The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning
Page 38
I end with a fascinating comment by the nineteenth-century Jewish mystic Rabbi Zadok haCohen of Lublin (1823–1900).
Every day there are new interpretations of Torah, because every day, continually, God ‘renews the work of creation’. Since the world was created according to the Torah … presumably, the renewal of the world comes about through new aspects of Torah. That is why, after the blessing [in the morning prayers] ‘creator of the heavenly lights’ which speaks about the daily renewal of creation, the sages instituted a second blessing which is a form of blessing over the Torah … in which we ask to know the new interpretations of Torah which come about through the new aspects of creation. (This is in accordance with an idea I heard, namely that [in the beginning] God wrote a book, the universe, and then wrote a commentary to the book, namely the Torah, because the Torah explains the possessions of God in creation.)
Rabbi Zadok haCohen, Tzidkat ha-Tzaddik, 92
According to Rabbi Zadok, since the God of creation is the God of revelation, and since the Torah is itself a commentary on the natural world, every new scientific discovery generates new religious insight. By daily renewing creation, God is daily renewing revelation, our insight into his creative will.
For Further Reading
Aviezer, Nathan, Fossils and Faith: Understanding Torah and Science, Hoboken, NJ, KTAV Publishing House, 2001.
Aviezer, Nathan, In the Beginning: Biblical Creation and Science, Hoboken, NJ, KTAV Publishing House, 1990.
Blidstein, Gerald J., and Jacob J. Schacter, Judaism’s Encounter with Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?, Northvale, NJ, Jason Aronson, 1997.
Branover, Herman, and Ilana Coven Attia, Science in the Light of Torah: A B’or Ha’Torah Reader, Northvale, Jason Aronson, 1994.
Brill, Alan, Thinking God: The Mysticism of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin, New York, Michael Scharf Publication Trust of the Yeshiva University Press, 2002.
Cantor, G. N., and Marc Swetlitz, Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Carmell, Aryeh, and Cyril Domb, Challenge: Torah Views on Science and Its Problems, London, Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, 1976.
Funkenstein, Amos, Theology and the Scientific Imagination: From the Middle Ages to the 17th Century, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1986.
Hertz, Joseph H., The Pentateuch and Haftorahs: Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary, London, Soncino, 1937.
Kaplan, Aryeh, and Y. Elkins, Facets and Faces, Jerusalem, Moznaim Publishers, 1993.
Kaplan, Aryeh, Yaakov Elman, and Israel Ben Gedaliah Lipschutz, Immortality, Resurrection, and the Age of the Universe: A Kabbalistic View, Hoboken, NJ, KTAV Publishing House in association with the Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, 1993.
Kelemen, Lawrence, Permission to Believe, Brooklyn, NY, Targum, 1991.
Kook, Abraham Isaac, and Ben Zion Bokser, The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, Teanack, NJ, Ben Yehuda, 2006.
Landa, Judah, Torah and Science, Hoboken, NJ, KTAV Publishing House, 1991.
Levi, Yehudah Leo, Torah and Science: Their Interplay in the World Scheme, Nanuet, Jerusalem, Feldheim, 2006.
Schroeder, Gerald L., Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery of Harmony between Modern Science and the Bible, New York, Bantam, 1990.
Schroeder, Gerald L., God According to God: A Physicist Proves We’ve Been Wrong about God All Along, New York, HarperOne, 2009.
Schroeder, Gerald L., The Hidden Face of God: How Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth, New York, Free Press, 2001.
Schroeder, Gerald L., The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom, New York, Free Press, 1997.
Shatz, David, and Joel B. Wolowelsky, Mind, Body and Judaism: The Interaction of Jewish Law with Psychology and Biology, New York, Michael Scharf Publication Trust of Yeshiva University Press, 2004.
Slifkin, Nosson, The Challenge of Creation: Judaism’s Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and Evolution, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel, Zoo Torah, 2006.
Slifkin, Nosson, Man and Beast: Our Relationships with Animals in Jewish Law and Thought, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel, Zoo Torah, 2006.
Slifkin, Nosson, Perek Shirah: Nature’s Song, Jerusalem, Urim, 2009.
Slifkin, Nosson, Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel, Zoo Torah, 2007.
Soloveitchik, Joseph Dov, The Halakhic Mind: An Essay on Jewish Tradition and Modern Thought, Ardmore, Seth, 1986.
Soloveitchik, Joseph Dov, and Michael S. Berger, The Emergence of Ethical Man, Jersey City, NJ, KTAV Publishing House, 2005.
ALSO BY JONATHAN SACKS
Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: Emerging Trends in Traditional Judaism
Celebrating Life: Finding Happiness in Unexpected Places
The Chief Rabbi’s Haggadah
Community of Faith
Covenant and Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis, the Book of Beginnings
Covenant and Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Exodus, the Book of Redemption
Crisis and Covenant: Jewish Thought After the Holocaust
The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations
Faith in the Future: The Ecology of Hope and the Restoration of Family, Community, and Faith
From Optimism to Hope: Thoughts for the Day
The Home We Build Together: Re-creating Society
The Koren Sacks Rosh HaShana Mahzor
The Koren Sacks Siddur
A Letter in the Scroll: Understanding Our Jewish Identity and Exploring the Legacy of the World’s Oldest Religion
Morals and Markets
One People?: Tradition, Modernity, and Jewish Unity
The Persistence of Faith: Religion, Morality and Society in a Secular Age
The Politics of Hope
Radical Then, Radical Now: The Legacy of the World’s Oldest Religion
To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility
Tradition in an Untraditional Age
Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?: Jewish Continuity and How to Achieve It
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth since 1991 and has received honorary degrees from universities around the world. He is the award-winning author of more than twenty books, writes frequently for The Times (London) and other periodicals, and is heard regularly on the BBC. He was made a Life Peer and took his seat in the House of Lords in October 2009.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CHIEF RABBI, PLEASE VISIT HIM:
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ALSO AVAILABLE IN EBOOK FORMAT BY RABBI JONATHAN SACKS
Future Tense • 978-0-8052-4284-3
To Heal a Fractured World • 978-0-375-42519-6
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www.schocken.com