Rabbi Natan Slifkin at Yeshiva University

For More information please visit www.yu.edu

[@chodeshadar18]

The world began to question the Torah not with Darwin, but with Copernicus and Galileo.

[@purpleandgreen]

@ptowngirl87, There is a whole school of thought within religious, Orthodox, devout Judaism that says we do not have to take the rabbis thoughts on science as literal truths. No one follows all the health advice of the Gemarah, for example. Even rabbis who believe it is "true" believe it holds only spiritual, not literal, truth. There is a lot of diversity of belief (sheva panim l'torah - elu v'elu devarim elokim chayim) on this very issue.

[@tamarbeione4569]

Rabbi Slifkin - very thought provoking lecture. Question: If the dinosaurs were destroyed before our world was created then why do we have remnants of dinosaurs bones from that period? Since the world was tohu vavohu before sheshet yemei bereishis then it would seem that your theory is quite problematic.

[@macattali]

Rabbi thank you so much such an interesting shuir! Please post more educational videos !

[@redscarecomixx8488]

I think his dismissal of the Tiferes Yisrael requires some proof, at least.

[@ConnectorIQ]

Ye very wild to dismiss the tiferes Yisroel

[@purpleandgreen]

This is great! Thanks for sharing.

[@purpleandgreen]

Also, @ptowngirl87, if we really followed that system of thought on the written Torah, we would be Tzedokim. We do not follow the Chumash literally. We do not take an "eye for an eye". The Chumash was written in very literary language, and there is, again, a huge diversity of belief on if the when the Torah quotes a character, it was their literal words (for an example).

[@Forkroute]

He didn't "make up", the story isn't literal. It has a deeper meaning winch shallow people like you cannot understand.

[@Forkroute]

Extremely interesting Rabbi. Thank you!

[@Reporterreporter770]

Creationism is any belief that asserts that some god(s) created the universe and/or its contents via magic, rather than that the universe arose through purely natural processes.

[@chatisawasteoftime]

Explain how an apple would appear out of nowhere through a purely natural process.

[@benfeltz7785]

It's called biology. Buy a book that discusses this at length. There are plenty.

[@chatisawasteoftime]

Suggest one, please, preferable one you've read and understood.

[@Reporterreporter770]

A god, goddesss, or deity is a kinda-to-über powerful dude, gal, or creature that has supernatural powers to impact this world. Gods are also often attributed some degree of characterisation that gives them motive to interact with and care about the lives of humans and the natural world. Usually, though not always, someone, somewhere worships said deity. Most people believe that every deity but their own select few are a false deity or mere "mythology".

[@ThornUvDaath777]

does anyone know if anyone like Rabbi Slifkin has ever tackled the issue of the Torah asserting that everything once ate plant-life, when science is no doubt opposed to such an idea (because common sense seems to oppose it, too)?

[@shutupavi]

It’s a midrash. Where in the Torah does it say anything about vegetarianism?

[@michaelbergman8758]

I don’t know much about the topic and don’t have an opinion on it. I can, however, point out that it is a fallacy to argue that dinosaurs exist because there certainly “isn’t a global conspiracy among scientists” to fool everyone. This fallacy is known as a “straw man”, where the subject reconstructs the opposition’s argument in an absurd manner, making it easier to debunk. In reality, he is debunking his own newly-constructed argument, and not that of the opposition. No sane person claims to know of a worldwide conspiracy among scientists re dinosaurs. Some simply say that the scientists can be mistaken, as they have arrived at a conclusion other than what they perceive to be the Torah approach to the subject. R. Slifkin certainly has addressed that argument, and would be more successful in doing so in absence of the ever present ad hominems. Thanks for uploading the video.

[@musicnote91]

:) There's no greater sign of lack of confidence in one's point than resorting to personal insults.

[@mosescordovero8163]

actually there is a greater sign than that, namely censorship

[@YeshivaUniversity]

Comments that contain hate-speech are not welcome and will be deleted

[@mosescordovero8163]

hate speech of course being defined as anybody who dares to disagree with Yeshiva University

[@Reporterreporter770]

Judaism arose several thousand years ago in the Middle East, descending apparently from the local polytheistic traditions of twelve (technically thirteen, one of the tribes was in fact a combination of two tribes that held common descent) tribes of an ethnic group known as the Hebrews (traditionally, the ancient nations of Israel, Judah, Edom, Moab, and Ammon); these people may have had their origins in itinerant tribes known in Egyptian as "Habiru" in the ancient Middle East. The precise origin is lost to history, but is described with unknown accuracy in Biblical mythology (dealt with in depth at Wikipedia.Wikipedia's W.svg) According to the Book of Judith, Holofernes, when he inquired of the lineage of the Israelites, was told they were of Chaldean descent: Judith 5:6: This people are descended of the Chaldeans.

