In the Beginning there was a Horrendous Space Kablooie

Why Torah cannot be used to question science

(Note: Irrational Modoxism is gonna kill me for this one!)

The Torah cannot be used to question science. Full stop. Here is why:

Imagine a world where someone has no access to science at all, only the Torah and Nach. What will he think about the world? He will think that hares and hyraxes chew their cud, that the world looks young, that the sun goes around the earth, that the sky is a rakia (whatever that means). He will assume that giants existed. He will assume that there is a physical place on earth called Eden which has cherubs guarding it. The way to find that place would be to follow the four rivers which all meet in one place.

He will possibly assume the world is flat (I am not personally convinced of this, but every flat-earther does it due to the pashut pshat of Tanach, including those from our own tradition, such as the Shvus Yaakov.) He will not know thousands of scientific discoveries and advancements. He will believe that all life on earth stems from Noach and his ark. He will be completely unaware of the Americas or Australia.

In short, his view of the world would be inaccurate, inconsistent, and in line with what was thought thousands of years ago.

(That’s not to say there aren’t answers. There are. But the answers only start once you know the question. More on this later).

Now, imagine if where someone also had access to Torah Shel Baal Peh and thought that as an accurate source of science information. This person’s knowledge would be even worse than the first guy’s, if only because TSBP is far more encompassing. Ignoring obvious metaphorical medrashim, this person would think that one can tell whether a woman is a virgin by putting her on top of a wine barrel, that salamanders come from fire, there exists half-earth half mice, lice spontaneously generates, the sun goes behind the sky. He will think that the earth only has one inhabitable landmass (as an aside, this is why the dateline sugya is so unclear - chazal never realized that there are continents on the other side of the earth, and so figuring out the halacha is very difficult if one is basing their words on them). He will think that women can give birth after seven months, snakes gestate after seven years, and that llamas cannot possibly exist. There are many, many more incorrect things he will believe - check out talmudology for more examples.

(Again, there are answers for many if not all these examples. But one can only have answer when one realizes reality and can pose the question. The plain meaning of the words otherwise remains unchallenged. )

What’s the point of listing all these things? Simple. The Torah is not a scientific source. It cannot be used to make scientific predictions at all. If one would look at the Torah, one would make a prediction that the world looks young. This would be wrong. Instead, it is clear that scientific synthesis was always the way to go. The Torah was reinterpreted based on science. Does this mean it is incorrect? No. It just means one needs knowledge of science to correctly understand the Torah. (In fact, sometimes it helps us understand Torah better. We now can know that cacography and mercyism may meet the Torah’s definition of maaleh geyra, something we would not have known if we still thought the hare and the hyrax chewed their cud normally).

Therefore, when it comes to the age of the earth, suddenly not accepting science solely because it seems to contradict the Torah is a big mistake, because we cannot learn any scientific facts from the Torah! If one would try their whole worldview would be incorrect. The science about the age of the earth and the lack of the worldwide flood is solid. Let us use it to have a greater understanding of what the Torah really meant by maaseh bereyshis and the mabul.

(Does this mean I agree with R Slifkin that the Torah includes scientific mistakes intentionally? No. I think the Torah has many layers, none of which are mistaken. There are answers for each question. But the Torah needs to be understood in conjunction with the science of each generation. Additionally, I am in full agreement with R Slifkin that Chazal used their contemporary science, and that the Torah deliberately did not include what we would call the correct scientific pshat for many reasons, such as it would distract from the goal of the Torah and it would confuse the generations before they received the correct scientific knowledge.)