Rosh Hashanah - Panic in the Year Zero

 בס"ד

On Rosh Hashanah we celebrate the birthday of the world. It is stated a number of times in the liturgy accompanied with sounding of the shofar. This year it marks 5781 years. In researching how we got that number, I was surprised to find it was not a tradition originating with Adam the first man that was guarded by the Jews. Rather it more or less was popularized by Maimonides who wanted to determine how many years after the creation of the world his book, the Mishna Torah, was written. To do this he made a calculation based on events in Jewish history. This was the same as the calculation in the book Seder Olam Rabbah by the Talmudic sage Jose ben Halafta. Another work Seder Olam Zutta reckons the world as being 578 years older. 

The Christians made several calculations. The principal one was by Bishop James Ussher, which reckons the world to be 243 years older than that of the Jews. Some Greek and Roman calculations would say the world is 485 years younger. The ancient Babylonians  say the world is 245,000 years old. Ancient Egyptians say 45,000 years old. The Chinese are close with 41,000 years. 1500 years ago the Indians set the age of the earth as 4.3 billion years. The scientists in England 200 years ago were convinced the world was 100 million years old. The oldest estimation is that of the Mayans at 24 trillion years. Today scientists put the age of the universe at 15 billion years, but they keep finagling with the calculations due to improvements in equipment, especially telescopes.

There is also a discussion as to when the calendar should start. It seems to me that the logical Jewish position should be when Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden or maybe when Eve was created. The Codex Judaica by Rabbi Mattis Kantor (Orthodox) gives the first day of creation as 25 Elul, but that the year may be -1, 0, or 1, with Adam and Eve being created on the 1st of Tishre. Today's scientists start with a big bang which resulted in the universe as we know it. Concerning man they say, "While our ancestors have been around for about six million years, the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago. Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old", see: https://www.universetoday.com/38125/how-long-have-humans-been-on-earth/   . In the final analysis in some ways it's very close to the Rambam. 

Wishing my readers another year of happiness and life.

לע"נ  האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח

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