[@shutupavi]

I think the Habiru link has been ruled out. The truth is we’ll probably never know.

[@ptowngirl87]

Second of all, to say that Breishis should not be taken literally is also heresy! I would like to hear what this man has to say about Krias Yam Suf, the Manna, and other miracles spoken about in the Torah. Does he also attempt to explain that these events did not ACTUALLY take place?? Torah is TRUTH. If you say that there is even a SMELL to it that is not truth, then it puts the veracity of the entire Torah into doubt.

[@boliussa]

I suppose we never have 100% certainty, but if it contradicts firmly established science then he's saying he won't interpret it literally. To say a miracle took place, doesn't contradict science 'cos science can't really give evidence against a miracle having taken place.

[@silverrush2508]

Are you calling Rambam a heretic?

[@Sam_101.]

He actually said in a different video that kriat yam sif happened with a storm, a strong wind blew the water in a certain direction and that how we past, and the miracle was the timing, I don’t know if this guy in genuinely religious

[@pistoleroh2]

Are rabbis supposed to be involved with nonsense of whether or not dinosaurs were alive? What does that have to do with serving G-d?

[@chatisawasteoftime]

He's not a Rabbi.

[@ndnegin]

We keep Shabbos as a testimony to the 7th day when G-d rested from creating the world in 6 days. The Lubavitcher Rebbe says that this teaches us that this part of Torah is to be taken literally,and those Rabbis who say the contrary, are, with all due respect, mistaken.

[@benfeltz7785]

See Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, and frankly most rishonim who say that the order of sheishes yemei bereishis are in their words "lav davka".

[@1945918]

D-us não se revela às pessoas através do intelecto. Os caminhos de D-us são outros.

[@ptowngirl87]

Each day of sheshes yemei beraishis must have been a 24 hour day just as we know a day to be today. The whole foundation of keeping Shabbos on the 7th day of every week is based on this. To say that the days of creation were actually millions of years shakes the very foundation and essence of all of Judaism. I can't believe this man portrays himself as a religious Jew!

[@dandydan999]

He is attempting to use his knowledge of science and Torah (some meforshim) to reconcile Bereishis. While certainly a controversial topic, there are other more classical responses to this. 1. Yes, each day 1-7 correspond to a day and a 24 hour period, and as you state, Shabbos as commemoration of sheishes ymei bereishis (SY"B). However, as HKB"H was in creation mode, as it were, the laws of nature did not apply yet, in the way they do post SY"B. Therefore, all the fossilization, carbon dating, etc. cannot account for the SY"B period and the age of the earth. This can be clearly understood as the Sun/Moon/Starts were not fixed in the firmament until Day 4. 2. The sequence of events in SY"B and what we find in the earth strata have been further modified during the mabul. Before the mabul, there was one continent. The separate continents were formed as a result of the mabul. The extinction of different animals could have been the result of the mabul moving land masses away from the equator and the change in climate as a result.

[@shutupavi]

Interesting. I hope in the last 10 years you’ve changed your mind

[@josephking1947]

The Torah tells us Hashems creation was defiled by the fallen angels

[@dannycohn8512]

אפיקורוס אין לו חלק לעולם הבא

[@ptowngirl87]

This approach of misconstruing Torah in order to make them comply to modern science is utterly despicable. Science is based on theories that change and evolve and get disproved. It has not stood the test of time. Torah, on the other hand, is an everlasting truth that can never change. The correct approach to seeming discrepancies between Torah and Science is to just wait for Science to come around and eventually "catch up" to the wisdom of Torah, as history has shown.

[@gabshmabs]

He is trying very hard as an apologist to show that the bible was actually written by God, if he spends a fraction of time studying the text critically , the same way he studied science, he will see that the bible is a book edited and re-edited in the course of perhaps 500 years by priest, tribal leaders . There is no need to try and make the case that God "packaged" the bible for a certain kind of people. All the Near east law codes did it, Check out the famous Amourabi , very similar.

[@chatisawasteoftime]

If, as you claim to know, the bible was edited and reedited, you must also know who did the original writing, the editing, and the reediting.

[@boliussa]

+gabsh learnt to spell, you mean hammurabi

[@shutupavi]

@Bobby Tawil the Tanach as we have it today was edited by 2 Geonim in Bavel. It’s not a secret, look up origins of the Masoretic Text. Did you ever wonder certain words are “kri” and “ksiv” ?

[@shutupavi]

@Bobby Tawil are you certain?

[@ptowngirl87]

This sounds like total Apikorsus to me! How could this man portray himself as a religious Jew? First of all, Torah was given to all Jews in all times equally. And it is heretical to say that Torah errs in the realm of science, but remains only relevant in the realm of theology. In the Torah we can find all the answers to everything about life!

[@doug2279]

Basically he is fnding a very dodgy explanation for it all.