La teoria dell'evoluzione e l'ebraismo

Judaism and the Theory of Evolution (by David Gianfranco Di Segni) This paper analyzes the Jewish reactions to the theory of evolution. Among the thinkers and rabbis who addressed this theory in the XIX century, several Italian rabbis such as Eliyahu Benamozegh, Vittorio Castiglioni and others are discussed, as well as Rabbis Israel Lifschitz, Samson Rafael Hirsch and Naphtali Levi; furthermore Rabbis Abraham Kook and Isaac Herzog and other thinkers of the past and present century are also considered. Whereas many of these see a general agreement between the theory of evolution and the Torah, some contemporary religious thinkers show a strong resistance to accept evolution. The reason for this is not that the theory provides us with a different description from that of a literal reading of the biblical text. Indeed, there are plenty of classical sources that allow a non-literal interpretation of some passages of the Torah. Rather, the cause for the conflict is that one of the major tenets of the modern evolutionary theory is that life developed on Earth as a result of chance and contingency (as well as of necessity). However, this fact should not be seen as opposing Jewish tradition. Randomness is entirely consistent with biblical and rabbinical sources, such as Maimonides' view in The Guide of the Perplexed. 01a