Is trying to reconcile Torah with current scientific knowledge proper?
Before we answer the question, a few inaccuracies need to be dispelled. Some think a rift exists between Torah and science. That is simply incorrect. The G-d who gave us Torah is the same G-d who created the universe and the laws that govern nature. Indeed, the Torah is called the “blueprint” of existence (Bereishis Rabba 1:1).
Therefore, there can be no schism between the creator and His creation. The natural laws of the universe can hardly contradict the blueprint from which they were made!
At the same time, Torah and science serve very different functions. Science is the human attempt to understand G-d’s design of the universe. Science is therefore inherently morally neutral. Torah, on the other hand, is G-d’s divine revelation and absolute truth, teaching man how to act to the fullest advantage of himself and the community at large.
One can therefore say that scientific wisdom deals with what the universe is, while Torah wisdom deals with why it is and what it means to one’s life. True science and true religion, therefore, are two sides of the same coin.
I emphasize the words “true.” I’m not talking about a science that denies G-d or a religion that sees science as its enemy. Both these attitudes stem from the same flaw: the belief that G-d, who created the natural universe and its laws, cannot coexist with His creation!
If a scientific theory seems to contradict Torah, it is either due to the fact that we don’t understand what the Torah is saying or the scientific theory is wrong.
With these clarifications in place, it is certainly commendable to make every attempt to find parallels and reconcile any seeming incongruity between science and Torah – with the critical qualification that we not be apologetic and seek to “fit” Torah into the latest scientific theory.
— Rabbi Simon Jacobson, renowned
Lubavitch author and lecturer
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The Torah deals with the real world, not with the imaginary. Therefore, the Torah must certainly involve itself with all scientific knowledge available.
The Torah is known as the Torah of Life. If someone believes something refutes Torah, he should examine his conjecture thoroughly. Sometimes people do not properly understand the Torah, and sometimes they don’t correctly understand phenomena in the natural world.
Occasionally, scientists also haven’t conducted sufficient research into a matter to draw accurate conclusions. In truth, this happens quite often. The world of science recognizes today that it is still light-years away from an all-encompassing understanding of the world, man, and the human genome.
Nonetheless, the scientific advancements of our time are great indeed, and each new piece of knowledge is like a giant building block that we welcome in the certain faith that the wisdom of science will fill all of existence as an integral part of the global tikun for which humanity longs.
— Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Tzefas
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The Gemara (Shabbat 55a, among other places) states: “Chotamo shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu emet – The seal of Hashem is truth.”
That bears repetition – the seal of G-d is truth – because even many Orthodox Jews no longer insist on truth, are comfortable with what they want to be true, and are comfortable ignoring or excusing blatant lies in their personal lives, business, community, and politics.
We need a reset: The seal of G-d is truth, and if we deny or ignore truth, we are distancing ourselves from G-d. When science presents truth, we must engage it because it, too, reflects G-d.
The question refers to “current scientific knowledge.” Some confident claims by scientists are not proven (by the standards of scientific truth, not because I find them inconvenient). When science overreaches the evidence, that’s not a “truth” we need to reconcile with the Torah.
But Jews have a bad history of insisting that the Torah means “x” – putting it in conflict with truths of science – when another interpretation of the Torah works as well. For example, some used to insist that G-d possesses a body of sorts, but the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim shows that Tanach does not refer to G-d as having any physicality, thus alleviating pressure from a science of his time, philosophy.
Truth isn’t easy to find, which is perhaps why Yeshaya 45:15 calls G-d a “Keil mistater – a G-d who hides.” But whenever the Torah says something unequivocally, and science describes the world responsibly and accurately, the two must agree, and the believing Jew will look for how the two mesh.
The more truth we know, according to the Rambam, the closer we are to knowledge of our creator, and the greater the knowledge, the greater the love.
— Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein, author, regular
contributor to www.Torahmusings.com
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We start with three premises:
1) The giver of the Torah is also the creator of the universe.
2) As such, no true conflict between Torah and science can exist.
3) Torah and science are distinct disciplines that are designed to explain disparate facets of the world.
The Torah teaches us the “why” of the world – why we exist, what G-d’s purposes in creation were, and by what divine moral code we are supposed to live.
Science teaches us the “what” of the universe – how the universe operates and how its various forces can be understood and even harnessed for the benefit of human beings. While science is amoral, the Torah is the ultimate morality.
Yet, as both disciplines share the same author, it is both natural and proper to study how science accords with the Torah.
It seems better to ask whether it’s proper to reconcile current scientific knowledge with Torah than the converse. This approach is more enlightening and edifying, as scientific conclusions are constantly amended when previous theories are upended while the words of the Torah are both immutable and infinite in their wisdom.
From the Rambam’s understanding of the universe as delineated in Hilchot Yesodei Hatorah (chapters 3-4), it is clear that thinking man is required to utilize the scientific knowledge of the day in order to elucidate different aspects of Torah and even (for the cognoscenti) to better understand creation itself, even if that knowledge will change in each generation.
It is astonishing how the language of the Torah can accommodate different theories, underscoring that the Torah is not meant to teach science or history – but morality.
— Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, mara d’asra of
Congregation Bnai Yeshurun of Teaneck, NJ
