Questions tagged [creation]
Questions about the creation of the world.
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is one an apikores for believing that only Darwin's evolution is a possibility? [duplicate]
Given that the torah's account of creation clearly seems to state that man was created independently from the animals, and likewise, the animals, plants, were created from the ground, would someone ...
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Why two genders?
Why did G-d make it that all animals need both genders to procreate?
Couldn't He just make one kind of animal per species and give it the ability to produce children on its own?
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Makers and Creators: Job 35:10 & 12:1 Kohelet singular v.s. plural
After reading the description of the Zohar from the Chabad website, I got confused:
What is the correct translation for Job 35:10: 'My Maker', ' Our Maker', or Makers?
After searching the internet ...
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How did G-d make animals and how did they became living beings?
I read a couple of questions and answers that are related to mine, but I could not find any answer to my specific question.
The first human being was formed from the dust of the ground; this became ...
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"God looked into the Torah to create the world"
There is a known saying written in many places, including the Zohar and Medrash Bereishis Rabba, that says: "God looked at the Torah and then made the world". What is the meaning of this saying? The ...
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Definitions of Creative Words
What is the difference between יצירה, בריאה, and עשייה? (Three terms for creation). The first is used in Genesis (1:1), the second in Genesis (2:7), the third in Genesis (1:11).
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Why use language of לברוא in brachot?
The bracha over wine and grape juice says "בורא פרי העץ". The word בורא is also used in many of the other brachot over food and smells.
My understanding is that the meaning of the verb-root ב.ר.א.&...
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Dilemma for Jewish Scientists
A member of my shul, scientist who was on the short-list to win a Nobel a couple of years ago, made an interesting point about his own ethical issue. As a scientist involved in biology, professionally,...
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Proof that Hashem recreates the world every day
It says in the first blessing before the morning Shema that Hashem
renews, in His goodness, every day, the work of Creation, as it says: "To the One Who creates great luminaries, for eternal is His ...
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How does "וירא א׳ את האור כי טוב" imply goodness per se?
Haamek Davar to B'reshis 1:4 explains that "טוב" can mean either "good for its intended purpose" (even if that purpose is not good) or "good in truth". The אור (light, let's say) created on the first ...
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Did HaShem forget Chava in the creation?
After the creation HaShem says: Bereshit 1:31: 'And Elohim saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was tov me’od (very good).' I guessed that Adam was also tov me'od, but then i red the ...
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How do we respond to the argument of "stupid design"?
What would counter-arguments from the Jewish perspective be to arguments like the ones in this video against intelligent design? The basic premise is that humans, Earth, and the universe are, in fact, ...
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Why did God make such a vast, expansive universe? [duplicate]
The title pretty much says it all — but it certainly seems unnecessary and plays very well into the theories of people such as Richard Dawkins. How are we best to respond to this challenge of theirs?
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Is there a Jewish tradition according to which each creative day was 7000 years?
I remember hearing (long ago, so it could be that I remember wrong) that, according to a Jewish tradition, the last day of creation (Gods day or rest) is 7000 years long and that consequently the ...
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Good vs. Evil (wrong)
My question might be similar to other questions posted on this website;
After the creation HaShem says: Bereshit 1:31: 'And Elohim saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was tov me’od (...
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Why the wait between God's creation of the tongs to the first metalworker?
It says in Pirkei Avot 5:6 that God made the first pair of tongs immediately before creation.
The first person to make metal tools was Tubal Cain, who lived in the generation before the flood. Why ...
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Why is it important that God created the first pair of tongs?
It says in Pirkei Avot 5:6 that God made the first pair of tongs immediately before creation.
Could not one have made tongs out of bone or wood wrapped in leather or made with a metal, such as gold, ...
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"And it was evening, and it was morning, *one* day"?
Gen. 1:5:
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד
And it was evening, and it was morning, one day
Gen. 1:8:
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם שֵׁנִי
and it was evening, and it was ...
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Why do we believe that God is all powerful? [duplicate]
The only way we could know that God is all powerful is if we knew that He created the universe — then, logically, He would be all-powerful within it. (And, to the best of our knowledge, nothing exists ...
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Do Jews Believe Dinosaurs Lived in the Same Time Period as Humans?
According to the book of Genesis, animals and humans were created on the 6th day. I am wondering what Jews think of dinosaurs.
When tested for dating (radioactive decay), their bones appear to be ...
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How old is the Earth?
There are few versions of the age of the Earth Wikipedia Article but they seem to be mostly (all?) from christian interpretations. Are there estimations from the Tanakh, with Jewish interpretations?
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What is the purpose of the mosquito?
Everything created was created for the purpose of serving G-d's ultimate plan for his creation which is to acknowledge G-d. What lesson or use can we make from mosquitos?
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Was there sentient life with free will in the worlds that G-d destroyed before making our world?
The midrash at B'reshis Rabba 3:7 states that G-d created a number of worlds and destroyed them before the creation of our world. Is the Midrash implying that the earlier worlds included sentient ...
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Genesis 2:7 vs 2:19
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord G-d formed man of the dust of the ground vs. :19 And out of the ground the Lord G-d formed every beast of the field
I just want to know the difference between "the dust of ...
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What class of entity are Wisdom and Death?
Most Jews and Christians will only recognize the angels as being the only other spirits made by G0d, but angels are not omnipresent nor omnipotent and it seems to me that the Spirit of Wisdom in ...
