2008 Woodie Awards
Rabbi Sacks: "Creation Takes Second Place to Revelation"
Excerpts from the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain's Keynote Address
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News
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Yeshiva University's second annual conference on medical ethics was introduced by Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks. After an introduction by Dr. Edward Burns, the Executive Dean of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Rabbi Sacks delivered his plenary before a rapt audience.
On intelligent design theories:
"What tends to be called nowadays 'Intelligent Design'- specifically associated with Michael Beady- is argument that random genetic mutation cannot give rise to irreducibly complex systems. From Jewish view this argument simply should never have happened in the first place for simplest of reasons. We believe that God of Revelation is also the God of Creation and therefore, there cannot be in principle a contradiction between them… And therefore in Judaism, science and religion- and that very much includes medical science- are two distinctive domains between the worlds. Everything reflects that duality."
On the changing relationship between religion and science:
"…Then came Spinoza to argue that all human behavior is result of causation and therefore free will is an illusion: 'I don't need God to explain the universe.' In those days science seemed to disconfirm religion- today precisely the opposite is the case. The first game discovery in 1965 of background radiation which brought the universe into being finally proved, 800 years after Rambam insisted on it, that the universe did have an origin in time, and therefore the Torah was right that matter is not eternal."
On the significance of childbirth in Judaism:
"Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of creation- 'hayom haras olam'- therefore if you never opened a machzor in your life what would you expect the krias hatorah to be? Genesis 1:1! Instead, what do we read on Rosh Hashana, Day 1? The birth of Isaac, and as haftorah: Chana's prayer for child and the birth of Shmuel. Go figure. We are celebrating birth of universe and we talk about birth of two children? The answer is very simple: 'im nefesh achas ha'olam'. If one life is like creation of universe, then you can understand the birth of one Jewish child."
On intelligent design theories:
"What tends to be called nowadays 'Intelligent Design'- specifically associated with Michael Beady- is argument that random genetic mutation cannot give rise to irreducibly complex systems. From Jewish view this argument simply should never have happened in the first place for simplest of reasons. We believe that God of Revelation is also the God of Creation and therefore, there cannot be in principle a contradiction between them… And therefore in Judaism, science and religion- and that very much includes medical science- are two distinctive domains between the worlds. Everything reflects that duality."
On the changing relationship between religion and science:
"…Then came Spinoza to argue that all human behavior is result of causation and therefore free will is an illusion: 'I don't need God to explain the universe.' In those days science seemed to disconfirm religion- today precisely the opposite is the case. The first game discovery in 1965 of background radiation which brought the universe into being finally proved, 800 years after Rambam insisted on it, that the universe did have an origin in time, and therefore the Torah was right that matter is not eternal."
On the significance of childbirth in Judaism:
"Rosh Hashana is the anniversary of creation- 'hayom haras olam'- therefore if you never opened a machzor in your life what would you expect the krias hatorah to be? Genesis 1:1! Instead, what do we read on Rosh Hashana, Day 1? The birth of Isaac, and as haftorah: Chana's prayer for child and the birth of Shmuel. Go figure. We are celebrating birth of universe and we talk about birth of two children? The answer is very simple: 'im nefesh achas ha'olam'. If one life is like creation of universe, then you can understand the birth of one Jewish child."