PART C – THE “EVOLUTIONARY CREATION” THEORY
In the third part of the trilogy we will trace the link between the scalding topic of “Evolutionary Creation” and the Kabbalah. As it will become evident further along, this theory was nothing more than an invention of the Kabbalists, and later embraced by the Zionists for purely political reasons.
Interwoven in this topic are three chapters: a) the dating of the universe, b) the pre-Adamians theory, and c) evolutionary creation.
A different kind of presentation will be followed in this chapter, than the one in the previous chapters. Excerpts will be quoted from the works of the Kabbalists and the Zionists themselves - all of them Jews - where there will also be plenty of references to the works of earlier rabbis. The author’s contribution (a.c.) is the insertion of explanatory comments.
- The dating of the universe.
In this chapter the quotations are taken from Aryeh Kaplan's article, “The Age of the Universe”, found in his collection of works titled “Immortality, Resurrection and the Age of the Universe”, published by Yaakov Elman in 1993.
Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983), was a rabbi in Mason City, Iowa and, albeit an orthodox Jew, had a complete knowledge of the teachings of the Kabbalah.
Also quoted are excerpts from the writings of the Chicago Kabbalist Rabbi Harav Ariel bar Tzazok, which can be found on his website.
“The Sabbatical Cycles” ((a.c.) The theory of Semita, singular Semitot)
The only option that remains to be examined is to look into the classical literature on the Torah and see if there is any relative reference to the age of the universe. It is significant to note that there is a very important (although not very well known), topic under discussion in the “Sefer ha-Temunah”, an ancient Kabbalistic work attributed to Nehunya ben ha-Kanah, a first century rabbi of the Tanayim. The work discusses the forms of the Hebrew letters and is the source where most opinions of the legalist (“halakha”) literature are cited. Thus the “Sefer ha-Temunah” is not some unknown and insignificant work, but a work upon which many halakha experts depend.
“Sefer ha-Teunah” talks about the Sabbatical cycles (shemitot). This is based on the Talmudic teaching that the world will exist for six thousand years and in the seventh millennium it will be destroyed (Sanhedrin 97a). The “Sefer ha Temunah” states that this cycle of seven thousand years is a Sabbatical cycle. However, because there are seven Sabbath cycles in a Jubilee, the world is destined to exist for forty-nine thousand years. The question posed is: which Sabbatical cycle are we in today?
Some authorities maintain that we are in the second Sabbatical cycle. Others argue that we are in the seventh cycle. According to the second opinion, the universe must have been forty-two thousand years old when Adam was created. As we shall see, the implications of this are very significant.” Aryeh Kaplan p.6
“According to the Sefer ha-Tamunah, then, there were other worlds before Adam was created. These worlds were of previous Sabbatical cycles” - ibid p.7
“Among the earlier generations of Kabbalists, before the Ari'zal ((a.c.) Isaac Luria 16th century), the doctrine of the Shemita had been written about by almost all the Kabbalists, even the teacher of the Ari'zal, Rabbi David Ibn Zimra (pp. Here Ariel bar Tzazok insists on using Luria's name to create impressions. Luria himself never spoke of this). These Kabbalists taught that the doctrine of Shemita is not only found in oral tradition, but went directly to the text of the Torah to show that the history of time has not been fully told in the Bible” - Ariel bar Tzazok, “Pre-Adamic Civilizatios: Secrets of the kabbalistic Shemitot”, p.1
“In the Midrash (Gen. R. 3:7) a question is posed: what was God busy with, before the creation of this world? The Midrash states that God was busy creating and destroying worlds. Kabbalists have always had a deep insight and understanding of the nature of these pre-adamic worlds” - ibid.
“Another well-known midrashic teaching supports the theory of Sabbatical cycles. The Midrash states that God was creating universes and destroying them. A very important classical Kabbalistic text, the “Ma'arekhel Elokut”, states in detail that this verse refers to worlds that existed in previous Sabbatical cycles, before the creation of Adam. The same source states in detail that semi-active teaching, about the existence of other periods of time before this [creation], also speaks of the Sabbatical cycles”. Aryeh Kaplan p. 7
Further below, the development of the topic bears as an authority the Rabbi Isaac of Akko (1250-1350). Isaac was a student of Ramban or Rabbi Mose ben Nahman, one of the Kabbalistic authorities of his time. He is frequently mentioned in Rabbi Elijah de Vidas' work, “Reshit Hokhmah”. The Zohar was published in his day, and he was among those who had ruled on its authenticity.
“A few years ago I had acquired, as part of a research project, a photocopy of one of Rabbi Isaac's greatest works, the “Ozar ha-Hayyim”. In it I discovered an entirely new explanation of the theory of the Sabbatical cycles.”
Rabbi Isaac writes that since the Sabbatical cycles existed before Adam, their dating should not be measured by human years, but by divine years - hence the “Sefer ha-Temunah” speaking of divine years, when stating that the universe is forty-two thousand years old. This has some surprising consequences, because according to some midrashic sources, a divine day consists of a thousand earthly years, so a divine year equals 365,250 earthly years.
