Back to the Source – The Age of the Universe, Part 2

B"H

As already mentioned in PART 1, the kabbalistic book "Sefer HaTemunah" estimated the age of the world of 42.000 years at the time when Adam was created. Rabbi Yitzchak of Akko (1250 – 1350) wrote in his book "Ozar HaChaim" that those 42.000 years are not to be understood according to human terms but as g – dly years. According to plenty of Midrashic literature, ONE g- dly day stands for 1000 human years (see also Sefer Tehillim – Psalms). And one g – dly year with 365,25 days stands for 365,250 earthly years. Therefore, Rabbi Yitzchak of Akko concludes that our universe is 42.000 x 365,250 years old. The result of this multiplication is 15.349.500.000 years. Today, NASA and scientists estimate the age of the universe of about 14 – 15 billion years. And now look at the calculation of Rabbi Yitzchak of Akko. Already 700 years ago, he came to the same conclusion which tells us that we are not more intelligent than the people in the Middle Ages.

Every time we study the first chapter of the Book of Genesis (Bereshit), we are always amazed by the unusual longevity of the Generation of the Flood (with Noach). And as usual, there are different opinions saying that those years of the Generation of the Flood were much shorter than our years today. After the Flood, nature changed and due to the impact of the Flood, even the orbit had changed and countries and continents faced slightly different locations. Man's life expectance had also changed, although people could still live up to hundreds of years. Furthermore, illnesses came into existence which hadn't been the case before the flood. Before, people just died after hundreds of years but they didn't die because they were sick. They just dropped dead when their time had come. No illnesses were known in the time before the Flood.
Until the times of Avraham, people also didn't age. We know about they famous Talmudic story of Avraham and his son Yitzchak who looked alike because no one was aging.

The first mentioning that the years in the Torah were shorter was Josephus. And Josephus gave a few reasons why the Generation of Noach live for such a long time. First of all, they lived closer to the time when the world was created and because G – d loved them. In those days, G – d's influence and Shechinah (presence) were much more visible than today. Until the Flood, the people were vegetarians and there was no pollution or poisoning fields and forests. Nutrition was healthy because everything was pure without any pollution. The Generation of the Flood ate plants and drank water or sometimes milk. The Ramban (Nachmanides) comments that those people were a perfect biological creation and this is the reason for their longevity. Today, our DNA is much different from those former generations.

All changes after the Flood are considered by the Sages as a g – dly punishment. Following generations were supposed to take the events as a warning but they failed to do so. Just the opposite; everything and each generation got worse. The Flood was a warning but more than 300 years later, the Tower of Bavel (Babylon) was built. Another disaster.

The Flood could only occur because G – d Himself changed a star constellation (see Talmud Rosh HaShana 11b – 12). The average lifespan before the Flood was 929 years and afterwards 445 years. After the Tower of Bavel, the years were diminished once again down to 228 years. According to Jewish literature, mankind is getting back longevity in the days of Meshiach (see Isiah – Yeshayahu 65:20). The we will reach the age of 900 plus.

I want to mention that there are many many opinions on the days of Meshiach, the Resurrection of the Death and what is going to happen, how and the results of it. In the next article, I am going to list various different opinions but it should be very clear that no one knows for sure what is going to happen.
Only G – d, as usual.