Is the world 6000 years old?

[Dr. Dan]

I keep hearing this phrase my mainly atheists or people who bash religion claiming that the bible says the world is 6000 years old, but no where have I been able to actually find a verse or anything that references to the world being 6000 years old. G-d is outside of time correct? So couldn't a day perhaps be a million years to G-d? How is the time measured? Isn't this time currently measured via the Roman calender? Let me know.

The 6000 or so years are measured from when Adam was born

NOT, from creation.

So it says Nothing about the "days" prior to the creation of Adam.

a)We have a tradition that those 6 days contained eras. This was long before big bang theory, rabbis would refer to the tradition and say eras.
b)The sun was not apparent until during day 4, so there is no question that "days" 1-3  didn't have the concept of a daytime, nighttime. Even Morning and Evening, cannot have meant in relation to the sun, yet they are mentioned every day. "and it was evening, and it was morning, day x"

 
If we start reinterpreting the Torah in order to meet the science of today, then we are basing ourselves on science, not torah.  Then when science changes, Torah is cheapened.  And it's not honest to reinterpret torah in light of science so as to pretend it is saying things that it clearly isn't.

I like this type of thought.

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Wouldn't it be exciting if they discovered that the world IS 6000 years old?  There are a lot of "young earth" websites that point to various problems with the scientific theory claiming that the earth in billions of years old.

it's impossible...however...i wasn't alive 6000 years ago to say otherwise...but the proof is more on the side of a billion years and not 6000 years...nevertheless, it doesn't mean Gd doesn't exist..He sure does

 And why would that be? Is it more proof, or does it have to do more with the fact that, that has been repeated many times and in the acedemic world it has been taught that way as if it was a fact. You understand what I mean? I think that it has to do more with the fact that other's have repeated many times, then the actual "proof". And like you said you weren't around at that time, so saying the above sentence is already saying that one is more biased for billions of years instead of the literal translation of the Torah.

[Dr. Dan]

Wouldn't it be exciting if they discovered that the world IS 6000 years old?  There are a lot of "young earth" websites that point to various problems with the scientific theory claiming that the earth in billions of years old.

it's impossible...however...i wasn't alive 6000 years ago to say otherwise...but the proof is more on the side of a billion years and not 6000 years...nevertheless, it doesn't mean Gd doesn't exist..He sure does

 And why would that be? Is it more proof, or does it have to do more with the fact that, that has been repeated many times and in the acedemic world it has been taught that way as if it was a fact. You understand what I mean? I think that it has to do more with the fact that other's have repeated many times, then the actual "proof". And like you said you weren't around at that time, so saying the above sentence is already saying that one is more biased for billions of years instead of the literal translation of the Torah.

Fossils fossils fossils.  Scientific experiments.  Common sense...But that doesn't mean I don't think Gd exists. I believe exactly waht the Torah says..I just interpret it differently from you and your rabbis...

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

One thing we should not forget is that 1- Many of the people in acedemia have a biased agains't "religion".
 2- Their was a great flood- "Mabul" and the commenteries say (before Darwin was born) that it is called the Mabul because it is similar to the hebrew word meaning making old because the Mabul made the world much older (In a way if you think about a person- let's say he got some terrible disease, eventually it went away, but it still impacted his body making him look much older and weakening his body).
 3- The Creator is over nature. He created things and He controls everything. When he wanted nature to work a certain way then it does, when He wants nature to work a different way, then He does it that way (for example the 10 Plagues of Egypt- that doesn't normally happen in nature, but when G-d wanted their to be for example- fire and ice to rain down together, then He made it that way, and it is perfectly normal to believe, since G-d is incharge of Nature and everything and He does things the way He wants.

[Dr. Dan]

One thing we should not forget is that 1- Many of the people in acedemia have a biased agains't "religion".
 2- Their was a great flood- "Mabul" and the commenteries say (before Darwin was born) that it is called the Mabul because it is similar to the hebrew word meaning making old because the Mabul made the world much older (In a way if you think about a person- let's say he got some terrible disease, eventually it went away, but it still impacted his body making him look much older and weakening his body).
 3- The Creator is over nature. He created things and He controls everything. When he wanted nature to work a certain way then it does, when He wants nature to work a different way, then He does it that way (for example the 10 Plagues of Egypt- that doesn't normally happen in nature, but when G-d wanted their to be for example- fire and ice to rain down together, then He made it that way, and it is perfectly normal to believe, since G-d is incharge of Nature and everything and He does things the way He wants.

