The Torah and Scientific Data — Rav Ziegler zatsal
Lesson · Rav Haim Ziegler זצ״ל

The Torah and Scientific Data

What tractate Berakhot says about the Pleiades, and what science says today
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Torah and Scientific Data
What tractate Berakhot says about the Pleiades, and what science says today

The people of Israel count the age of the world in years since creation; science speaks of millions and billions of years.

The Rav began by clearing the ground: nothing science has found contradicts the Torah.

He then opened tractate Berakhot: Shmuel teaches there that Kima — the Pleiades — is the size of a hundred stars. With the naked eye one sees nine.

Today’s surveys count between ninety and a hundred and thirty.

📖 Read the lesson
1 Clearing the ground

We, the people of Israel, count the age of the world from creation. Science speaks of millions and billions of years.

The Rav laid down this principle first: none of science’s findings contradicts the Torah. Clear the ground before arguing, or the argument becomes a quarrel over words.

2 Kima, the Pleiades
Talmud, tractate Berakhot: “Shmuel said: Kima is the size of a hundred stars” (‫)מאה כוכבים‬.

No one, with the naked eye, has ever seen a hundred stars in that cluster. Nine at most can be made out. Why does the Talmud speak of a hundred?

What today’s surveys give: between ninety and a hundred and thirty stars in the Pleiades.

The Rav’s question: how was that figure in the Talmud some seventeen hundred years ago?
3 What he concluded
“The One who created the world gave us the data. How do scientists, with all their instruments, arrive at the same figures as the Talmud? Because the Talmud comes from the One who created the world.”

The Rav did not set the two bodies of knowledge against each other. He held that one describes, and the other says where it comes from.

Did you follow the lesson?

Four questions on the teaching of Rav Ziegler zatsal.

1
What does the Rav do before comparing Torah and science?
He lays down that principle first, or the discussion turns into a quarrel over words.
2
What does Shmuel say about Kima in tractate Berakhot?
“Kima is the size of a hundred stars,” while nine are visible to the naked eye.
3
How many stars do modern surveys count in the Pleiades?
That comparison is the whole lesson.
4
What conclusion does the Rav draw?
He does not set the two against each other: one describes, the other says where it comes from.

Result