Torah and Science: The Age of the World

Judaism affirms that the world was created precisely 5786 years ago. Modern science speaks of billions of years. Is there really a contradiction?

According to the course, Rav Ziegler was not only a great Torah scholar but also a recognized scientific expert: head of all standard measurements in Israel (Primary Standards); he reportedly set the measurement standards for Israeli civil and military aviation; a specialist in metrology; deeply knowledgeable in physics and astronomy.

According to the course, the Rav did not avoid confrontation with modern science: he took part in university debates, asked for public confrontations, used the latest scientific data and demonstrated the internal contradictions of certain theories.

His main message, as presented: modern scientific theories about billions of years are filled with contradictions and measurement errors; the only reliable measurements confirm what the Torah has always taught.

Outline of the course: the Big Bang; fossils; stalagmites (the proof of the flood); the knowledge of the Talmud; the conclusion.

The Big Bang theory affirms that the universe began with a massive expansion about 10 to 15 billion years ago, based on the observation that galaxies are moving apart, calculations of the speed of expansion and the speed of light (Einstein's theory).

Galaxies older than the Big Bang. According to the course, the Big Bang is dated at about 10-13 billion years, but galaxies 15 billion years old would have been discovered: how could they be older than the event that created them?

Conclusion of the course: this contradiction was never resolved; that is why people now speak of an “average” of 12.5 billion years, a compromise that resolves nothing.

The arrangement of galaxies in spheres. According to the course, galaxies did not scatter homogeneously but are organized in precise spherical structures. Two scientists (Goos and Panzias) reportedly combined Weinberg's theory with the Big Bang to explain it; this requires a particle, the monopole, extremely heavy (10^16 times the weight of a proton), which can live only 6000 years. So, for galaxies to form in spheres as observed, the whole Big Bang would have had to form in 6000 years at most. The Rav sums up: some publish 10 billion years, others 15, the necessary particle can exist only 6000 years: “They understand nothing!”

Einstein's speed of light. All Big Bang datings rest on the principle that the speed of light is constant. According to the course, Einstein measured it in the vacuum of Earth's atmosphere; nothing proves it is the same in the absolute vacuum of space, whereas it changes in water and in solids.

The Rav's answer to scientists: “Sort it out among yourselves first, then come and see us, the religious!” According to the course, theories of billions of years are filled with internal contradictions, based on unproven assumptions, unable to explain their own observations, and very far from scientifically proven.

Scientists date fossils to millions, even billions of years. To explain the principle of decay measurements, the Rav offers an analogy: a container above with a dripping faucet, a container below collecting the water. One finds 1000 liters below and measures that the faucet drips 1 liter per hour: how long has it been leaking? Naive answer: 1000 hours.

This measurement is true only if no one touched the faucet; if there was enough water above (at least 1000 liters); if the lower container was really under the faucet; if conditions stayed constant (temperature, pressure). According to the course, with uranium, thorium, etc., scientists cannot verify any of these conditions.

The staircase problem. “You have stairs going up from the bottom to the top. Someone is sitting in the middle of the staircase. How do you know whether he is sitting because he is resting while going UP or going DOWN?” Applied to radioactive elements: at the bottom lead (light), at the top uranium (heavy), in the middle thorium and others. Are these intermediate elements there because uranium decayed (descent) or because light elements were forming to become uranium (ascent)? According to the course, there is no way to know.

Recent discoveries. According to the course, three new methods (the “Floriot” method, “fluorosis” control, measurement of the “microphobite ionite”) would make it possible to know how much uranium there was at the start, to check whether the lead really comes from uranium and to control pressure and temperature. Announced result: there was not enough uranium at the start; the lead did not come from decay; it was the formation of new matter; someone “added water to the container.” According to the Rav: all the measurements were wrong.

According to the course, Carbon 14 is a direct measurement, not indirect through layers of earth. It is present in the atmosphere; living beings absorb it by breathing and eating, with a constant exchange; the percentage in the body equals that of the atmosphere. At death the exchange stops and Carbon 14 decays progressively: one measures what remains to calculate the elapsed time.

Professor Vitello, presented as the world's greatest specialist in Carbon 14, reportedly reviewed all the fossils (Cro-Magnon, prehistoric apes, dinosaurs, more than 10,000 in total). Result according to the course: all dated at 7000 years at most, in reality less, since the percentage of Carbon 14 was lower a few thousand years ago.