Tzvi, you can believe anything you want.  It doesn't matter to me if it were proven 6000 years by religious people or a trillion years by scientists..Gd exists...nobody can prove that to me wrong. 
For me personally, when it comes down to creation and evolution, in my mind, one doesn't cancel the other one out.  one can create an arguement of one against the other...I simply don't care to argue one wrong or the other right...I konw what works in my mind...it will change as I live and learn other thoughts...but the bottom line is, GD exists He created the universe in His magical way.

[briann]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

[q_q_]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

What evidence is there that these people of 10,000 year old civilizations, were human? 
Sure, creatures that could build houses for themselves, and they could paint..
We have no Linguistic evidence  to analyse. That would show us what they were feeling.. examine it for ethical/moral thinking. These could have just been creatures who internally were below man, even if they had the form of man.
 

[Dr. Dan]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

Cavemen might have not been the same species as us. We are Homo sapiens..cavemen might have been a Homo somethingortheother.  That would mean that if a caveman were to be taken from the past 10,000 years ago and mated with a human of today, they would be unable to viable children with each other because they were different species much like if you were to cross a donkey with a turtle.

[q_q_]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

Cavemen might have not been the same species as us. We are Homo sapiens..cavemen might have been a Homo somethingortheother.  That would mean that if a caveman were to be taken from the past 10,000 years ago and mated with a human of today, they would be unable to viable children with each other because they were different species much like if you were to cross a donkey with a turtle.

the question of what is a human, is not merely answered by looking at what a human can mate with..

BTW, one can cross a zebra and a horse, get a zorse!


One way of answering what is a human, is to look for the genetic appearance of a human, (which is different to a caveman)
But more than that.
To look for the moral / ethical thinking that makes a human, and I suppose distinguishes him from the animals.
What makes a human a human is more than just physical form. Or, who he can mate with.

[briann]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

What evidence is there that these people of 10,000 year old civilizations, were human? 
Sure, creatures that could build houses for themselves, and they could paint..
We have no Linguistic evidence  to analyse. That would show us what they were feeling.. examine it for ethical/moral thinking. These could have just been creatures who internally were below man, even if they had the form of man.
 

There is no question that hominids were genetically and morphologically different in the past.  Its all really a matter of tom'ay'to tom'ah'to.

Many anthropologists say the first homo sapien sapien appreared around 100,000 years ago... .but again... the skulls from that period are DEFINITELY not the same as today's humans... so its really up for debate.

As homo sapien sapien (Not Neanderthal) skulls are found closer and closer to the present... they start to resemble us more and more.  The ones from 10,000 years ago are nearly.. but not completely identical.

[muman613]

It is believed that one of the major things which makes Humans more than animals is the power of speech. Our human ability to speak and understand is unique amongst all creations. I realize some may argue that other species have forms of communication but no animal comes close to human ability to express in words.

muman613

[Daleksfearme]

It is believed that one of the major things which makes Humans more than animals is the power of speech. Our human ability to speak and understand is unique amongst all creations. I realize some may argue that other species have forms of communication but no animal comes close to human ability to express in words.

muman613

Whales, dolphins , birds

all of these animals have language ability that far exceeds anything a human can even come close to. "Words" by themselves are not a measure of ability., they are simply the way that humans communicate.

 The extremely complex structure of whale song is, among other things, a very high level navigational and alarm system. Humans are unable to match 5his system without the use of technology.

[Dr. Dan]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

Cavemen might have not been the same species as us. We are Homo sapiens..cavemen might have been a Homo somethingortheother.  That would mean that if a caveman were to be taken from the past 10,000 years ago and mated with a human of today, they would be unable to viable children with each other because they were different species much like if you were to cross a donkey with a turtle.

the question of what is a human, is not merely answered by looking at what a human can mate with..

BTW, one can cross a zebra and a horse, get a zorse!


One way of answering what is a human, is to look for the genetic appearance of a human, (which is different to a caveman)
But more than that.
To look for the moral / ethical thinking that makes a human, and I suppose distinguishes him from the animals.
What makes a human a human is more than just physical form. Or, who he can mate with.

