Q&A: A Question About Judaism and Life Outside Planet Earth
A Question About Judaism and Life Outside Planet Earth
Question
Good evening, dear Rabbi Michael,
First of all, it’s an honor for me to write you an email 🙂
It all started at a Sabbath meal when we dropped by a couple who are friends of mine and my wife, and during the meal my friend Shay and I opened up an interesting philosophical discussion — how Judaism throughout the generations views and relates to intelligent life outside planet Earth.
It all began at the Sabbath meal after my friend Shay started talking about an article he had read in Yedioth Ahronoth with Professor Haim Eshed.
Professor Eshed claims that there is definitely intelligent life outside planet Earth, and that humanity is still not mentally ready to be exposed to those civilizations that are already at the threshold of our world.
I would add that I am an amateur astronomer who reads and watches many lectures in the field.
To summarize: basically, since 2009 the Kepler space telescope has been focusing on an area of 6 square centimeters in the sky, and from then until today
it has found about 4,000 planets that are neither too close nor too far from the sun of each of their respective systems. Therefore, in all likelihood there is life on those planets.
And all this is only in our galaxy — the Milky Way 🙂
NASA has no ability to examine those 6 square centimeters in the sky because we are talking about something on the order of 100,000,000 suns, and so it turns to the general public in order to get help with the surveys and observations that need to be carried out…
Therefore the obvious conclusion is that in all likelihood — let’s say 99.9% — there is life outside planet Earth.
Simply amazing — no words 🙂
As a traditional and believing person, I would be happy to receive your explanation of how Judaism accepts this fact and how this fact fits with our faith / belief.
I need your help in dealing with several atheist friends and colleagues who ask me questions on this topic, and I do not know how to answer them.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear Rabbi Michael. Keep up your great work, amen,
Answer
I don’t know how one could make such a probabilistic calculation, and it seems to me that nobody knows. These are just empty words.
If there were a number that represented the probability of the spontaneous emergence of life, one could calculate the probability across a large number of stars (and of course we are talking about those that are suitable for life). But there is no such number, and therefore the whole discussion is baseless. And it certainly is not a “fact,” as you put it.
In any case, fact or not, as far as I understand Judaism has nothing to say about this matter. If life is found on another planet, then there is life on another planet. That’s all. What does that have to do with Judaism?
All the best,
Discussion on Answer
It seems to me that you meant air pressure and not gravitational force…
And after we’ve merited to hear about the possibility of intelligent life even outside planet Earth — all the more so, the obligation is upon us to sustain intelligent life on planet Earth as well 🙂
Best regards, Alef Binah
It seems that on a planet where the force of gravity is greater than on Earth, the cream layer would be compressed into a smaller volume, and then according to everyone the biscuit would be the primary component, since it would occupy most of the volume.
Best regards, Mazal Tov