Re: Darwinian exegesis (along with some 24-hour insights)

In a message dated 3/3/2005 1:56:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Jim Armstrong" <jarmstro@qwest.net> writes:

>Here is an excerpt from a response I received from a rabbi friend
>regarding a 24-hour day Creation. He embraces a fair amount of the
>mystic perspectives. It is included here primarily because it speaks to
>levels of understanding, but the overall insight is interesting as
>well.  JimA
><>
>"... Within the Jewish world, the Orthodoxy, which constitutes the
>majority of Rabbis in Israel, will accept the "24 hour day" definition
>for the word "yom"....However, the Torah traditionally contains four
>different levels known as "Pardase".  These levels were given to Moses
>at Sinai with only the first level being the story that is revealed in
>writing in the Torah.  The other levels were maintained in a strict oral
>tradition that was actually forbidden to write down and so was
>transmitted and memorized from generation to generation.  In these
>deeper levels of understanding of Torah there are different teachings
>that hang on the same words that make up the story but reveal a much
>wider body of knowledge.  So the phrase, " It was evening and it was
>morning"  actually refers to the process of emanation of an Essential
>light (Divine quality) which is called a "yom" (day)  as it moves from
>evening (concealment) to morning (revelation).  It is not a measure of
>time. Only those teachers who have received initiation into the deeper
>levels will be aware of this.  Of course, in response to the argument
>between science and religion about the age of the world, defenders of
>the 7 days as time have had to either close their minds or search for
>some stretch to explain away dinosaur bones.  ..."

Thank you Jim. That is precisely what Adolf Franck says:
"In the Mishna (Haggiga, sec.2) we find this remarkablke passage: The story of Genesis(the creation) is not to be explained to two men, the story of the Merkaba (heavenly chariot) not even to one, unless he be wise and can deduce wisdom of his own accord."

rich
Received on Thu Mar 3 18:11:06 2005