But zorses cannot beget zorses..they become infertile..It is a general scientific thing that if two species mate, they might be able to create offspring, but the offspring cannot make the same thing.  Therefore, if cavemen were a different species from humans today, they might create offspring, but non-viable just like mules are non-viable but are a cross of donkeys and horses (I think).

As far as moral and ethical thinking..that's a different subject..I wasn't referring to this point of view. I was referring to the ability of creating viable reproducing offspring by two different species.

What sets Homo sapiens, as a species apart from other species is that they have what's called a prefrontal lobe in their brain.  This is the part of the brain, that once it is developed, is responsible for human beings abilities to make decisions between right and wrong.  Jewish men wear tfillin on top of this area and it is known by many as the location of the human soul.  Why is this?  Because that is where our moral decisions lie. If we learn morality properly, it will be that part of the brain that will help us relay our decisions.

If Adam and Eve were the first homo sapiens, and therefore the first real human beings, it was because they had this pre-frontal lobe unlike other human-like species.  How do we know this?  Because they felt guilt when they ate from the tree of knowledge.  They realized they did wrong. They felt ashamed of themselves.  That's the pre-frontal lobe at work. This is the human condition.

[Dr. Dan]

The bible is clear that Adam, first man, was less than 6000 years ago.

that disagrees with a claim that modern humans are 10,000 years old


What evidence is there that these bodies and civilizations were human?

There is plenty of evidence.... but even if there weren't.... does that mean that civilizations older than 6000 years old where built by aliens?

assuming fossils and cave paintings are not planted, and cave men existed.

cavemen are not humans, but not aliens either.

Cows and Bulls are not aliens.

not human does not mean alien.

What evidence is there that these people of 10,000 year old civilizations, were human? 
Sure, creatures that could build houses for themselves, and they could paint..
We have no Linguistic evidence  to analyse. That would show us what they were feeling.. examine it for ethical/moral thinking. These could have just been creatures who internally were below man, even if they had the form of man.
 

There is no question that hominids were genetically and morphologically different in the past.  Its all really a matter of tom'ay'to tom'ah'to.

Many anthropologists say the first homo sapien sapien appreared around 100,000 years ago... .but again... the skulls from that period are DEFINITELY not the same as today's humans... so its really up for debate.

As homo sapien sapien (Not Neanderthal) skulls are found closer and closer to the present... they start to resemble us more and more.  The ones from 10,000 years ago are nearly.. but not completely identical.

Listen, if you look at a skull of a mongoloid (chinese, japanese, korean etc) with teh skull of a negroid (blacks) with the skull of a caucesoid (the rest), the skulls might look different..but the brain will essentially look the same.  And all of these races can mate and create other types of humans that can make more humans.

The same goes with dogs.  You have long haired, short haired, collies, gold retrievers, german sheperds etc...all look different, but different phenotypes..all can create dogs.  You can consider blacks, whites, yellows, etc as different breeds of humans.

But what distinguishes a human from other species is spelled out so many ways scientifically and religiously.  Humans are capable of choosing right from wrong when taught properly what is right and what is wrong. Other species can't. That's why we are so special. This is why we celebrate 5700-6000 years of existence of the first humans who demonstrated guilt which indicates they realized what was right from wrong and how Gd made us so unique as a species.  Is the world really that old? Probably not given scientific evidence that it can't be.  However, I can bet my bottom dollar that it will later be proven that morality demonstrated by human beings is 5700-6000 years old..that's when the world began turning.

[Dr. Dan]

It is believed that one of the major things which makes Humans more than animals is the power of speech. Our human ability to speak and understand is unique amongst all creations. I realize some may argue that other species have forms of communication but no animal comes close to human ability to express in words.

muman613

Speech is one thing sure...However how many times have humans misunderstood each other's speech?  Believe me, speech is nothing. It's our ability to learn right from wrong...and I when i say right from wrong I mean whatever is taught to be right and wrong.  in bad societies, what is evil is right and what is righteous is evil.  throughout the ages in Judaism, we have attempted successfully to create the right as right and the wrong as evil and we continue to make it better.

