Jewish Creationism
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Jewish Creationism
Jewish views on evolution includes a continuum of views about the theory of evolution, experimental evolution, the Abiogenesis, origin of life, the age of the universe, and theistic evolution. Today, many Jewish people accept the theory of evolution and do not see it as incompatible with traditional Judaism, reflecting the emphasis of prominent rabbis such as the Vilna Gaon and Maimonides on the ethical rather than factual significance of scripture. Classical rabbinic teachings Chronology of the Bible, Biblical chronology indicates that God completed the Genesis creation narrative, creation of the world close to 6,000 years ago. This age is reflected in the chronology developed in a midrash, ''Seder Olam Rabbah, Seder Olam'', but a biblical literalism, literalist reading of the Book of Genesis is rare in Judaism. This age is attributed to the Tannaim, tanna Jose ben Halafta, and covers history from the creation of the universe to the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem ...
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Theory Of Evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. The process of evolution has given rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation. The scientific theory of evolution by natural selection was conceived independently by two British naturalists, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the mid-19th century as an explanation for why organisms are adapted to their physical and biological environments. The theory was first set out in detail in Darwin's book ''On the Origin of Species''. Evolution by natural selection is established by observable facts about living organisms: (1) more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive; (2) traits vary among individuals with ...
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Jose Ben Halafta
Jose ben Helpetha, commonly known as Jose ben Halafta () was a tanna of the fourth generation (2nd century CE). He is the fifth-most-frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah. Yose Ben Halafta is the one of two rabbis called Rabbi Yose in the Talmud; the other being Jose ben Zimra, an amora. Biography He was born at Sepphoris; but his family was of Babylonian-Jewish origin. According to a genealogical chart found at Jerusalem, he was a descendant of Jonadab ben Rechab. He was one of Rabbi Akiva's five principal pupils, called "the restorers of the Law," who were afterward ordained by Judah ben Baba. He was also a student of Johanan ben Nuri, whose halakhot he transmitted and of Eutolemus. It is very likely that he studied much under his father, Halafta, whose authority he invokes in several instances. But his principal teacher was Akiva, whose system he followed in his interpretation of the Law. After having been ordained in violation of a Roman edict, Jose fled to Asia ...
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Adne Sadeh
The Adnei haSadeh (אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה, meaning "human-like wild creatures") is an animal or legendary creature mentioned in ancient Jewish texts. Etymology The word ' is a variation of ', i.e. "men of", while ' ("the field") can be used figuratively to refer to wildness, so the entire name ' can be translated as "wild men". In some texts the name is spelled ', following an expression in which seems to mean "wild animals". Identity The creature is mentioned briefly in a legal context in the Mishnah: :''Adnei hasadeh'' are ategorized asa wild animal. Rabbi Yossi says: hen dead they cause impurity in a tent like a person. The Jerusalem Talmud gives a more detailed description of this creature: :Yassi romArki ays:it is a man of the mountain, and it lives from its navel and if its navel is disconnected rom the groundit cannot live. Rabbi Hama bar Ukva in the name of Rabbi Yossi ben Hanina: The logic of Rabbi Yossi is as follows: he Torah decrees impurity upon"any ...
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Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is the first work of rabbinic literature, written primarily in Mishnaic Hebrew but also partly in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. The oldest surviving physical fragments of it are from the 6th to 7th centuries. The Mishnah was literary redaction, redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit She'arim (Roman-era Jewish village), Beit Shearim or Sepphoris between the ending of the second century CE and the beginning of the third century. Heinrich Graetz, dissenting, places the Mishnah's compilation in 189 CE (see: H. Graetz, ''History of the Jews'', vol. 6, Philadelphia 1898, p105), and which date follows that penned by Rabbi Abraham ben David in his "Sefer HaKabbalah le-Ravad", or what was then ''anno'' 500 of the Seleucid era. in a time when the p ...
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Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as HaRav Kook, and also known by the Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (), was an Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one of the fathers of religious Zionism and is known for founding the Mercaz HaRav, Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva. Biography Childhood Kook was born in Daugavpils, Griva (also spelled Geriva) in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1865, today a part of Daugavpils, Latvia, the eldest of eight children. His father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ha-Cohen Kook, was a student of the Volozhin yeshiva, the "mother of the Lithuanian Jews, Lithuanian yeshivas", whereas his maternal grandfather was a follower of the Kapust branch of the Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic movement, founded by the son of the third rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. His mother's name w ...
