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From: R. Halevi
Subject: The epoch question
Date: 21 Shevat 5780
Devorah raises a practical question with theological implications.
The calendar counts years from Creation. But the date of Creation is not agreed upon. The traditional calculation, attributed to Rabbi Yose in Seder Olam Rabbah, places it 5784 years ago. But this calculation assumes certain things: that the biblical genealogies are complete and not telescoped, that the reigns of kings do not overlap, that the seventy years of Babylonian exile means exactly seventy years.
Other calculations exist. The Talmud itself acknowledges discrepancies. Medieval scholars debated the chronology. Modern historians place biblical events in different centuries than the traditional count.
If we adopt 1 Tishrei year 1 as our epoch, we are taking a position on when the world was created. Or at least, we are taking a position on which calculation we trust. This may seem like a technical choice, but technical choices have a way of becoming normative.
—Dov Halevi
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