[ape]

before adam people were apes

[muman613]

It is believed that one of the major things which makes Humans more than animals is the power of speech. Our human ability to speak and understand is unique amongst all creations. I realize some may argue that other species have forms of communication but no animal comes close to human ability to express in words.

muman613

Whales, dolphins , birds

all of these animals have language ability that far exceeds anything a human can even come close to. "Words" by themselves are not a measure of ability., they are simply the way that humans communicate.

 The extremely complex structure of whale song is, among other things, a very high level navigational and alarm system. Humans are unable to match 5his system without the use of technology.

Daleksfrearme,

Are you saying that Dolphins & Birds have written poetry? Have they written anything? What is it they are saying? We do not believe that animals have free-will as you and I have free will. What do you think they are saying? There is nothing in the entire creation like the creative speech and writing of humanity. I think you are just saying that these species are able to make noises which mean certain things.

Could you please tell me a Dolphin story?

muman613

PS: Whale navagation is not speech... It is a system of sounds used to navigate. There is no comparison between human speech and whale sounds. Once again can you please provide an example of a Whale sentence or paragraph?


PPS: According to the sages the reason speech is so powerful is because this is the quality, along with free-will, which distinguishes humans from animals and makes us in Hashems image {creators}.

http://www.jlaw.com/Commentary/free.html
Rabbi Berel Wein
The characteristic that distinguishes humans from animals is the power of speech, which, more than any other trait, represents our intellectual capacity to communicate. Judaism always has taught that this characteristic is a holy gift from the Creator. Just like the gifts of life, health, talents, and family, this gift of speech is not to be abused. It is to be used sparingly and carefully, for good purposes and not for evil. Gossip, muckraking, slander, and cynical language all fly in the face of the purpose of this holy gift of speech. Even when one is speaking the truth, one is cautioned to avoid the pitfalls of lashon hara, for unlike the case of a libel action, truth alone is not a sufficient cause for speaking about others. As such, the rabbinic encouragement of healthy silence is well understood and appreciated. In a world where, sadly, this precept is in vogue, and in fact, the entire concept of lashon hara may inspire only incredulity, a determined effort on our part to restore the sanctity of speech is certainly in order.

[q_q_]

<snip>
But what distinguishes a human from other species is spelled out so many ways scientifically and religiously.  Humans are capable of choosing right from wrong when taught properly what is right and what is wrong. Other species can't. That's why we are so special. This is why we celebrate 5700-6000 years of existence of the first humans who demonstrated guilt which indicates they realized what was right from wrong and how Gd made us so unique as a species.  Is the world really that old? Probably not given scientific evidence that it can't be.  However, I can bet my bottom dollar that it will later be proven that morality demonstrated by human beings is 5700-6000 years old..that's when the world began turning.

In the story of Adam and Eve, you say they did wrong and felt guilty.. I guess so perhaps, but more fundamentally what we see clearly from the story, is that they went against the master's wishes, and hid because they were afraid.

Wouldn't an animal do something against his master's wishes, and hide? or fear punishment.

What if G-d forbid, a child is in trouble, and a dog tries his best but fails to save it.  And the owner comes home, maybe the dog would feel like he failed.
He was doing the act for the child and for his master, who is still there.
It's like guilt.
"guilt"/"regret" are just more intellectual forms of thinking things back in your mind..  and wishing you could change it.

I must say I haven't given much though to trying to prove differences between man and animal..   I have found so many humans that I consider to be like animals.

I knew somebody that said animals can't create..
Years later I saw a program that showed monkeys that had actually developed tools. They said people didn't think animals could do that, it was a big shock.

You mention religion as a distinction, that is one which I think maybe animals don't have. But even that, you know, maybe one animal somewhere is under the illusion that a rock has some special power. You could call that a primitive religion. The religion just won't spread like they do amongst humans, because animals don't have the intellect or language to communicate ideas like humans can. And of course their ideas are simpler.

animals can be selfish and selfless.  This is a basis for moral decisions. They just don't have the intelligence to really mull it over.

humans can admire culture. secular ones in particular love culture. It's not a great thing though.. "we are distinct from animals because we can appreciate the beauty of a painting".  Animals though can also lie about and appreciate life, once their survival needs are taken care of.

