Natan. "Man and Beast: Our Relationships with Animals in Jewish Law and Thought". Zoo Torah, reprint edition (2006). ISBN 1933143061

ee also

* Jewish reactions to intelligent design
* Judaism and evolution
* The Challenge of Creation