Several years ago as part of a research project Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, obtained a photocopy of “The Treasure House of Life.” by Rabbi Isaac of Akko {1250-1350 } a student of the Ramban,- Nachmonadies ) In it he discovered a radically new concept of Sabbatical cycles.
According to the “Book of Form” a classical Kabbalistic book, the world was 42,000 years old when Adam was born.
Rabbi Isaac of Akko says that the Sabbatical cycles that existed before Adam must not have been measured in human years but in divine years. Thus the “Book of Form” is speaking of Forty- Thousand divine years. According to the Psalmist the “divine day” is 1,000 earth years and a divine year consisting of 365'/4 days, is equal to 365,250 earth years.
Therefore the universe would be 42,000 x 365,250 years old. before Man’s appearance on earth. This is 15,340,500,000 years is very close to the figure arrived at from calculations based on modern science. But here the similar fig-ure presented in an authentic Kabbalistic source written over Seven hundred years ago by Rabbi Isaac of Akko.
