How can there be different races if there is one anscestor Adam? When and how did it start? How developed were people in the early history and doesn’t that contradict the theory of prehistoric primitive man in all senses?
Maybe you can help me with some clarification. Perhaps you know more science that I, so you could help explain the questions to me.
1) “How can there be different races if there is one ancestor adam? When and how did it start?”
I guess you mean, how did different races start? Why can’t different races come from one ancestor? In any family, there is variation between the children; one can be short and dark and another tall and fair. A lot depends on how homogeneous the different genes of the parents were. Maybe you’ll explain it better to me.
Truth is, though, that I don’t know for sure how the different races started. The only one I saw who talked about it was the Kuzari, by Rabbi Yehudah haLevi. He says there that the children of Noach went to three different latitudes. The sons of Yefes went to the northern regions and they are fair. The sons of Cham went to the equatorial regions and they are dark. And the sons of Shem went to the temperate regions and they’re in between. I’m not sure what was the cause and what was the effect, though.
2) “How developed were people in early history and doesn’t that contradict the theory of prehistoric primitive man in all senses?”
(I changed some of the words; let me know if I got it wrong.) We believe that Adam was the most developed human being who ever lived. He was created by the hand of G-d, and had he not sinned he could have risen to unimaginable heights. Does that contradict the theory of prehistoric primitive man? I don’t know that we’re claiming that early man had a high technology.
But anyhow, maybe it does contradict. Why shouldn’t it?
Look here: Anytime there is a seeming contradiction between something the Torah says and something that science says, what are we supposed to do? The Torah is true, and science is the study of truth, so we need a resolution. It could be that we are not understanding the Torah properly. It’s also very possible that the science is not final, that it will eventually be understood differently. Usually only an expert in that scientific field can know whether something is an obvious fact, confirmed beyond all doubt, or whether it’s just a current working assumption but still subject to review. The same is true about the understanding of the Torah. There may not be anyone in the world today who knows enough about both.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach