Torah & Science: Exploring the Universe’s Origins - Rabbi Zamir Cohen in English (AI) — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:04[Applause]
3. 0:05[Music]
4. 0:09There are many questions regarding the
5. 0:11first verses in the book of Genesis and
6. 0:14we begin first with the creation of the
7. 0:16universe. In the beginning, God created
8. 0:19the heavens and the earth. This verse
9. 0:23from a scientific perspective raises
10. 0:26several fundamental points. The meaning
11. 0:29of the word beginning is important.
12. 0:31Beginning of what? In the theory of
13. 0:34relativity, Einstein and others
14. 0:37discussed that time itself was created
15. 0:39along with matter. In other words, when
16. 0:42there is no matter, there is no time.
17. 0:45For example, how do we know that a few
18. 0:47minutes have passed? Because a few
19. 0:48minutes ago we were outside and now we
20. 0:50are here. Our movement from one place to
21. 0:53another in the material world is
22. 0:55essentially an expression of time. Even
23. 0:58someone who sits still and does nothing
24. 1:00has internal movements in the body.
25. 1:03These changes are also a manifestation
26. 1:05of time. But if all matter were erased,
27. 1:08the entire universe would be erased. No
28. 1:11stars, no people,
29. 1:14nothing. There would also be no
30. 1:17time. This is what the Torah says in in
31. 1:20the beginning. In other words, just as
32. 1:22the body has a head, the head of time
33. 1:25was created here.
34. 1:27In the beginning, Mymones writes that
35. 1:30the creation of the universe began with
36. 1:32time. The word created means to make
37. 1:35something from nothing. What does the
38. 1:38phrase the heavens and the earth mean?
39. 1:41Heavens comes from the word for
40. 1:44emptiness, a place where there is
41. 1:46nothing, an empty space. In the
42. 1:49beginning, God created space and the
43. 1:51earth. This is the initial point of
44. 1:53matter from which everything was
45. 1:55created.
46. 1:56What is the meaning of the words the
47. 1:59heavens and the earth? There is a major
48. 2:02rule in the Torah. Wherever the word and
49. 2:05appears, it includes something else. In
50. 2:08other words, space was created along
51. 2:11with everything that was destined to
52. 2:13emerge from it. And the earth matter was
53. 2:17created with everything that was
54. 2:19destined to emerge from it. Just like a
55. 2:22small embryo which while still very
56. 2:25small contains within it the potential
57. 2:27for limbs, eyes etc. You can see that
58. 2:30everything that will emerge from the
59. 2:32world, trees, flowers, the sun, the
60. 2:34moon, stars was already embedded in the
61. 2:38point of initial creation. In other
62. 2:40words, in the first verse, we see
63. 2:43already the three fundamental elements
64. 2:45of time and space all created by God.
65. 2:49Now let's look at the scientific
66. 2:51perspective. In
67. 2:531924, a young astronomer named Edwin
68. 2:56Hubble was the first using a
69. 2:58sophisticated telescope to discover that
70. 3:02beyond our galaxy, there are many other
71. 3:04galaxies like
72. 3:06ours. Later he discovered that these
73. 3:09galaxies were not stationary but
74. 3:11expanding.
75. 3:12This means that the entire universe is
76. 3:15spreading and all galaxies are moving
77. 3:17away from one another which indicates
78. 3:19that everything started from one point.
79. 3:22Following Hubble's
80. 3:24discoveries in
81. 3:261946, an American physicist named George
82. 3:28Gamau was the first to propose the
83. 3:31theory which later became known as the
84. 3:33big bang. He argued that there was
85. 3:36scientific evidence that the world was
86. 3:39not created in the way people previously
87. 3:41thought that the world always existed.
88. 3:44Rather, the world appeared. And his
89. 3:46claim was that initially there was a
90. 3:49very small singular
91. 3:51point. Everything that we now see was
92. 3:54contained within it, but it was
93. 3:56considered scientifically
94. 3:58non-existent. At some point, this point
95. 4:01exploded with an immense burst of
96. 4:04energy. This energy was trapped in a
97. 4:07kind of plasma-like dark matter which
98. 4:10held it in place. And from there, the
99. 4:13process continued with the creation of
100. 4:16all the galaxies and stars. This was a
101. 4:20revolution in the world of science. And
102. 4:23today this view is accepted as the
103. 4:26explanation for the creation of the
104. 4:29universe. And the earth was formless and
105. 4:33void. There was complete disorder. And
106. 4:36even scientists claim that there was
107. 4:39disorder and darkness upon the deep.
108. 4:41They have always struggled to understand
109. 4:43what this darkness and deep refer to.
110. 4:46According to recent scientific
111. 4:48discoveries, it is now clear that
112. 4:50everything in the beginning existed
113. 4:51within this darkness. Surprisingly, when
114. 4:55we open the Zohar, we find that this
115. 4:58description is already
116. 4:59there. And God said, "Let there be
117. 5:03light." And there was
118. 5:06light. When God wanted to create the
119. 5:08worlds, this refers not only to the
120. 5:11stars and galaxies, but also hints at
121. 5:13higher spiritual realms.
122. 5:16The light that emerged from a concealed
123. 5:18state signifies the spiritual energy
124. 5:20that emerged and illuminated everything.
125. 5:24This process which the Zohar describes
126. 5:27aligns perfectly with the scientific
127. 5:29theory of the big bang. Rabishimon
128. 5:32bariohai 2,000 years ago mentioned that
129. 5:35the universe began from a light that
130. 5:37erupted and underwent changes until it
131. 5:39became physical matter.
132. 5:41This coincides with the scientists
133. 5:44findings. Indeed, the scientists
134. 5:47themselves claim that the moment of
135. 5:49creation is still without explanation.
136. 5:52They know what happened, but how and
137. 5:54what exactly occurred is still
138. 5:57unknown. For the people of Israel, there
139. 6:00is no mystery in the phrase, "In the
140. 6:02beginning, God created the heavens and
141. 6:05the earth. He created space. He created
142. 6:08it. And from this light, everything
143. 6:12emerged. Everything fits perfectly with
144. 6:15what we find in the Torah verses. And we
145. 6:19conclude with a moral lesson about life
146. 6:22that we can draw from the creation
147. 6:25process. Every person in life goes
148. 6:27through times of difficulty, confusion,
149. 6:30and pressure feeling like everything is
150. 6:34about to collapse or has already
151. 6:35collapsed. Whether it's financially in
152. 6:39relationships or in their spiritual
153. 6:42growth, they might feel stuck or in
154. 6:45despair. The creator made the world this
155. 6:48way to teach us a great principle. Even
156. 6:51though he could have created the world
157. 6:53instantly, he chose to create it through
158. 6:55stages, through chaos, patience, and
159. 6:59disorder. In the end, after 6 days of
160. 7:01creation, we see the beauty of creation.
161. 7:05Just like the world was built in stages,
162. 7:07so too can a person overcome
163. 7:09difficulties in life. They must believe
164. 7:12in themselves just as they believe in
165. 7:14the creator that they can build and
166. 7:16elevate their life toward good, orderly,
167. 7:18and meaningful living.