My husband and I are watching a Great Courses series on astronomy. My abstract sense that the universe is large has been upended by statistics that stretch credibility.
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 100 billion stars (give or take a billion). That’s just our galaxy. The estimated number of galaxies? 125 billion. And that’s just in “the observable universe.” Who could begin to imagine what is beyond the observable range of our technology and the speed of light?
Since Galileo, humanity’s sense of place in creation continues to shrink. Our home, planet Earth, is a pinprick in the enormous, mysterious canvas of the universe. The notions of gods, origins, and how creation works that come to us from past ages seem quaintly out of date. Perhaps that is why some people set science and religion as opposites: if we accept the validity of science, how can we believe in the stories and teachings of religion, which put humans and God in the center of a cosmic drama, rather than our actual insignificant place in a reality beyond comprehension?
These musings bring me to Shavuot, the holiday beginning this Sunday night, May 16, that celebrates God giving Torah to the Jewish people at Sinai.
Do I believe that the creator of 125 billion galaxies (each of which has an estimated 100 billion stars) actually swooped down to the desert of Sinai and dictated some laws for all time to a small group of former slaves? No, I admit that I do not believe that.
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