In caves around the world one finds stalagmites and stalactites that scientists say took millions of years to form: 300 million, 600 million, a billion years.

The “nose method.” “Do you know how they dated stalagmites? The nose method! A journalist or scientist arrives, puts his nose next to the stalagmite, and goes like this: ‘100 million years… 200 million years…’ They had made NO measurement!” (Rav Ziegler)

Carlsbad Cave (“Sacoya”). According to the course, it is the world's most famous cave for its stalagmites, in the United States. In 1964, bridges were built there (before, visitors crossed the underground lake in small boats). In 1966, scientists from the University of “Rosegard” visited the cave: large stalagmites had grown under the bridges in only two years.

Following this discovery, the university reportedly measured the growth rate of stalagmites in many caves. Published and signed results, according to the course: between 1.25 cm and 7 cm per year. Conclusion of the course: no stalagmite is older than 5000 years.

According to the course, in caves with stalagmites three questions remain unanswered: why are there animal fossils there? how did these animals die and end up stuck to the ceiling? why are they seen through the stalactites?

The only explanation, according to the course, is the biblical flood: about 5000 years ago, the flood begins; the animals take refuge in the caves; water fills all spaces; the animals drown; the bodies float up to the ceiling; the flood ends and the waters recede; the bones remain stuck to the ceiling; stalactites form around them. Age of the stalagmites: about 5000 years, which is, according to the course, the date of the flood according to the Torah.

According to the course, the Talmud, written more than 1700 years ago, contains astronomical knowledge impossible to obtain without modern telescopes.

The Pleiades (Kima). With the naked eye, with good eyesight, one sees 9 stars; with average eyesight, 5 to 7. In tractate Berakhot, Shmuel explains that Kima comes from mea (100): this group contains “the magnitude of 100 stars.” Modern telescopes count between 90 and 130 stars there, exactly what the Talmud says, according to the course.

According to the course, the Egyptians estimated 2450 stars, the Greeks 2500, the Romans 3000 (the highest figure of ancient history).

The Talmud reports that G-d told Israel He placed in the firmament 12 zodiac signs; for each sign 30 armies; for each army 30 legions; for each legion 30 cohorts; for each cohort 30 centuries; for each century 30 camps; for each camp 365,000 × 10,000 stars. The course's calculation: 12 × 30 × 30 × 30 × 30 × 30 × 3,650,000,000 ≈ 19-20 × 10²¹ stars, a figure said to be the one published by NASA. According to the course, any other figure would have contradicted the Talmud.

The structure of galaxies. A 1974 cosmology bulletin reportedly established 30 galaxies in our local group: the first “30” of the formula. According to the course, the Talmud also announces 30 groups in a supergroup, 30 supergroups in a megagroup, and so on, which science will take hundreds of years to verify.

According to the course, thanks to the laser mirror placed on the moon by Armstrong, NASA gives 29.530590 days. The Mishna (Rosh Hashanah) says: “The moon does not renew itself in less than 29 and a half days and two thirds of an hour and 73 parts of an hour,” which in the decimal system is 29.530590 days according to the course, exactly NASA's figure.

Central message of the course: there is NO contradiction between the Torah and true science. According to it: the theories of billions of years are false (Big Bang, fossils); the only reliable measurements confirm the Torah (Carbon 14: 7000 years at most; stalagmites: 5000 years at most, the date of the flood); the Talmud contains impossible knowledge (Pleiades ~100 versus 90-130; stars 19-20 × 10²¹; local galaxies 30; lunar cycle 29.530590), which would have required telescopes, rockets, laser mirrors and centuries of observation.

What this proves, according to the course: G-d exists; G-d spoke to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai; the Talmud comes from G-d. “Whoever acquires a page of Talmud acquires a whole world.” (Rav Ziegler)

“Once I arrived at Israeli television. They laughed when they saw my beard. I set scientific traps for them. The host stayed open-mouthed. Instead of the 8 minutes planned, it lasted 50 minutes!” “I asked for public confrontations. No one comes to confront me anymore, it is over. They are afraid.”

Final message: “We must verify everything. Not swallow just any pill.” “The One who created the world gave us the data in the Torah.” “Jews must know that we have an answer to everything. They must not be afraid of scientists.” “Today, those who do not believe the Torah is divine are scientifically backward.” “We know much more than they know.”

May his memory be a blessing for all generations.