I mean, is there an established group of Jews which defend a strictly literal interpretation of Torah? If so, who are they? If not, why isn't it an issue?
I'm curious as to how prevalent things like young earth creationism are in Judaism.
All traditionaly observant Jews study the Bible very closely, examining every letter of every word of the original text.
In that sense all Jews are far more "literalist" then the fundamentalist Christians.
On the other hand, we have a rich tradition of interpretation to guide even the most foolish of us on just how one goes about reading the text.
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So - for instance - understanding that the Torah is a law book, and uderstanding that "an eye for an eye" is a technical legal term,
we read "he shall repay an eye for an eye"
very literaly as "upon hearing relevant evidence, the court shall establish the difference in work value between a man like the plaintiff with an eye, and a man like the plaintiff without an eye, and upon finding the defendant guilty, shall cause the defendant to pay to the plaintiff an amount equaling said difference in value."
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"young earth creationism" - There are some Hassidim I have spoken to who take the first part of Genesis at face value. But it is realy a non-issue socialy/religiously.
Fact is -- one can always point them to thousand year old authorities showing that it is not to be read in this maner.
The focus of the Jewish religion is the Exodus from Egypt and the covenantal relationship we have developed with God, from the covenants of Abraham to the final covenant at Sinai.
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@Salt is a Christian troll
@RIchard is some sort of anti-Israel troll with no clue of Israeli politics