The Medieval commentary on biblical verses called Bereshit Rabbah includes a section on the dimensions of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.
15.6 The Lord God grew from the ground […and the
tree of life]” – it is taught: [The tree of life is] a tree that spreads out
over all the living. Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai said: [The extent of] the tree of
life is a walking distance of five hundred years and all the waters of creation
branch out from beneath it. Rabbi Yudan in the name of Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai:
It is not merely that [the extent of] its branches are a walking distance of
five hundred years, but even [the extent of] its trunk is a walking distance of
five hundred years.
(Sefaria Bereshit Rabbah at https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.15.6?lang=bi
)
Rabbi
Yehuda bar Ilai’s statements re: the dimensions of the Tree of
Life are not only bizarre but physically impossible.
Walking
non-stop for 500 years to reach the branch ends of the Tree of Life, and also
having to walk non-stop for 500 years to cover the full extent of its trunk, are physical
impossibilities.
The Earth's circumference is 24,901 miles.[i]
And
a person who has trained, can easily walk 20 miles in under 8 hours.[ii]
So,
if such a person walked just 8 hours a day, she or he would cover in 365
days 7,300 miles.
As
the surface of the Earth is only 24,901 miles when walking in a straight line,
it would take this trained person just over 3.4 years to circumnavigate the planet.
Even
if an ordinary, untrained person would walk at a pace of just 10 miles a day, that would be 3,650 miles a year. And she or he would travel around our planet
in just over 6.8 years.
Even
allowing for resting on Shabbat 52 times a years and the maximum of 13 holy days of the Jewish calendar in the Diaspora (which are 3 more than in Israel),
i.e., reducing walking days to just 300 days, the ordinary person at 10 miles a
day would traverse the planet in just 8.3 years.
So, the claim that the Tree of Life has branches extending 500
years of walking means it branches would encircle the planet numerous times;
times!
·
at
20 miles a day for 365 days some 147 times
·
at 10 miles a day for 365 days, 73.5 times
·
at 10 miles a day for 360 days a year, 60.2 times
In short, the Tree of Life -- as stated by Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai -- would have numerous layers of
tree branches on top of each other, and they and their leaves would create a
canopy that would permanently block all sunlight and kill off all plant and, thereafter, all animal life.
The
equivalent of the dreaded nuclear winter.
As to its trunk requiring 500 years of walking, this is even a far
greater impossibility.
If
this refers to the tree’s diameter, i.e. the Tree of Life is 500
years of walking wide, the mathematics are similar to the above.
The
diameter of the earth is 7,917.5 miles wide.[iii]
So,
whether walking at 20 miles a day, or 10 miles a day or 10 miles omitting Jewish holy days, the Tree of Life’s trunk would be countless times wider
than the planet:
· -- at
20 miles a day for 365 days for 500 years =-3,650,000 miles, the trunk’s width would be some 461 times the diameter of the planet.
· -- at 10 miles a day for 365 days, some 230 times
· -- at 10 miles a day for 360 days a year, some 227 times
Now if
Rabbi Yehuda bar
Ilai were referring
to the tree’s circumference, compared to the planets
circumference, the walking results would be identical to the first calculations
above: some 147 times greater, 73.5 times greater or 60.2 times greater.
Either way, the Tree of Life’s trunk and roots would have to reach out far into
space. As unlike branches, the trunk cannot overlap itself again and again and
again.
Both statements re: the Tree of Life, are, therefore, totally bizarre
and physical impossibilities.
How he came up with these numbers is never stated. Not even a single
bible verse quote as a ‘source’ or ‘allusion’.
Another example of why no one should rely on ancient or medieval
rabbinic statements and claims regarding so-called ‘facts’ relating to the real
world.
FINAL NOTE:
Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai’s very idea of a tree so impossibly huge is
perplexing.
As
argued above, there is no way any tree could be as big as needing “walking 500
years”, even without full knowledge that the Earth is round – rather than flat
– and the planet’s exact dimensions: circumference and diameter.
Whether
the Garden of Eden was within the area called Eden or larger than that area (as debated in Bereshit Rabba 15:20,
there is no doubt it was only a small
spot on our planet: as made clear by the Chumash itself, Gen. 3: 23-24
and the ensuing chapters covering how people and nations spread throughout the
Middle East through the story of the Great Flood (Gen. 6:1 to Gen. 8:19).
So,
for Rabbi Yehuda bar Ilai to even suggest the Tree of Life was so impossibly
huge – far larger than the major city of Nineveh with its thousands of
inhabitants which was only wide enough for a 3 day walk by Jonah (Jonah,
3:3), is truly baffling.
He
does not cite any biblical verse for his claims and is clearly into the realm
of magical thinking.
For
all my above criticism and that of the previous blog on Bereshit Rabba: poor science – reproduction, it is important to recognize the phenomenal,
encyclopedic knowledge of the entire Tanach and related sources which
these Ancient and Medieval rabbis had.
They
could effortlessly quote verses from Genesis to 2 Chronicles even
though texts were all hand written scrolls and both costly and rare.
For
example, the rabbinic discussions of Bereshit Rabbah 15 section 1
contains verses from Gen. 2:8, Psalms 106: 14, Deut. 3:25 and Isiah 41:19, and
section 2 cites in order: Ezekiel 31:9, 28:13, Gen. 2:10 and Isaiah 51:3.
A
photographic memory must have been common: to easily dealing with scroll texts
written without chapter or verse separation number-labels, and without even
periods to mark the end of a sentence and idea.
We
today, thanks to Gutenberg and his invention of the printing press c. 1450 CE,[iv] can
readily access inexpensive printed copies of the Tanach in numerous editions. Easily
divided up by chapter numbers, verse numbers, commas and periods.
And
thanks to the internet, texts and commentaries are easily searched online, the Sefaria
library being an excellent example.
So
one must recognize the extraordinary scholarship and skill, the brilliance and mental acumen of these Ancient and Medieval rabbis.
So,
if some of their statements and ideas are ‘odd’ and ‘unrealistic’, it must be
remembered they believed all verses of the Tanach were equally Divine
and directly or through allusion, contained all ‘truths’ re the entire world
and everything within it.
[i] https://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/ask/57-How-large-is-Earth-#:~:text=Earth's%20circumference%20(the%20distance%20all,24%2C901%20miles%20(40%2C075%20kilometers)
[ii] https://www.verywellfit.com/how-far-can-a-healthy-person-walk-3975556#:~:text=With%20training%2C%20many%20walkers%20can,30%20miles%20in%20a%20day.
[iii] https://www.google.com/search?q=diameter+of+earth+miles&sca_esv=371673003b9a266f&rlz=1C1RAEH_enCA867CA867&ei=Uo7kZrKEFNecptQPp5rNiQ0&oq=diameter+of+the+Earth&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFWRpYW1ldGVyIG9mIHRoZSBFYXJ0aCoCCAEyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyChAAGLADGNYEGEcyDRAAGIAEGLADGEMYigUyDRAAGIAEGLADGEMYigVInRJQAFgAcAF4AZABAJgBAKABAKoBALgBAcgBAJgCAaACBZgDAIgGAZAGCpIHATGgBwA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
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