Maimonides (the Rambam) already wrote that the Biblical Story of Creation is not entirely literal, because it also contains metaphoric depth.  In any event, it is not a foundation of the Torah to interpret the Story of Creation merely literally.   He wrote that if he had proof that the Universe has always existed and was not created by God, as expressed in Genesis, he would have interpreted the Biblical verses that tell of the Universe being brought into existence in the same metaphorical way that he interpreted verses that speak of God as if He was corporeal.  

However, in another place, the Rambam said that our rejecting the theory that the Universe always existed is not because of the Scriptural depictions of Creation, but rather because it contradicts the foundation of the Torah.   Because the theory that says the Universe has always existed does not allow for miracles and the changing of custom, and thus the pillar that the foundations of Religion lean upon would be annulled.

It is well understood that the new ways that preach the theory of evolution do not annul the foundations of the Torah at all.  They do not even annul the Scriptural descriptions of Creation.  One may claim that if the matter of planet Earth evolved over a period of tens of thousands of years, the 'hand of God' cannot be seen here.  Another may ask why God would need so much time - couldn't He create everything in just one moment?

These claims we will answer with reason and knowledge and say that the ways of evolution - and proceeding gradually in the order of Existence - has never distanced us from knowing about God, on the contrary, it brings us closer to Him with love and an uplifted soul.  Because we see the ways of cause and effect happening before our eyes daily, and since we see that these things are happening in a wondrous order, with much wisdom and great mercies, we recognize the One God acting and animating everything as the Living God and His Council, Salvation, Loving-kindness and Mercy.

How are the spheres of the stars and planets who take tens of thousands of years to evolve according to their size, different from the embryo in the mother's womb taking many months to evolve?  And yet, "Your works are wondrous, and my soul knows this well… as I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, Your eyes saw my unshaped form; for in Your Book all things are written" (Psalms 139).  

All the more so if we count the evolutionary orders through which organic parts ascend from the time they were merely simple elements until they come to the state of a complete human being -living, intelligent, even just and true, with great power and might.  It is precisely the great span of Time and the way that proceed slowly that testify for us to the Power of God when they come to their proper and inclusive objective.

It is evident to Torah scholars that only a small part of the process of Creation is described in Genesis.  Our sages thus said in the Midrash Rabba: ‘To tell the Power of the Works of Genesis is impossible, that is why the Scriptures say cryptically - In the Beginning God created’.  The foundation of this is that the Torah only spoke about what concerns our planet Earth, and even this only according to the content through which the moral-ethical side can be properly understood - that which has to do with rectifying Humanity’s ways in their external conduct and internal feelings.

If we look at the order of the creation of our planet Earth from the place that the Torah begins to tell its story, we find that it was without order, and from the abundance of thick, wet steam and vapor, the Earth was full of water and darkness.  The first step was that some of the vapors cleared until a little light could get through, but the air was not clear enough to be able to see the bodies of the luminaries.   Therefore only the light was created - from the perspective of our planet - but the luminaries themselves were not considered to be created yet (from the Earth’s perspective), for if a person was standing on Earth he would not recognize that luminaries (like the sun, moon and stars) exist at all.  However there was morning and evening still because of the rotation of the Earth on its axis.

After that, the air cleared enough to be able to be called a ‘sky’ even though there was so much moisture above the realm of air which could be seen and felt if there was a person then upon the Earth.  After that was the gathering of the waters of the Earth to ‘one place’ (revealing land) and the evolution of plant-life.  And after that, the air cleared enough for the luminaries to be properly seen in a manner that is also fitting for the (future) intellectual evolution of human beings to be able to investigate their surroundings.  Only then was the air ready for living beings, and then birds were created who flew where the air was clear enough, and fish who have no need for such clear air.  After that when the air was especially cloud-free was it fitting for the formation of animals that walk the land, and human beings. 

