The Big Bang and Bereishit: How the Torah’s Creation Story Matches Modern Science

Modern physics teaches that the universe began with an event known as “the Big Bang.” This discovery, made in the mid-20th century, completely changed our understanding of the cosmos. In brief, the Big Bang theory states:

1. All matter in the universe existed from the very first moment. Every atom, proton, and electron that makes up the universe today was once concentrated in an infinitesimally small point—smaller than the tip of a pin. How did all this matter get there? Science has no answer.

2. The entire universe was once a single point. That point wasn’t in space — it was space. There was no “outside” or “next to” it, because space itself did not yet exist.

3. Then came the explosion. A massive flash of energy filled the entire universe. One of the strongest pieces of evidence for this event is the cosmic microwave background radiation, a faint glow of energy that still reaches Earth today from all directions.

   As the energy cooled, Einstein’s equation E = mc² came into play: energy condensed into matter. Under gravity’s pull, matter began to clump together into galaxies, stars, and planets.

   The original “point” expanded rapidly, inflating into the vast three-dimensional space we know today.
   Evidence for this expansion is seen in the fact that all galaxies are still moving away from each other — just like dots on an inflating balloon.

   No one knows what caused this explosion.

4. The beginning of time. The moment of the Big Bang was also the beginning of time itself. It’s meaningless to ask, “What happened before the Big Bang?”—because there was no “before.” Time began with that event.

This was a radical shift in scientific thought. Until the 20th century, science assumed the universe had always existed. Now, most physicists agree that time itself had a beginning.

When Scientists Use the Word “Creation”

Interestingly, since the discovery of the Big Bang, even leading scientists have begun to use the term “creation.” 

Professor Hagai Netzer, astrophysicist at Tel Aviv University and expert on galaxies and black holes, said in a 2005 lecture: “We know today that what was created in the Big Bang — that great explosion which is the source of all matter and energy in the universe, first produced matter: protons and electrons, which later formed nuclei and atoms… This accumulation of matter eventually became all the galaxies and stars in the universe… The universe was created about 13 billion years ago.”

Creation According to the Torah

The parallels between the Torah and modern cosmology are astonishing. The Book of Bereishit, written over 3,300 years ago, already describes the key stages of cosmic creation found by science only in the 20th century.

1. All Matter Existed From the First Moment

In Hebrew, the verb “bara” (ברא) means creation from absolute nothingness — something coming into existence where nothing existed before. This word appears only three times in the entire first chapter of Bereishit:

• Creation of matter:
  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Bereishit 1:1)

• Creation of living beings:
  “And God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves.” (Bereishit 1:21)

• Creation of man:
  “And God created man in His image.” (Bereishit 1:27)

Notice that bara — creation ex nihilo, appears only at the very start of each fundamental stage: matter, life, and humanity. After the first verse, no new “creation” occurs; only organization and transformation of existing material.

As early commentators explained: “All the material from which everything was formed was created on the first day.” (Rabbeinu Bachya, Bereishit 1:1)

“By the first utterance, everything was created.” (Ohr HaChaim, Bereishit 1:1)

“Everything was created on the first day.” (Rashi, Bereishit 1:24, 2:4)

In other words, all matter in the universe was created at once, exactly as modern cosmology teaches.

2. The Universe Began as a Single Point

The medieval sage Nachmanides (Ramban) wrote: “In this creation, which was like a small, thin point without substance, were created all created things in the heavens and the earth.” (Ramban, Bereishit 1:1)

He even identifies this “point” with the Foundation Stone (Even HaShtiya) in the Temple Mount — symbolically the place from which the world expanded. Though meant spiritually, his words remarkably echo the scientific description of the primordial singularity.

3. “Let There Be Light” — The Burst of Energy

According to physics, light is electromagnetic radiation. Some of it is visible; most is not. The Big Bang filled the entire universe with electromagnetic energy — the same radiation we still detect today as the cosmic background glow.

If one had to summarize the Big Bang — a burst of light filling all of space, what could describe it more perfectly than: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’—and there was light.” (Bereishit 1:3)

That verse, written over three millennia ago, captures in poetic precision what modern science only recently confirmed.

4. The Beginning of Time

Before the mid-20th century, scientists believed the universe had always existed. The Big Bang revealed that it had a beginning.
As we see in the very first word of the Torah: “Bereishit” — In the beginning. (Bereishit 1:1)

The Torah opens with the concept of time itself beginning — a truth discovered by physics only recently.

A Perfect Alignment

Let’s summarize:

For 3,300 years, these ideas seemed like mysticism. Now, modern science has caught up — even detecting the faint glow of that original “light.”

Questions Science Still Can’t Answer

Even with the Big Bang theory, science cannot explain:

1. Where did all the matter come from?

2. What caused the explosion itself?

The Torah answers both questions directly: ​“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Bereishit 1:1) — All matter was brought into existence ex nihilo by God.

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Bereishit 1:3) — God’s command initiated the burst — the beginning of space, matter, and time.

While science describes the how, the Torah reveals the why.
Far from being in conflict, the two narratives — the scientific and the biblical, fit together like two halves of one truth: a universe that began in a moment of light.