Is the Creation Narrative to Be Taken Literally?
Take a closer look at the Hebrew text above. What does come first in the Hebrew, immediately after that "bracket" (the letter bet), where we are granted permission to consider such matters?
This is a big question that many struggle with in our time. Indeed, I myself struggled with this before coming back around to learning the Torah.
In response to the growing influence of science, it seems many theologians have developed a hard line stance that the creation story in Genesis is to be taken as a literal account. This became more common in the [post] era of French-enlightenment, as the scientific community posed increasingly difficult questions, particularly those that seemed to be at odds with the theological view. In response, some apologists dug deep, stretching and contorting Scripture in an attempt to meet the demands. Often this brought disastrous conclusions.
We should step back and begin to look at these anew. How does one reconcile these positions? Is Genesis poetry, or a literal account? Can science and Torah be reconciled? Or, are they the same argument veiled by different terminology and language?
Jewish interpretation
We should understand that the ancient readers of scripture possessed an entirely different psyche, one that held a higher tolerance for paradox. Also, they likely had vastly different presuppositions, which would yield different questions than we may produce.
Perhaps the most significant is that the rules of engagement for interacting with the texts, particularly as far as Jewish interpretation is concerned, are very different. With Jewish hermeneutics, we are enabled to read the Torah on multiple levels, understanding them in the plain sense (on one side), or in an esoteric dimension (on the other). In this, we are able to derive multiple, valid outcomes that can prove to be quite similar to modern science.
This is why a Torah-learned Jew can read Genesis both literally and mystically. As is the case for Genesis 1-3, many Rabbis have understood these passages to be some of the most mystical texts in all of the Torah!
For modern readers, the challenge will be to learn how to hold these ideas in tension.