Sometimes humans are thick like animals, and all they understand is if you are angry with them or pleased with them, or telling them to move here or there, and any other more more detailed communication is lost on them.

Infact, in some of the posts on forums, you can see no thought development  at all, they may as well not use words. The distance between man and animal becomes ever closer.

The example you gave of prefrontal lobes, was adam and even and the fruit. But i'm sure you could train an animal that something is against your wishes, and they do it and fear a reaction.
Like not to eat a fruit you left out. And maybe they will choose to starve to death rather than eat it!!  Or maybe they will eat it.
They are making a decision there. And as the situation worsens the factors change, so they are considering it somewhat. It doesn't take much intellect to think of both possibilities, so they can do it.
If they had more intellect they could consider more complex choices, like a situation of arabs outnumbering jews in the future.  Throwing out the arabs and looking bad, vs keeping them there ..    A simpler version would be a car coming, should they try to save their kitten or not. They probably would, yet they certainly sense the danger. Infact, I suspiciously think they would act as immediately as a human!! Often humans put in these situations make a quick decision without hesitation. Just instinctively.

maybe animals can do simple maths too, 1+1, in  a simple game for example. They have that form of intelligence, but not the intelligence to think of more abstract mathematics like differentiation. (of course, many humans have that problem.. and the line between man and animal shortens again!)

[muman613]

I think Human beings are the most advanced form of life for a reason. There is no doubt that we have the ability to create so many things. I have not seen any animal, even those monkeys, build themselves houses or schools or skyscrapers. Humans are so much more advanced than animals that I am surprised so many here are arguing about how intelligent animals are.

I love my cats and they are intelligent animals, but they can't program a computer. My cats cannot wash my clothes nor my dishes. I cant talk to my cats when I get home from work and get a reply other than a pur. Humans are the ultimate, despite what some people here seem to think about people being like animals.

It is this lesson, that humans have two souls, the animal soul and the divine soul and there is a struggle going on between these two factions. Since we are a part of the divine we have conscience and struggle with doing right in the face of wrongdoing. Our animal souls tell us to enjoy life and not be responsible. This is what our scripture is supposed to teach us. This is why they call it the Tree of Life and the Manual for living. Look at the stories of the first book... In every case there is a struggle between doing wrong and doing good. In Gan Eden there was only one command yet they couldn't keep it. Cain & Able demonstrates more about human nature. The stories of Noach and Tower of Babel exhibit other human failings. Each story shows the good and the bad of all the characters.

I believe as the Rabbis and Sages taught our forefathers. What we need to concentrate on is making ourselves better in light of Torah and not care what the birds and whales are saying. I think we can live in harmony with the animals and elevate them. I know that animals know there is a creator because I hear it when I meditate in prayer. I think that as smart as the animals are they have a mission alongside humanity. We are the prime mission in this world. This is my belief.

muman613

[zachor_ve_kavod]

I have had a debate on this forum before about this exact topic, (with Tzvi ben Roshel I think).  It is certainly an interesting question.  I believe that based on scientific evidence, the Earth is 4.6 billion years old.  But I believe in the Torah also.  I also believe that Adam was the first man but not necessarily the first human. 

I believe that G-d created the world in six days, but what was a day?  I doubt that G-d used human measurements such as a day.  Therefore six days may refer to G-d's interpretation of the concept of a day. 

We have human fossils from as far back as two million years ago, but I believe that at one point (possibly 6000 years ago) G-d gave man a soul, and what one would recognize as a real person began walking the Earth. 

I do not believe that the creation account and the scientific narrative are necessarily mutually exclusive, but I am not profoundly troubled by the fact that I do not know the answers.

All I can say is that I am keenly aware that people are incapable of even conceiving the questions concerning the mysteries of the universe, let alone the answers.

[muman613]

I have had a debate on this forum before about this exact topic, (with Tzvi ben Roshel I think).  It is certainly an interesting question.  I believe that based on scientific evidence, the Earth is 4.6 billion years old.  But I believe in the Torah also.  I also believe that Adam was the first man but not necessarily the first human. 

I believe that G-d created the world in six days, but what was a day?  I doubt that G-d used human measurements such as a day.  Therefore six days may refer to G-d's interpretation of the concept of a day. 

