Age of the Earth

Jonathan Katz (frisch1@MIT.EDU)
Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:02:15 EDT

It has always seemed to me very likely that the Earth was created many
millions of years ago, and the 5757 that we have only goes back to the time
of Adam (in fact, this is made explicitly clear from Chazal, that the 5757
begins from the creation of Adam, and not from the creation of the world).
Who knows how long the "six days" of creation in between the creation of
the world and the creation of Adam could be?

In fact, I believe this approach works out nicely. Although neanderthal
"men" existed long before 6000 years ago, the first civilizations (I am
thinking here of Sumer) begain just about 6000 years ago. If we assume that
the "creation" of Adam involved breathing a soul into some proto-human
(i.e. neanderthal) being, then the nefesh of Adam gives him qualities which
are uniquely human, i.e. building cities, and written and spoken
communication. Well, about 6000 years ago is when the first cities and
written languages appear...

Food for thought.

Jonathan Katz frisch1@mit.edu