I do not believe that the problem is belief in the specific age of the Universe.
To be perfectly honest. I don’t care what it is. The age of the world is completely irrelevant to me.
I do believe the Torah was given at Har Sinai.
I do believe that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is contained in the Torah.
I do know there are certain “secrets” of Torah that can be fully grasped and understood by only a select few in each generation.
Rav Elyashiv’s grandfather the Leshem was one such person and he wrote about the age of the world.
I am not on the level to fully comprehend what he wrote.
However I believe fully that any theory or thought regarding the age of the universe must fully comply with the Torah and if it is conflict it must disregarded as false.
Period.
Science must whole up to the test of Torah.
The Torah must not whole up to the test of science chalilah.
However I do think that the crux of the issue is where we get our information and what we base it on.
A careful reading of the second of the famous Ninteen Letters shows one thing RSRH made clear that to understand the Torah we must study the Torah from within the Torah not from with out.
For ex.
Evolutionists point to the similarity between various skeletal structures as “proof” towards the need to identify one single common ancestor. if not there is no good explanation.
However if we look within the Torah we understand that man is a composite of a guf and a neshomah and what distinguishes us is not our bodies but our neshomah.
So if HKBH saw fit why could he not have acted as any architect and use one basic “sketch” for all his living creations with slight deviations based upon each ones respective purpose in this world with man being distinguished not by a completely different skeletal structure but a completely different soul?
It’s a simple solution to one of the primary riddles that evolutionary scientists claim as a “proof” to their theories.
In fact it’s not a solution or a form of “apologetics” it’s a logical conclusion that one would make by and basic study of machshovah.
But it’s one that “they” will not entertain at any cost.
Why?
Because the core. root, and the driving force between all their theories is to prove that at the very essence man and animal are the same with only “evolutionary genetics to thank and as such man and animal’s are equal’s in theory.