Someone just told me that her daughter found out that two of her friends don't believe in evolution because they think that the Bible contradicts evolution and wants to know what we liberal Jews think.
While there are certainly people who think that way within Judaism, there is no reason for the Bible to contradict science. The first 11 chapters of the Book of Genesis were actually intended to be explanations of the origins of many things in the world. They are mythology in the best sense: explanations for how things came to be that teach underlying lessons about our perception of reality.
This was the original intent of these stories, as the modern writing of history just began a few centuries ago. The ancients were writing about such things as:
Genesis 1: the orderliness of creation, culminating in the creation of humanity to rule over creation and the sabbath as holy time;
Genesis 1-2: all humanity, regardless of place of origin, was created in God's image and shares equal status in God's eyes;
Genesis 3: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Garden of Eden: why we don't live forever, the origins of evil, why the world does not seem to be a perfect place, why women bear children in pain, why the ground must be tilled requiring toil, etc.
Genesis 4: the story of Cain and Abel: the definition of murder. Murder is when you illegally kill your brother. There were other people in the world, as the story has Cain decrying his exile and stating that others will kill him. But murder is when you kill someone within your own kinship group for whom you are responsible. Hence the question asked by Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Genesis 6-9: the flood story: the origin of eating meat, the aetiology and meaning of the rainbow, and the promise that God will never again destroy humanity.
Genesis 11: the origin or languages.
While there are certainly people who think that way within Judaism, there is no reason for the Bible to contradict science. The first 11 chapters of the Book of Genesis were actually intended to be explanations of the origins of many things in the world. They are mythology in the best sense: explanations for how things came to be that teach underlying lessons about our perception of reality.
This was the original intent of these stories, as the modern writing of history just began a few centuries ago. The ancients were writing about such things as:
Genesis 1: the orderliness of creation, culminating in the creation of humanity to rule over creation and the sabbath as holy time;
Genesis 1-2: all humanity, regardless of place of origin, was created in God's image and shares equal status in God's eyes;
Genesis 3: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Garden of Eden: why we don't live forever, the origins of evil, why the world does not seem to be a perfect place, why women bear children in pain, why the ground must be tilled requiring toil, etc.
Genesis 4: the story of Cain and Abel: the definition of murder. Murder is when you illegally kill your brother. There were other people in the world, as the story has Cain decrying his exile and stating that others will kill him. But murder is when you kill someone within your own kinship group for whom you are responsible. Hence the question asked by Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
Genesis 6-9: the flood story: the origin of eating meat, the aetiology and meaning of the rainbow, and the promise that God will never again destroy humanity.
Genesis 11: the origin or languages.
These are just some of the things taught in these ahistorical biblical chapters that were never meant to be a literal history of the planet or the origin of people, but explain to us the more important lessons of the relationships between people, the authority of human beings, and the place of good and evil in the world.
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