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Zohar
The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology. The ''Zohar'' contains discussions of the nature of God, the origin and structure of the universe, the nature of souls, redemption, the relationship of ego to darkness and "true self" to "the light of God". The ''Zohar'' was first publicized by Moses de León (c. 1240 – 1305 CE), who claimed it was a Tannaitic work recording the teachings of Simeon ben Yochai (). This claim is universally rejected by modern scholars, most of whom believe de León, also an infamous forger of Geonic material, wrote the book himself between 1280 and 1286. Some scholars argue that the ''Zohar'' is the work of multiple medieval authors and/or contains a small amount of genuinely antique novel mate ...
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Bahya Ben Asher
Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (, 1255–1340) was a rabbi and scholar of Judaism, best known as a commentator on the Hebrew Bible. He is one of two scholars now referred to as Rabbeinu Behaye, the other being philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda. Biography Bahya was a pupil of Rabbi Shlomo ibn Aderet (the ''Rashba''). Unlike the latter, Bahya did not publish a Talmud commentary; he is, however, considered by Jewish scholars to be one of the most distinguished of the biblical exegetes of Spain. He "discharged with zeal" the duties of a ''darshan'' (Hebrew for "expounder") in his native city of Zaragoza, sharing this position with several others. He is buried in Kadarim, Israel, a few minutes walking distance from the prophet Habakkuk. Works Bahya's principal work is his commentary on the Torah (the five books of Moses), but he is also known for others, especially ''Kad ha-Kemah''. Torah commentary The commentary on the Torah - "מדרש רבינו בחיי על התורה " - enjoyed ...
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Ecclesiastes Rabbah
Ecclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah (Hebrew: קהלת רבה) is an aggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot. It follows the biblical book verse by verse, only a few verses remaining without commentary. In the list of the old Seder (Bible), sedarim for the Bible, four sedarim are assigned to Ecclesiastes (beginning at 1:1, 3:13, 7:1, and 9:7); and Kohelet Rabbah was probably divided according to these sections. This appears from the phrase "Sidra tinyana" ("second ''seder''") inserted between the comments to Ecclesiastes 6:12 and 7:1, and the phrase "Sidra telita'a" ("third ''seder''") between the comments to Ecclesiastes 9:6 and 9:7. These phrases occur at the end of the second and third midrash sections, in the same way that "Selik sidra" indicates the end of sections in earlier editions of Ruth Rabbah and Esther Rabbah. The commentary to 3:12 having been lost, so is the phrase "first ''seder''" that would likely have followed it. Not ...
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Genesis Rabbah
Genesis Rabbah (, also known as Bereshit Rabbah and abbreviated as GenR) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is an expository midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, whose authorship in tradition has been attributed to Hoshaiah Rabbah in the period of the Amoraim, flourishing in 3rd century Roman-ruled Syria Palaestina. The midrash forms an aggadic commentary on Genesis, in keeping with the midrashic exegesis of that age. In a continuous sequence, broken only toward the end, the Biblical text is expounded, verse for verse, often word for word. Only genealogic passages and passages that furnish no material for exposition (as the reiterated account of Abraham's servant in 24:35-48) are omitted. Name The name ''Genesis'' or ''Bereshit Rabbah'' for the text is attested in the ''Halakhot Genesis'', ...
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Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish culture, Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. The Talmud includes the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including halakha, Jewish ethics, Jewish philosophy, philosophy, Jewish customs, customs, Jewish history, history, and Jewish folklore, folklore, and many other topics. The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah. This text is made up of 63 Masekhet, tractates, each covering one subject area. The language of the Talmud is Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Talmudic tradition emerged and was compiled between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Arab conquest in the early seve ...
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Or Adonai
Or Adonai (Hebrew: אור אֲדֹנָי), The Light of the Lord, is the primary work of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas (c. 1340 - 1410/1411), a Jewish philosopher. As some Jews prefer to not use even the respectful title ''Adonai'' (Lord) other than in prayer (see names of God in Judaism), the book is sometimes called Or Hashem (אור השם) in verbal usage to avoid mentioning even this title of God directly. A partial translation of Crescas was produced by Harry Austryn Wolfson of Harvard University in 1929. Purpose of the work In the early medieval era there had been a tendency for some Jewish religious rationalists to reinterpret classical Jewish theology in the light of then-current philosophy, specifically neo-Aristotelian rationalism. This was the program of Jewish rationalist philosophers such as Saadia Gaon, Maimonides (who was influenced by Ibn Sina aka Avicenna), and Gersonides (who was influenced by Ibn Roshd, aka Averroes). In the view of Crescas, this point of view often l ...
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Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical Schoo ...
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