Notice that it does not say in the Torah, ‘God made this on the first day’; ‘God made that on the second day’; rather these happenings are arranged in a proper and gradual order, and with each division of events is mentioned, ‘it was evening and it was morning, one day’; ‘the second day’ etc.  We could interpret this as saying that these events took place in one complete 24-hour day but we can also say that the Torah is not telling us here how much time each step took.  Rather the understanding that is proper to depict in our mind is that everything was arranged according to an order, intention, and preparation fitting for the purpose of the Godly Wisdom and Justice, so that these impressions will act upon and effect human perfection.  Since the seventh day is holy to remember the Works of Genesis, therefore a division of six general ‘steps’ is understood here, which correspond to the six days of a week.  There is nothing in the Scriptures that prevent this kind of interpretation.  Nor does it diminish from the obligation of the holiness of the Shabbat which is according to the depictions in the minds of human beings.

Even if we continue to interpret metaphorically the order of the creation of Adam, his being put in the Garden of Eden, his calling of names, Eve built from his side, there is nothing contrary to the foundations of the Torah if the intention is that after ‘Adam’ came close to the level of our human recognition, and his feelings began to evolve toward the good and the just in the proper manner, and also toward the pleasant and the beautiful, he found the Earth a Garden of Eden before him.   And from his innermost nature and feelings he recognized a relationship between himself and his Maker. 

His consciousness realized according to his innermost recognition - that was greatly empowered by the strength of the natural human soul, not tainted by ‘the many inventions of the mind’- that it is fitting to cleave to a natural guidance and not arouse his desires too much.   It was actually revealed to him that through the purity of his natural soul there is a way of perceiving moral-ethical guidance, which is easily perceived because of its intellectual quality and the full might of the power of the imagination, and by perfecting them both together is attained perfect prophecy. 

Therefore, as soon as this relationship between him and his Maker - who guides him in the way of the Good - was aroused, the word of God that was revealed to him was, ‘you shall surely eat from all the Trees of the Garden’.   Except from one Tree, the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil, in which he recognized with his natural recognition the power to increase the stormwind of his desires, leaving his natural serenity; and from which would come the stumbling-block of not believing in serenity as the guide to the straight path, but rather by testing the Evil perhaps it is not Evil, and straying from the Evil only after knowing it with knowledge and feeling that it is Evil.  And from this will come all the historical travails that guide human beings in that they feel the Evil with the full depth of its bitterness.  But so many incalculable Evils will have to be suffered from this path, none of which would be necessary in the state of natural serenity, where it is only fitting to know the Good.

‘Adam’ (humanity) began to feel the need for a relationship between him and his Maker in a very direct way by guarding the purity of his nature, but as yet had not acquired the concept of family life, nor a proper relationship with other living creatures.  Then his perception evolved to the understanding a relationship with the rest of Life, ‘and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name’, and he recognized that he was more evolved than them.  It was then that he began to feel the need for a family life, ‘but for man there was not found a help to match him’.  While he was immersed in these thoughts he fell into a trance and saw that the woman who was with him was ‘taken from his side’.  The foundation of family life is to recognize that only through both of them will the structure of humanity be complete, and not merely to be a ‘help’ to benefit the one, but rather to complete them both - ‘to match’.  He perceived this in a way that made a profound impression because it was seen in a vision when he was in a trance.  From then on that individual began to recognize the value of living in a family with purity.

However the natural state of camaraderie with living creatures allowed them to understand and communicate with animals; and the animals, especially the most crafty ones, also understood a good part of the ways of the human soul.  Therefore, when the Serpent wanted to cause harm, he began (as is his nature) to awaken feelings of desire in the heart of the woman for the fruit of the known Tree, and thus breached the protective wall of serenity; and the power of desiring began to be stronger than wanting a natural serenity, and this gave birth to all the conflicts of life.  

