Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, March 5, 2001
Genesis isn't science, rabbi says
Torah focuses on method and order of creation
By Amanda Beglin
writer@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
The sacred and the scientific collided last night at the University of Kansas Hillel House as Rabbi Ari Perl guided a round table discussion about Genesis, a book of the Bible.
Perl, a rabbi in a modern orthodox synagogue in Kansas City, Kan., analyzed the chapter's construction with the 12 attendants, including two KU professors and three students.
Rabbii Arpi Perl of Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Vollner of Overland Park leads a discussion at Hillel House, "Creation: When Sacred Meets Science" was the topic he chose for this session of Hillels' spring speaker series. Photo by J E Wilson/KANSAN
Perl suggested considering the nature of the Bible when deciding whether to approach it as science or a story.
"It's hard to divorce ourselves from thinking scientifically, but it's not a science textbook," Perl said. "It's a guide to life, something we can apply to our lives. It's a treasure chest of culture and heritage. It shapes our lives as we move forward."
Perl said science had few similarities to human experience and philosophy.
"You wouldn't expect a science book to be prefaced with philosophy, just like you wouldn't expect the Bible — a book of truths, laws and history — to have a chapter on creation. The Torah has nothing to sav about science."
Perl said that Genesis, the story
in which God creates order in the world in seven days, emphasized a methodical approach, citing the similarities among what God created on each day.
"There is a structure, a method to his creation," Perl said. "The fourth, fifth, and sixth days correspond to the first, second and third. He established the fundamentals like dry land before the sophistications he put on it, like terrestrials."
Perl stressed that creation wasn't the beginning of the world, but the beginning of order in a time period that couldn't be defined.
"The world before creation was chaotic and empty." Perl said. "The Bible talks about days before there were days. A Biblical day has nothing to do with a modern time period. The days in this biblical time were units of creation."
Perl said the Bible didn't tell people where raw materials that God used to create the world, such as water, originated. This, he said, was part of the chaos — the perplexing time period before the world was brought to order, with one stage of creation building on the previous stage.
God deemed his creations "good" in each chapter's verse. Good, Perl theorized, meant that God's actions were useful, that his desired purpose had been accomplished. Perl discussed this and other literary terms in the chapter's verses.
"I think he's got a great way of looking at things," Kelsey said. "This was a good summary of what I've learned so far in class."
Perl is the third of six speakers the KU Hillel House has invited to speak during its spring speaker series. The guest speakers, all Rabbis and Jewish educators from
the Kansas City area, talk about topics from social activism to the afterlife.
Rabbi Danny Horwitz will speak about Judaism at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Hillel House, 940 Mississippi St. For more information, call 749-5397
- Edited by Jason McKee
KU undergrads included in national student survey
By Cassia Furtado
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The University of Kansas has Joined a group of more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States in a survey to evaluate students' experiences in school.
The National Survey of Student Engagement will evaluate what freshmen and seniors from affiliated universities think of their undergraduate experiences.
The 20 questions on the survey focus on how students spend their time, the nature and quality of their interactions with faculty members and other students, and what they have gained from their classes and related experiences in college.
Deborah Teeter, director of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, said the survey would allow the University to benchmark the undergraduate experience it offered KU students to students at similar institutions.
Selected students received a letter announcing that they had been chosen for the survey and an e-mail last Monday from Chancellor Robert Hemenway inviting them to participate. The messages included a Web site address where students could access the survey.
"We then will note areas in which we are excelling and areas that may warrant improvement." Teeter said.
"We then will note areas in which we are excelling and areas that may warrant improvement."
Deborah Teeter
Deborah Teeter Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning
Rita Francis, Wichita freshman, received the survey and said that even though it would help the University to gather fresh opinions, it would be more valuable to transfer students because they would have a basis of comparison with other schools.
"I don't have any other college experience to compare to," Francis said.
The survey is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and is co-sponsored by the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Texas A&M University. Texas Tech University and the University of Missouri-Columbia are the other Big 12 schools participating.
ON THE NET
www.indiana.edu/~nsse/
— Edited by Jennifer Valadez
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