We have human fossils from as far back as two million years ago, but I believe that at one point (possibly 6000 years ago) G-d gave man a soul, and what one would recognize as a real person began walking the Earth. 

I do not believe that the creation account and the scientific narrative are necessarily mutually exclusive, but I am not profoundly troubled by the fact that I do not know the answers.

All I can say is that I am keenly aware that people are incapable of even conceiving the questions concerning the mysteries of the universe, let alone the answers.

Shalom Zachor_ve_Kavod,

Very well put... This is also how I feel about this issue.

muman613

[Lubab]

G-d created fully grown trees, not just seeds. G-d created Adam a fully grown man, not just a baby.

G-d similarly created a "grown" world. A world that scientifically appears much older much in the same way Adam appeared scientifically much older than one day old on his birthday.

That is one thing we must keep in mind.

We also must keep in mind the limitations of radioactive dating which makes many many assumptions and extrapolations about the way elements interacted thousands of years ago when no such data was being recorded.

The Torah does not leave its simple interpretation and under its simple interpretation the world is exactly 5,769 years old.

[angryChineseKahanist]

My view is that modern man came about around 6000 years ago.
That is, we became civilised 6000 years ago.
Before that, we may have been rather barbaric.
And then, half a million years ago we may have been more savage.
A million years ago or more, we may have been rather animal-like.

[AsheDina]

I keep hearing this phrase my mainly atheists or people who bash religion claiming that the bible says the world is 6000 years old, but no where have I been able to actually find a verse or anything that references to the world being 6000 years old. G-d is outside of time correct? So couldn't a day perhaps be a million years to G-d? How is the time measured? Isn't this time currently measured via the Roman calender? Let me know.

  I dont know where the scripture is exactly, but it says that a day "Is as a thousand years to G-d"

[q_q_]

In the tenach, there is

“for a thousand years in Thy sight are but like yesterday when it past“ (Psalm 90:2)

By the way , and this is really significant..
there is a kabbalistic teaching that the world(I guess universe not just earth) is 15 billion years old

That does correspond with science of today!
So it's a very significant thing.

note- I may have made an error in my maths here, but it seems ok to me. This is a well known thing, the 15.3 billion calculation by rabbi yitzchak of akko

Rabbi yitzchak of Akko based it on the kabbalistic teaching that the world is created and destroyed 6 times, lasting 7000 years each time.

So that's 42,000 years passed by before our world was created.

Rabbi Yitzchak of Akko points to

“for a thousand years in Thy sight are but like yesterday when it past“ (Psalm 90:2)

says that these 42,000 years the kabbalists speak of are to be taken as divine years.

A divine day is 1000 earth years (see tenach verse)
(it's 1000 times longer than an earth year)

A divine year is 365.25 divine days.

So,

equate them,  earth years are of course the smaller unit.

divine day .   =   1000 earth years

so we want to know how many earth years, are 42,000 divine years.
Because the world was created after 42,000 divine years.

divine year    =  365.25*1000 earth years
                   = 365,250

42,000 divine years = 42,000 *  365,250

= ~15.3 billion years.

note - there is a dispute as to which cycle we are in, so some say final cycle, so 42,000 divine years passed, meaning indeed, 15.3 billion years.
others say second cycle (which I guess is 5.1 billion 14000*365250).

Here are 2 sources

http://www.jewishmag.com/8MAG/WORLDS/worlds1.htm (Classic webpage)
http://www.thehope.org/toreng0.htm (something I just picked up now)


To repeat myself..

rabbi yitzchak of akko has it htat,

1 divine day is(=) 1000 earth years.

our world was created after 42,000 divine years

divine day is the bigger unit,

we want to have the number of divine days to however many are in 42,000 divine years.

so times LHS by 365.25(days in a divine year)*42,000(to get days in 42,000 divine years)
Do the same on the RHS, which already has 1000  , so it's  1000*365.25*42,000


Another way to look at it is,
1 divine day = 1000 earth years
1 divine year = 365,250 earth years
42,000 divine years = 15.3 billion.

Another way is
365.25*42000=1.5 million
that's how many divine days before earth was created.
earth days are a smaller unit by 1000, so
1.5 million *1000= 15 billion.

sometimes it's worth thinking of it in a few ways to check yourself and not get tripped up in the mental arithmetic.