In the state of serenity there is no need for toil nor the arousal of pains to strengthen morality, because the True and the Just and the Knowledge of God are clear and simple perceptions that are readily available, if the wall of the purity of natural serenity that is in the soul is not breached; there was thus no need for sickness or for death.  Perhaps the body would continue to serve the soul until the time when its task is completed and it would leave it happily and with a good heart; or the state of serenity and the purity of natural spiritual and physical Life would bring about the lack of a need for the separation of the spirit from the body whatsoever.  Space was certainly not limited for the ‘children of Adam’ because through many steps in the continual evolution of human consciousness there would be easily revealed to them ways to settle many star-systems and countless worlds.

Love for one’s children would have come from the reason of the intellect and the recognition of what is right and naturally upright.  There would have been no need to support it by the pangs of childbirth, like the nature of anything that becomes precious by the difficulty involved in attaining it.  However, when the state of serenity was violated, man’s powers began to break out of their boundaries.  They began to aspire according to their desires, what they imagine will bring them pleasure and not according to the natural serenity.  Then they recognized that they were naked, and with all their pains began to feel regret.  The strong emotions and the power of natural intelligence that was still mighty, together with the power of imagination that was not yet distorted would have brought them prophecy immediately and readily, but with their natural feelings they made for themselves ‘loincloths’ and hid from the voice of God.

Then began a state where living creatures are distanced from man, because he became greatly distanced from them when he left the natural serenity that they were still immersed in.  A particular hatred was recognized for snakes which was detrimental to them and to living creatures, because when man was close to them he would have been more ready to uplift them.  The state of the woman also had to change to provide a boundary for the strengthening of that which violates serenity by longing and desiring temporary things, and the yoke of Life had to become very heavy, and with it death became necessary as well, to provide an end finally to this unnatural state.  And to complete  themselves with knowledge and awareness the hand of God helped them fashion for themselves ‘garments of skins’ which marked the beginning of the healing their wounds.  But it is a very long path of healing indeed, in which many and difficult pains are suffered.

This passage was passed through by one living being among all Life who developed in the manner that is fitting to be called human.  And because of these soul-level causes there was made a chasm between him and Life.  This individual was the historical Adam.  From then on, the Torah tells his chronicles with extreme brevity.  Therefore, the new way of investigating the origins of Life even according to the opinion of Darwin (even though it is just a theory) do not contradict the ways of the Torah at all.  For the foundation of the Torah is only that we should be aware that all the great cycles - since they are arranged with Wisdom and lead to Loving-kindness and Mercy - are made with Wisdom and Knowledge, and flow from the Source of Life and Godly Perfection and Wisdom, or call it Godliness, or the Nature of the Divine, but that is what obligates this entire gradual process of evolution.  It is impossible that anything needed for the spirit of humanity to come to its perfection and its complete awareness be lacking, until it is able to return to its natural serenity and its Garden of Eden; but in a more perfect manner - ‘the Eden that no creature’s eyes have ever seen’.

Everything was prepared from the beginning, the power of the soul and its readiness for prophecy, the possibility of miracles in their proper times, and any time they are needed to perfect the human spirit and all the paths of its Life.  Only from a small mind do the perplexed of our generation think that the theory of evolution in the way of Kant, Laplace and Darwin, and other wise men of our time bring with it the destruction of the Torah, God forbid.  Our entire Torah with all of its historical morality, and its faithful acceptance will not be moved one iota by any critique.  Even if intellectual recognition find these evolutionary theories to be true, and all the more so if incontestable proof is found for them, they will only help to clarify the paths of the Story of the Works of Genesis that is in the Torah in a way that agrees with our intellect.  But the historical Truth, and the Knowledge of God, and with it the obligation of keeping all the Torah does not have to change even slightly because of the influence of this new type of investigation and knowledge.  On the contrary, it will expand the heart even more, and extend the concepts of knowing God and loving and revering Him and wanting to walk in the Paths of the Good and the Just, which are the Paths of God, much much more.

