The Torah’s description of Creation contains mystical secrets; not all of it is meant to be understood at face value. Therefore, the Sages taught that the secrets of Creation are transmitted from teacher to disciple privately rather than publicly (Ĥagiga 11b).

The Torah’s account of Creation is not meant to be taken literally in its entirety, as the masses believe. If it were [entirely true in a literal sense] the Sages would not have been concerned about [publicizing] it, they would not have attempted to keep it hidden, and they would not have objected to discussing it in public. The superficial meaning [of the account of Creation] can lead to significantly inaccurate concepts, the assimilation of false ideas about God, or even to total abandonment and denial of the foundations of Torah. (Rambam, Guide of the Perplexed II:29)

The Torah tells of the creation of the world approximately six thousand years ago. However, according to the Sages this process was preceded by the creation and destruction of a number of other worlds. This rabbinic statement can help explain the fact that geologists have dated the world as much older than it is according to our tradition. Their findings pertain to items left from previous worlds.

“This teaches us that the Holy One, blessed be He, repeatedly created worlds and destroyed them, saying: ‘These are worthwhile to me and these are not worthwhile to me’” (Bereshit Rabba 3:7)…. Now, my dear brothers, look at the foundations upon which our holy Torah rests. This secret was transmitted to our fathers and teachers, and they revealed it to us hundreds of years ago, and now, in our age of clarity, it has been found in nature. From all that has been stated, it is clear that what the kabbalists transmitted to us hundreds of years ago, that there was a world that once existed and it was destroyed, and then [a new world] arose, [and this happened] four times, and each time the world was more perfect than before, has all been confirmed to be true in our day and age. (Rabbi Yisrael Lipschitz, Tiferet Yisrael, Derush Or HaĤayyim)

Knowledge of God is built on recognizing the unity of the Creation. When we notice that the natural world is a single, integrated system, built with incredible wisdom, this strengthens our recognition of God and His wisdom. The theory of evolution does not contradict Torah but is rather a possible interpretation of the Creation narrative. If wisdom requires the conclusion that the universe was formed over billions of years, that increases our recognition of the greatness of God, who invested so many years to reach the goal.

Evolution is one possible interpretation of the Creation narrative:

In summary, although the approach of modern-day philosophers and scientists has not been proven…we must clarify that even if these theories are proven correct, they do not at all threaten the foundations of Torah. They rather cast light on the esoteric narrative of Creation.… The kabbalists especially have already explained, relying also on the midrash that states that God created worlds and destroyed them, that creation has undergone several stages until it reached this state.

The theory of evolution only increases our admiration for the Creator:

The idea of an evolutionary process over billions of years is very distressing to the small-minded. They think that evolution leaves room for denying the living God, but they are very mistaken. Knowledge of God is built only on recognition of the unity [of creation]. When we how see the vast creation is organized with wisdom, and how living creatures have body, spirit, and intellect, and everything is integrated into one system, we recognize the great spirit that is here that gives life to all and sets a place for all. If the ways of wisdom necessitate that this develop over billions of years, we should be even more amazed at how great and lofty is [God], the eternal Source of life, such that billions of years of constant development toward achieving a particular goal are like an instant to Him. (Rabbi Avraham Yitzĥak Kook, Linevukhei HaDor, chaps. 4–5)

Scientists formulate hyphotheses and theories and test them, whereas the Torah deals with absolute truths. Reconciling these two realms is inappropriate. We have no plausible ways of measuring the conditions at the time of the creation of the world. Therefore, there is no place for questioning the description that appears in the Torah with different theories of the age of the world.

Science formulates theories, whereas the Torah deals with absolute truths:

It was quite a surprise to me to learn that you are still troubled by the problem of the age of the world as suggested by various scientific theories which cannot be reconciled with the Torah view…. I underlined the word theories, for it is necessary to bear in mind, first of all, that science formulates and deals with theories and hypotheses while the Torah deals with absolute truths. These are two different disciplines, where reconciliation is entirely out of place.

Theories that deal with matters that cannot be proven in a laboratory are not true science:

We must distinguish between empirical or experimental science dealing with, and confined to, describing and classifying observable phenomena, and speculative science, dealing with unknown phenomena, sometimes phenomena that cannot be duplicated in the laboratory…. At best, science can only speak in terms of theories inferred from certain known facts and applied in the realm of the unknown…. In view of the unknown conditions which existed in “prehistoric” times, conditions of atmospheric pressures, temperatures, radioactivity, unknown catalyzers, etc., etc., as already mentioned, conditions that is, which could have caused reactions and changes of an entirely different nature and tempo from those known under the present-day orderly processes of nature…we have no conceivable measurements or criteria of calculations under those unknown conditions.

The “scientific” theories contradict each other:

It is no wonder that the different “scientific” theories about the age of the world not only do not fit with each other, but some of them even contradict and negate each other, where the maximum age according to one theory is less than the minimum age of another. (Rabbi Menaĥem Mendel Schneerson, Mind Over Matter, p. 34)

Professor Velvl Greene, of blessed memory, was a well-known scientist in Minnesota who had begun returning to Judaism. He read an article that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had published about the faulty foundations of the theory of evolution and sent him a long letter with several critiques of his article.

Other types of wisdom do not truly nourish the soul, for doubts will always remain, and every philosopher contradicts his predecessor. (Don Yitzĥak Abarbanel, Commentary on Isaiah 55:2)

This is a principle in the war of ideas: When an idea is raised that contradicts something in the Torah, we do not necessarily need to disprove that idea. We can build the palace of Torah over it, and in this way we can be uplifted by it. It was for this very purpose that these ideas were revealed. (Rabbi Avraham Yitzĥak Kook, Igrot HaRa’aya, Igeret 105)