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

[Music] [Applause] [Music] There are many questions regarding the first verses in the book of Genesis and we begin first with the creation of the universe. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This verse from a scientific perspective raises several fundamental points. The meaning of the word beginning is important. Beginning of what? In the theory of relativity, Einstein and others discussed that time itself was created along with matter. In other words, when there is no matter, there is no time. For example, how do we know that a few minutes have passed? Because a few minutes ago we were outside and now we are here. Our movement from one place to another in the material world is essentially an expression of time. Even someone who sits still and does nothing has internal movements in the body. These changes are also a manifestation of time. But if all matter were erased, the entire universe would be erased. No stars, no people, nothing. There would also be no time. This is what the Torah says in in the beginning. In other words, just as the body has a head, the head of time was created here. In the beginning, Mymones writes that the creation of the universe began with time. The word created means to make something from nothing. What does the phrase the heavens and the earth mean? Heavens comes from the word for emptiness, a place where there is nothing, an empty space. In the beginning, God created space and the earth. This is the initial point of matter from which everything was created. What is the meaning of the words the heavens and the earth? There is a major rule in the Torah. Wherever the word and appears, it includes something else. In other words, space was created along with everything that was destined to emerge from it. And the earth matter was created with everything that was destined to emerge from it. Just like a small embryo which while still very small contains within it the potential for limbs, eyes etc. You can see that everything that will emerge from the world, trees, flowers, the sun, the moon, stars was already embedded in the point of initial creation. In other words, in the first verse, we see already the three fundamental elements of time and space all created by God. Now let's look at the scientific perspective. In 1924, a young astronomer named Edwin Hubble was the first using a sophisticated telescope to discover that beyond our galaxy, there are many other galaxies like ours. Later he discovered that these galaxies were not stationary but expanding. This means that the entire universe is spreading and all galaxies are moving away from one another which indicates that everything started from one point. Following Hubble's discoveries in 1946, an American physicist named George Gamau was the first to propose the theory which later became known as the big bang. He argued that there was scientific evidence that the world was not created in the way people previously thought that the world always existed. Rather, the world appeared. And his claim was that initially there was a very small singular point. Everything that we now see was contained within it, but it was considered scientifically non-existent. At some point, this point exploded with an immense burst of energy. This energy was trapped in a kind of plasma-like dark matter which held it in place. And from there, the process continued with the creation of all the galaxies and stars. This was a revolution in the world of science. And today this view is accepted as the explanation for the creation of the universe. And the earth was formless and void. There was complete disorder. And even scientists claim that there was disorder and darkness upon the deep. They have always struggled to understand what this darkness and deep refer to. According to recent scientific discoveries, it is now clear that everything in the beginning existed within this darkness. Surprisingly, when we open the Zohar, we find that this description is already there. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. When God wanted to create the worlds, this refers not only to the stars and galaxies, but also hints at higher spiritual realms. The light that emerged from a concealed state signifies the spiritual energy that emerged and illuminated everything. This process which the Zohar describes aligns perfectly with the scientific theory of the big bang. Rabishimon bariohai 2,000 years ago mentioned that the universe began from a light that erupted and underwent changes until it became physical matter. This coincides with the scientists findings. Indeed, the scientists themselves claim that the moment of creation is still without explanation. They know what happened, but how and what exactly occurred is still unknown. For the people of Israel, there is no mystery in the phrase, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created space. He created it. And from this light, everything emerged. Everything fits perfectly with what we find in the Torah verses. And we conclude with a moral lesson about life that we can draw from the creation process. Every person in life goes through times of difficulty, confusion, and pressure feeling like everything is about to collapse or has already collapsed. Whether it's financially in relationships or in their spiritual growth, they might feel stuck or in despair. The creator made the world this way to teach us a great principle. Even though he could have created the world instantly, he chose to create it through stages, through chaos, patience, and disorder. In the end, after 6 days of creation, we see the beauty of creation. Just like the world was built in stages, so too can a person overcome difficulties in life. They must believe in themselves just as they believe in the creator that they can build and elevate their life toward good, orderly, and meaningful living.