To summarize:  Even though the theories of the recent philosophers and investigators are not necessarily correct, the generation leans to these theories which appear to be true according to the results of recent investigations and research, and they have thus caused many young people to stumble and lose their faith in the Torah which has lead to a weakening of understanding and true awareness.  Therefore we have an obligation to explain that even if all of these theories come out to be true, they do not affect the foundations of the Torah and its branches at all.  They only arouse us to explain and clarify the verses of the Story of the Works of Genesis, which our sages have already said: ‘To tell the Power of the Works of Genesis is impossible, that is why the Scriptures say cryptically - In the Beginning God created’.  

And the kabbalists in particular explained - and referred to teachings in the Midrash - that God ‘built worlds and destroyed them’; that Creation took many long epoch until it reached its present state.  But the main foundation is only to know that the Justice and Uprightness are given to humanity to choose, and all the forces of Existence that are needed for humanity to complete itself can be found.  And the ways that human Justice develops to reach its completion are the highest value and purpose of an Existence that continues to be built according to all the orders of Life, and the ways of history in general, and of Israel in particular.                      

Notebook 1 entry 312: 

The higher joy strengthens, explicitly, through the complete nullification of one’s self, because the soul starts to recognize the entire mistake that there is a separate self, and one’s desire strengthens to become absorbed in the body of the King (God), in the Infinite perfection of Supernal Pleasantness. 

And this is the complete humility and the deep lowliness, where a separate sense of self would be a ‘remnant’ - an incomplete aspect that remains not included in the Supernal Perfection - where ‘one makes one’s self a thing of the past’.  This feeling is a feeling that is particularly associated with the Jewish people who humble themselves with every greatness that is given them.

Notebook 1 entry 65:

There are two ways of thinking about Godliness, one way is where we  speak about ‘a Creator’ and ‘the creation’, as if each was it’s own separate topic but yet are joined together in that ‘the Creator’ animates ‘the creation’ and the creation receives life from the Creator. 

The other way is where there is no existence of ‘creation’ whatsoever, and the name ‘creation’ is only borrowed from our side, i.e. we create our (separate) selves because of the constriction of our perception, but in truth, everything is ‘Creator’ - God - and thus everything is a different content that has no relation to (the first perspective of) partial revelation because God is explicitly everything, not a part relating to other parts.

These two ways of thinking about God have a particular effect on the ‘spirit of man’.  Logic and accounting come from the way of relating to the world, the creation, as something other than God; but poetry/song and the soul’s longing come from the second way of thinking, where nothing exists except God, and God’s Glory fills all. 

Musar (working on oneself in order to become s more moral and ethical person) combines logic and poetry/song in the proper blend.  If one power is lacking it cannot stand.  Therefore when we think according to the first way and differentiate between God and the world, we see a vision of God’s Righteousness, of the greatness of the musar that is revealed to us when we think about God, and the laws of this musar are filled with logic and accounting. 

Then when the second way of thinking comes, and God’s Righteousness and full splendorous musar has already been established properly in the soul, poetry/song is strengthened by this higher, ecstatic perspective of ‘there is nothing else besides Him’, and this adds the fruits of blessing to the musar. 

But, if the beginning of thought is only imprinted from the one side of ‘there is nothing else besides Him’, there wouldn’t be a depiction of musar in relation to Godliness for this higher thought to act upon and bless.  We cannot recognize moral values in the relation of one thing to itself, rather in its relation to others. 

Even though the exalted height of the second thought is higher than the entire vision of  the value of musar at all - as it is higher than all thoughts and limitations - in any event, a person cannot grasp a thought that is higher than his limited comprehension in its full majesty, and values of musar always have to be found where they are awakened and then returned and awakened in all the paths of life - thus terrible danger can spread from having the second thought overpower the first.  

However, if the first thought whose wings are clipped overpowers the second, that could cause the spirit of man to sink, and by sinking he could lose many delightful things.  Therefore there is no other remedy except to arrange the idea in such a way that the first thought is always revealed as a ‘garment’ for the second thought, which is higher than it - Ze’ir Anpin (the small face of God) - is a garment for Arich Anpin (the large face of G.d) - and YHVH is Elohim.

