Adam, the first man on Earth.

[Dr. Dan]

Tzvi, if the world was only 6,000 years old we would not be able to see the stars since they are millions of light years away meaning it would take millions of years for the light from the stars to reach us so that we can see them.  Carbon dating has been done on bones discovered and many date back much further back than 6,000 years as well.  The "Days" of the Torah are not man days but G-d's days since the count starts before the sun was created.

Not necessarily true what you're saying about the stars. I could just as easily tell you that G-d created the world with the light of the stars already extended to earth so we could benefit from them.

Too far fetched? Not any more far fetched than believing he created the stars in the first place.

I don't agree, but I dont' hold it against you either because this is just as possible as the numerous theories of how the universe was created.

[q_q_]

I think it completely goes against the simple reading of the Torah to say that there were men created before Adam.
I don't beleive Judaism subsribes to the notion of cavemen at all. I'd be willing to consider otherwise if someone can product any legitimate Rabbinic commentary that says otherwise.

Just because there are skeletons of what appear to be cavement by no means proves that they lived or walked the earth. The Rabbis teach that G-d did many things in the creation of the world to test our faith in Him. One of those things was likely the bones of cavemen and dinosours. But G-d could have just as easily created the ground with those items in them. This is no more far fetched than the belief that G-d created the ground itself.

If they existed, they were not considered man. Because Adam was the first man

I do not have the book here, but one of Gerald Shroeder`s 3 books mentions a passage in the talmud about creatures that looked like man but were not man.  No doubt thee were females ones too, since I think it says Adam had sex with them.  (I guess at one point the only law was not to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil).

when  I say shroeder`s 3 books.. (I just checked google images since i remember the covers)
genesis and the big bang
the science of G-d
the hidden face of G-d

"genesis and the big bang" was good.. a critique of parts of it is here
http://www.dovidgottlieb.com/comments/CommentsGenesisBigBang.htm

"The science of G-d"  I think that is the one that mentions this.. about creatures before Adam.. It finds it mentioned in the talmud and mentions the reference.

"The hidden face of G-d". very boring in that I didn`t see much torah in it, just biology..showing intelligent design..

Gerald Shroeder is now a rabbi
R’ Yaakov (”Gerald”) Shroeder’s  (he was referred to like that on aishdas,so I guess he is orthodox!)

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

I think it completely goes against the simple reading of the Torah to say that there were men created before Adam.
I don't beleive Judaism subsribes to the notion of cavemen at all. I'd be willing to consider otherwise if someone can product any legitimate Rabbinic commentary that says otherwise.

Just because there are skeletons of what appear to be cavement by no means proves that they lived or walked the earth. The Rabbis teach that G-d did many things in the creation of the world to test our faith in Him. One of those things was likely the bones of cavemen and dinosours. But G-d could have just as easily created the ground with those items in them. This is no more far fetched than the belief that G-d created the ground itself.

If they existed, they were not considered man. Because Adam was the first man

I do not have the book here, but one of Gerald Shroeder`s 3 books mentions a passage in the talmud about creatures that looked like man but were not man.  No doubt thee were females ones too, since I think it says Adam had sex with them.  (I guess at one point the only law was not to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil).

 Thats talking about Shedim (demons). After Adams sin he seperated with his Wife (I believe 130 years, if I remember correctly, not 100% sure though).

[Muck DeFuslims]

I thought that Adam was the first man with a human soul.

Isn't that what Rosh Hahanah is about ?  The celebration of the creation of the human soul.

This doesn't preclude man like creatures existing before Adam that were physiologically identical to humans. They just were devoid of human souls.

[Sarah]

I'm confused.

Same.
I'm going to go and eat something before reading all of these posts.

I believe that Adam was the first human on earth....and unless cavemen were literally like monkies, they came after him.

[q_q_]

I'm confused.

Same.
I'm going to go and eat something before reading all of these posts.

I believe that Adam was the first human on earth....and unless cavemen were literally like monkies, they came after him.

First, there is no basis for believing that Adam was the first man, unless you believe in a certain text that says so.

- jewish tradition is that the first man - Adam - was around 6000 years ago.
 
There are cave paintings, whose dating puts them to more than 6000 years..  And some of the paintings are good. But That does not show human intelligence though.. It could be the creature got hungry, thought of a goat and decided to draw it.   It is also possible that the dating is wrong (since scientists extrapolate).

Linguistic evidence though, goes back no more than 6000 years. Linguistic evidence is evidence one can evaluates to check for intelligent life, you can see what people thought, felt.

Interestingly, black people did not have any written language at all until around the 1800s when white people introduced it to them!!!!!!