Kesher Talk

Jewish Aliens Revisited: I saw this in the comments section with regards to Howard's post on the possibility of alien life existing within the framework of Jewish thought:

I've often wondered about this...is the earth not for us and the Heavens to be left for G-d?
-Laurence Grafstein

This reminded me of a transcript of a speech given by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in the 1970's (I think). The topic was the age of the universe (and his theory is fascinating), but to begin, he addressed the question of extra terrestrials. His position was just like that of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. To say that alien life is impossible is to limit G-d. His major problem with coming out either for or against the possibility of extra terrestrial life was of "painting yourself into an intellectual corner." He specifically brought the example of theologians that said that space travel was impossible because of the verse "The heavens are for G-d, and the Earth was given to Man." These people believed that the instant a space craft exited our atmosphere it would burst into flames or something, because man was not allowed to travel to "the heavens." You could imagine the egg on these people's faces when Gagarin went into space. It was therefore Rabbi Kaplan's position that it is unwise to say that something is impossible as long as it doesn't contradict any fundamental tenets of Judaism, which space travel and intelligent extra terrestrial life certainly do not. I hope this has answered Laurence's question.

posted by Rami @ 7/01/2002 11:56:57 PM