Notebook 1 entry 669

Sometimes there is a great leader but the generation is not rectified, and other times the opposite is true,  the leader is less great but the generation is rectified.  The generation of Solomon was greater that Moshe’s, but this higher level was not because of the generation itself, but rather because of the general Order of the Universe, and according to the Order of the Universe, everything then was rectified - ‘the Moon was Full in the days of Solomon’. 

However, there is a sweetening of the Universe from the perspective of the inside; and a sweetening of the Universe from the perspective of the outside.  In general, from the perspective of the outside, since the Destruction (of the Temple) each day is more cursed than the day before it; but from the perspective of the inside, the world continues to become more and more sweetened. 

And the Heels of the Messiah is a state of a fallen outside, and a sweetened inside, that is why it brings about the Light of Messiah with which everything will be filled - even the sweetening of the outside - because when the inside is sweetened, it is very easy to sweeten the outside. 

The Masters of the Secrets have to let the world know that its descent is only external, because on the inside everything is ascending and is being greatly illuminated, and the crux of souls is that they are great - and even in the Chutzpah there is greatness and holiness - ‘and when affliction comes like a river, the spirit of God lifts it up high' (Isaiah 59: 19). 

Teshuva in this time is always a higher teshuva - a teshuva from love - where intentional sins become complete merits.  Sins are unable to harm as much as in the earlier generations, because there has been so much sweetening of the Universe, and because of the abundance of mercies and kindnesses that radiate in it. 

And the tzadikim in the generation can draw down an influx of such great Chesed that it can completely erase all the sins of the generation and transform them to actual merits, even without a revealed teshuva from the side of the generation, but rather through the teshuva that is in the minds of the tzadikim alone.  Because they do teshuva for the entire generation, and in their thoughts they connect themselves to all the souls of the generation, so that all the souls are connected to them and all become complete and refined. 

The external shine they were lacking is attained immediately - from the radiance of the light that is in the souls of the tzadikim - which was impossible to achieve at the time that the inner sweetening was lacking. 

Notebook 1 entry 686

Differences are part of creation.  The differences between holy and profane, between Israel and the nations; are facts, blurring their forms is destruction.   A deep understanding and feeling of these differences is a source of much spiritual fruit.

However, after all of these, we perceive with clear knowledge that all of these are passing things, and the elevation of everything to holiness and kinship, to equality and gentleness, is the Eternal idea that lives always in each generous spirit, and our care for the differences is something temporary and passing, that flows from our lives in Time. 

The universal idea of Equality, which is a foundation of a Good heart and a pure love of all creatures, is found in the mystical world-view in the raising up of the sparks that are scattered in all the depths of the klippot (husks), and in the great idea of everything being transformed into complete and absolute holiness through a step-by-step, unceasing work of loving-kindness, peace, justice, truth and mercy.

Entry 79 page 63

In the generations when humanity was young, mankind in general had small minds.   The excellent ones were giants in order to raise up the coarse masses.  The more time that passes the more knowledge spreads to the masses.  And because of this, the excellent ones become smaller. 

This is because perfection is always balancing and equating these two forces (the individual and the collective).  There is an attribute that is set down by the Supernal Providence for the perfection of humanity and it (mankind) is being led according to its ways. 

Therefore when mankind was young the individual had to be raised up in excellence, but as the value of the masses increases and is raised up, so too, the value of the excellent ones is leveled off and equated.  Until mankind in general will be completely uplifted, and on the level of, ‘a man will not teach his brother nor his fellow to know God because they will all know me from their young to  their old’ (Jeremiah 31).

Entry 116 page 85

Health must be greatly valued and loved because only a healthy body has place for wanting delight.   When the body is sick there is no desire but for the pain to be removed.  Therefore only with health on a truly good path can one delight upon God.