So, according to Rabbi Isaac of Akko, the universe is 42,000 x 365,250 years old. This results in 15,340,500,000 years, a very significant finding. From calculations based on the expansion of the universe and other cosmological observations, modern science has concluded that the Big Bang occurred approximately 15 billion years ago.
But here we see the same number given by a Torah source written about seven centuries ago”. ibid p. 9
- Pre-Adamians.
When Darwin released his theory about the origin of the species in the world, atheistic circles found the resources to fight the theistic views in “scientifically”. The Kabbalists did not “lose their cool” and proceeded to a compromise.
One of them, Rabbi Yisrael Lifshitz (1760-1862, Desau and later in Danzig) found a way to reconcile the paleontological findings of his time (mammoths, dinosaurs) with the teachings of Kabbalah.
In his work “Tiferes Yisrael”, a commentary on the Mishnah and specifically in the 11th chapter of his thesis “Sanhedrin”, he reasons that the fact the Torah does not refer to dinosaurs is because they had existed in a previous Sabbatical cycle. He then proceeds to refer to the pre-Adamians.
Quoted here is an excerpt from his work, taken from the English translation found in the book “Challenge, Torah Views on Science and its Problems” by Aryeh Carmell & Cyril Domb, Jerusalem 2000.
“From all this we can see that all Kabbalists have been telling us for many centuries about the fourfold destruction and renewal of the earth, which has found the clearest possible confirmation in our time....
“with its traditional four-fold “taggin”, the first letter of the Torah hides that our era is the fourth, and the fact that it is a “beth” ((a.c.) Beresith), and is written in capitals, reveals that the crown of Creation – i.e. the thinking person – is now inhabiting the world a second time.
For in my opinion, the prehistoric people, whose remains have been discovered in our time, and who lived long before Adam, are the same 974 pre-Adamic generations mentioned in the Talmud (Shabbat 88 and Chagigah 14) who lived in immediately preceding our own era” (p. 134).
Lifshitz's quote is somewhat inaccurate. It is the Chagigah 13B, quoted immediately below:
“It is taught that Rabbi Simeon the Pious said: These are the nine hundred and seventy-four generations which had progressed in order to be created (52)
52: (the note by the commentator of that edition)
According to the rabbinic translation of Psalm 105:8, the divine plan was for the creation of a thousand generations before delivering the Torah. Foreseeing their wickedness, God held back the 974 generations and gave the Torah to the 26 generations from Adam” (source : http://halakhah.com/pdf/moed/Chagigah.pdf))
Kabbalists therefore consider that these 974 withheld generations were pre-Adamic. Of historical interest is the comment by Lifshitz's translator, which is given immediately below:
“It is interesting to note that the approach given here by Rabbi Lipschitz has been accepted as a valid alternative by one of the greatest Halakah authorities of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Schwadron of Berzhan, Poland (the MaHaRSaM, 1835 -1911). See his work of Techelet Mordechai, Bereshit, (2).”
Rabbi Ariel bar Tzazok, mentioned above, writes in his same text:
“There are some Kabbalists, such as Rabbi Yehuda Fatayah, who in his work Beit Lekhem Yehuda (2.66A) wrote about these things by examining specific aspects of the Shemita doctrine. Even more, Rabbi Fatayah, in Minhat Yehuda (p. 222) expands on a verse from the Zohar, which speaks of Adam's pre-Adamic parents. It also states that Adam's parents had intercourse on a spiritual level, that his mother had conceived and given birth to Adam's body, which, as I mentioned earlier, was wholly non-physical. Where Adam's parents came from, the Rabbi Fatiyah does not say. However, he makes it clear that they were existent beings and not just a name for God' (pp. 3-4).
And in another text of his “Pre-Adamic Humanity”, 2013 he writes:
“The Talmud, Hagigah 13B, uses the midrashic method to deduce from scripture that there were 974 generations of mankind before Adam. One of the early Kabbalistic works, the Ma'arekhet Elokut, specifically states that the Talmud makes clear reference to human generations from previous Sabbatical cycles.
For some reason, as they progressed, the last generation of these 974 corrupted themselves and were destroyed by a combination of the divine plan and their own destructive choices. Our Adam and the biblical story come as a consequence of his destruction.
Indeed, later Kabbalistic literature states that Adam came to earth from another region ( a.c. - see second part) or dimension, with the specific purpose of serving as a mashiah (redeemer) to his predecessors. They translate Gen 2:15 which states that God placed Adam in Eden to work and tend the garden, as a reference to the redemptive nature of his initial mission.” (p. 2)
The following is of interest:
“Sages explain that this is why there are so many cross-cultural references to a prehistoric advanced civilization of some kind, commonly referred to as Atlantis or Mu (Lemuria).'
One wonders, what Kabbalistic purpose do conspiracy theories serve? To take these theories from the realm of science fiction over to the realm of acceptable reality?
George Hadzistamatiou Researcher
Translation: K. N.
Login