Question: In the Bible, was each day of creation a 24 hour day?
I am trying to understand Torah. I am caught up on the first seven days of creation. Are they actual 24 hours each? Is the universe just 5766 years old? If so, how does Judaism explains the age of mountains, dinosaurs, older civilizations?
Answer: Let's start with some basic questions instead of answers (I apologize I'm Jewish :).
We find that the world was created in seven "days". Each one had an evening and a morning. Now the first day included the creation of light; so what was a "day"?
This question begs a new definition of the term "day".
Some people explain that we find that "1000 years in Your (G-d's) eyes is like yesterday"; so each "day" is equivalent to 1000 years. There is considerable discussion in the Kabbalistic literature about the world existing for 7000 years total. But let us stay on a simpler level.
However even with that explanation we really do not know what time would be defined by before the advent of a system of time. We are left with the realization that this primordial "day" means something that we have no language for. Therefore time also doesn't mean the same thing. I am not really explaining what it is; just what it isn't.
Next question. Let us say that G-d created the world 6000 years ago. Most of the light we see in the sky would still be to far away from us to see. Light travels at a relatively constant rate so how do we understand that?
Rav Avigdor Miller explains that G-d placed us in a world which was fully developed and ready for our benefit. If He hadn't, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the stars, mountains etc. He wanted us to be able to use the world & that demanded that the light come into existence in transit, the mountains already there etc. That is what it means if the world is actually 6000 years old. Not that there was a virgin planet undeveloped & immature at the time of creation.
Similarly we find that our Sages, of blessed memory, explain that animals were created fully grown. There is no chicken or egg question. G-d created a developed and useful world.
The last thing I would like to share with you is the famous issue of carbon dating. Though my previous point definitely affects this issue; there is an even simpler fact to take into account. Our Sages, of blessed memory, teach us that the flood was boiling hot and contained sulphuric acid & the world was burned down to a "fresh" start. everything was aged in this process. There is no intelligent way to calculate for the affect on carbon dating of being boiled in sulphuric acid for 40 days.
If you would like to read more on this topic I recommend Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's Immortality, Resurrection, and the Age of the Universe: A Kabballistic View. In general his works are profound and useful.
Also there is a very nice article on the Ohr Samayach Web site that I highly recommend.
Wishing you continued success in your exploration of your heritage,
Rabbi A. Page