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source that purpose of this is world is as an arena for human free will
In a lecture on science, Rabbi David Gotlieb states that the purpose of nature is to provide a misleading appearance that the world carries itself, and the purpose of that is to provide an arena for ...
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What is the need for angels?
Why did G-d create angels to assign them specific tasks (Bava Metzia 86b)? Since G-d is omnipotent, what is the need for angels -- why doesn't He perform these tasks directly?
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How can Hashem make a mistake in thinking to make the world with Elokim (Midas Hadin)
Genesis 1:1 Rashi s.v. ברא א-להים:
ברא א-להים: ולא אמר ברא ה׳, שבתחלה עלה במחשבה לבראתו במדת הדין, ראה שאין העולם מתקיים, הקדים מדת רחמים ושתפה למדת הדין, היינו דכתיב (להלן ב ד) ביום עשות ה׳ א-להים ...
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What is the point of the first possuk of the Torah?
1:1 Breishis
According to Rashi that says that the possuk is an introduction (in the beginning of creation of the heavens and the earth). My question is why does the torah need a introductory possuk?...
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What is the reason for the specific items listed in Pirkei Avot 5:6 being created just before Shabbat?
Pirkei Avot chapter 5, mishnah 6 says:
Ten things were created at twilight of Shabbat eve. These are: the
mouth of the earth [that swallowed Korach]; the mouth of [Miriam's]
well; the mouth of [...
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Did the sages know Maaseh Bereishis?
According to some, Maaseh Bereishis means science and Maaseh Merkava means meta-physics.
The Gemara mentions many scientific (and health) statements, many of which the Rambam famously held were ...
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Differences between Genesis 1 and 2
I understand that Judaism teaches "Torah Inerrancy", so I assume that Judaism does take the creation account as narrated in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 pretty seriously.
But as we all know, Genesis 1 ...
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Sources for the world being round in the Gemara
Can anyone bring me proofs from the Gemara that proves the world was round-and that this was known 2000+ years ago?
I have looked around and I can't seem to find any sources which prove this.
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Who suggests that Creation Ex nihilo was only a small point and light?
If this is a simple minded question, please forgive me, but I'm not Jewish and so most of my information is via naive study and second hand.
I've been told by a Jewish friend in my physics class ...
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Why did God say יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם, it should happen by itself naturally
In Bereishis 1:9 it says וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה , And God said, "Let the water that is beneath the heavens gather into one ...
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Does God continually (re)create the physical world?
1) Does God continually renew the physical world in the sense that if he didn't give direct input at any given moment it would disappear?
2) If the answer to #1 is that God does continually (re)...
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Did Adam and Eve have bellybuttons, fingerprints or ridge over lip?
Since they were created by God and did not form in a womb and had no umbilical chord did they have bellybuttons or fingerprints (that are formed by womb pressure) or upper lip ridge which the malach ...
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Commentaries concerning the meaning of Breishit 1:1
What do the Rabbis say about the meaning of the beginning of the Tanach – specifically, do they read the first verse as a kind of overview of creation (since Shamayim and Aretz did not exist before ...
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Where was Adam created?
The Torah tells us G-d brought Adam into Gan Eden after his creation from earth (Bereishis 2:15). If this is the case where was Adam created?
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Is there a Jewish tradition of commentary on Genesis prior to Philo? [closed]
I'm interested to know where I might find out more about Jewish commentators on the story of the Creation, Fall and Expulsion from Eden as described in Genesis.
Is there a Jewish equivalent to the ...
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Plants before the Sun in the Order of Creation
Why does plant life precede the Sun in the order of creation given that plants need the Sun to do photosynthesis?
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Why "nostrils" and not mouth?
Breishit 2:7:
... He blew into his nostrils the soul of life ...
Why did HaShem use nostrils instead of mouth?
PS. ISTR that, according to a midrash, the fire which killed Nadav & Avihu did ...
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What exactly was Adam's "rib" that was used to fashion Eve?
My question is out of the book of Genesis. The description of the "rib" being taken out
and used to fashion Eve. I was told the word rib in this content from a Rabbi that this
would also have the ...
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Is there anyone that says that the "us" in "let us make man btzelem elokim" is referring to humans?
Is there anyone that says that the "us" in "let us make man btzelem elokim" is referring to humans I'm working on a d'var Torah at the moment and hoping for a source to back the idea up that Hashem ...
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What does Judaism have to say about the origin of elements?
What does Judaism have to say about the origin of the elements? I mean chemical elements like hydrogen, oxygen, gold, sulfur, etc. Is this discussed at all?
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Kalam Cosmological Argument
Wikipedia writes:
The Kalām cosmological argument is a variation of the cosmological argument that argues for the existence of a first cause for the universe, and the existence of a god. Its ...
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What is meant by the 974 "worlds" that were "created and destroyed"?
Midrash Tehillim 90:13 says that God created and destroyed 974 worlds before this one. What exactly does that mean?
I've heard it used in defense of a modern understanding of evolution and cosmology ...
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Could I became a Jew in the next cosmic reborn/reboot?
Hindu people believe that the Cosmos is dying and emerging in a never ending circle.
How is this seen by Jews and could I be born in the new Cosmos instance as a Jew, even if I am not?
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Does Genesis 2:4 say there was only one day of creation?
Right after it says all the different parts of the world and sky being created on six separate days and rest on the seventh, it says, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they ...
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Cicadas - once in 17 years
I was reading an article today regarding the Cicadas which appear once every 17 years.
Is there any Sefarim that discuss this phenomenon?
Also if they were created at the time the world was created, ...
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