Creation or Evolution: Can Both Be True?

Posted on October 8, 2026

By Hazzan Jacob Sandler.

This week we begin the cycle of reading the Torah all over again. Every time we read parashat Bereishit, I’m inspired anew to grapple with the story of Creation. In the Cohen Religious School may students in the 6th and 7th grade have, over the years, asked me a version of the following question:

If the Creation story is true, what do we do about the scientific theory of Evolution? And if, as the scientific evidence suggests, Evolution is true, how can we trust the rest of the Torah?

I love this question from our students because it shows me they’re beginning to think critically about the world. They are attempting to make sense of their learning from school and religious school. And, most importantly they are taking their Judaism seriously enough to demand it make sense in the context of their lives.

I always start with the same framework: science and religion are antithetical to one another. They answer different questions. The scientific process endeavors to explain how things work in the world, and is focused on the measurable, material and physical. Religion, like philosophy in general, seeks out answers to metaphysical questions such as why do things work the way they do. Is there a purpose to it?

Evolution is a fact. But many assume that also implies that our existence is the result of infinitesimally small odds playing out randomly. Neil DeGrasse Tyson speaks about how if even a small detail about where Earth sits in space relative to the sun was altered slightly, life wouldn’t have been possible. It’s an intellectual leap of reason or intuition to assume that we “got lucky” to exist, just as much as it is a leap of faith to assume those conditions were created on purpose.

I therefore suggest that the Genesis account of creation is primarily to express that latter belief. That there is a Creator, and a purpose to our being. Secondly, Rashi comments that the Torah, a story primarily about the Jewish people and our journey to the Promised Land, begins with the Creation story in order to teach that the Earth doesn’t belong to us. The world is God’s, which is why God can assign the Land of Israel to the Jewish people. Human beings created last should clue readers in to the idea that we are the pinnacle of creation — a being which is made in God’s image and can be entrusted as partners in caring for and even perfecting this world God made.

I believe it is important to hold onto our sacred texts. Learning new things about our universe need not undermine the value or truth of our Torah. My hope is that these challenges will inspire us to deepen our study of both so we might find the truths of how, and why. We don’t sit down to a holiday meal just because food is necessary to live nor because social connections are good for our psychology. We do so because rituals like holiday meals help us create meaning in our lives and connect with our higher purpose as human beings.

My students often press on asking: But what do you do about the fact that the Torah says Earth was created in 7 days and is only 5787 years old when the science shows Earth is 4.5 billion years old?

I like to compare it to dog years. Every year in a dog’s life is comparable to 7 human years in its development. So a dog that is 6 years old is treated as though they were 42 human years old. I imagine that God, Who is eternal, would also experience time differently. God transcends time and space altogether. So what constitutes a full week of work for God, in God’s infinitude, may well be billions of human years. It’s a cute analogy that kids can understand.

However I recently saw a Tedx Talk given by Denis Lamoureux called “Beyond the ‘creation vs. evolution’ debate” in which he made a strong case for “Evolutionary Creation.” His basic premise is that the Evolutionary processes, like natural selection and mutation, can still be attributed to the will of a Creator who ordains and sustains natural phenomena. His response to the contradiction regarding the age of the universe is to acknowledge something fundamental about the Bible: it seamlessly blends prose and poetry.

He explains that in the eye of an ancient observer, the biblical account made intuitive sense. There was a blue sky that looked a lot like the blue sea. The sea had some land. And in between was some kind of firmament that separated the two. This understanding was common in other ancient cultures as well.

He further expands on the poetic parallelism in the seven day creation story. When God created the world it was “tohu and vohu” formless and void. The rhyme is no accident. The first three days are structural, providing a form to the formless. The next three days address the void, filling what is empty. Day 1 – light from dark parallels Day 4 the sun, moon and stars. Day 2 – upper waters from lower waters parallels the birds and fish which fill the sky and sea. Day 3 – separating dry land from sea parallels Day 6 all the land creatures and ultimately human beings. And on Day 7 – Shabbat!

Seeing the story as more poetic relieves us of having to pick a side in the old debate. It permits us to be intellectually honest and scientific, while preserving the foundations of our spiritual devotion and faith. As conservative Jews, it is our great privilege to navigate the tensions between tradition and modernity. We can extol the texts that guide us, and engage thoroughly and thoughtfully with the wisdom of the wider world. As we read the Torah again this year, may each question it raises be an opening to deeper meaning and fuller understanding of the world, of God, of each other and ourselves.