Evolution meets Judaism

It's been hard to miss the recent antagonism between elements in the religious and scientific communities over issues such as evolution and the ethics of embryonic stem cell research. The public acrimony over those issues has often arisen from conflict between scientific practice and the beliefs of Christians. But for some Jewish thinkers, modern science is thoroughly compatible with strongly held religious views.

Rabbi Natan Slifkin, who goes by the name of the Zoo Rabbi, is one prominent figure who is making a career out of reconciling evolution with classical Jewish thought. "Intelligent design usually involves arguing that there are structures in living creatures which cannot be explained by naturalistic processes," he writes via E-mail. "I think that this is a potentially problematic approach, certainly from a Jewish perspective. Judaism has always focused on seeing God in the design of the laws of nature, not in creating phenomena that can't be explained by natural laws – yet."

Slifkin, 29, points out that "Jews are generally less insistent than Christians on literal readings of scripture (due to a long tradition of rabbinic deeper interpretations of the Bible). In addition, miracles and supernatural acts are much less significant in Judaism than in Christianity."

Slifkin's views – see more at [http://www.zootorah.com] – have not been without their opponents in the Jewish community. His recent book, The Science of Torah, caused quite a stir recently when it was attacked by some religious figures. "I knew that these ideas were regarded with deep loathing in certain insular circles, amongst people who have had no exposure to modern science," he says. "But I did not think that my books would penetrate these circles ... and indeed they didn't, which is why for years there was no uproar [until] certain troublemakers brought them to the attention of people who would not have noticed them otherwise."

"What was interesting is that those who strongly opposed my books totally underestimated how widely these ideas are accepted in the Orthodox Jewish world," Slifkin says. "The overwhelming majority of the community, including many rabbis and community leaders, were sympathetic to my views."

That support has a historical basis, too. The great nineteenth century Torah scholar, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, wrote that a totally naturalistic evolutionary explanation for life would show the "creative wisdom" of God in being able to design a set of simple rules that produces extraordinarily complex and rich results without any need for interference.

Rabbi Edward Reichman, an emergency room physician specializing in medical ethics at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, notes that "Judaism strives to harness all elements of the creation for the good of man. In Genesis, God enjoins man to be a partner in the creation, and to continue the process in perpetuity."

When it comes to embryonic stem cell research, this view has significant ramifications, Reichman says. "While other religions would consider the destruction of an embryo tantamount to homicide, Jewish law does not accord the legal status of human life to the embryo. For example, while the Sabbath can and must be violated to preserve a human life, no such violation is allowed to preserve an embryo. As a result, the majority of rabbinic opinion allows, with limitations, the harvesting of stem cells from embryos for research."

"Jewish law embraces technological advances, and all research for the treatment of human disease and the preservation of life," says Reichman, "as long as they do not conflict with the Torah's principles."