Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

This thread continues our earlier discussion regarding the possible existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life and its implications for the faith community in general, and with respect to Judaism in particular.

Over the last decade, scientist discovered the presence of microbial life living within the plumbing of deep-sea mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico where conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments as well as an early Earth; this finding has excited scientists about the resiliency of life and its ability to thrive even in the most hostile environment. Could such a phenomena exist also on other worlds as well? Professor Paul Davies, a physicist from Arizona State University, asserts that instead of scanning the skies, we should probe inhospitable areas such as deserts for signs of ‘weird’ microbes that might belong to a ‘shadow biosphere. Pretty interesting stuff, no?

It gets even better-space missions there have shown all of Saturn’s major moons are active worlds filled with even water, liquid water, water vapor, organics and ammonia in these huge plumes extending more than 250 miles into space.

Earlier Discussions

The universe is a mysterious place, and the wisdom of Epicurus (340-270 B.C.E.) still makes considerable sense when he wrote, “There are infinite world both like and unlike this world of ours. For the atoms out of which a world might arise, or by which a world might be formed, have not all been expended on one world or a finite number of worlds, whether like or unlike this one. Hence there will be nothing to hinder an infinity of worlds. . . .We must believe that in all worlds there are living creatures and plants and other things we see in this world.” [1]

Centuries before the discovery of extrasolar planets, Giordano Bruno (ca. 16th century) exclaimed, “There are countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system. We see only the suns because they are the largest bodies and are luminous, but their planets remain invisible to us because they are smaller and non-luminous. The countless worlds in the universe are no worse and no less inhabited than our Earth.” [2] He was burnt at the stake for espousing this and other controversial “heresies.”

Well, as they say, “Better late, than never!” A year ago the Vatican had a convention of theologians and scientists to discuss the very issue Bruno was burned at the stake for, and guess what? Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the commission governing Vatican City, told the participants that “truth from research cannot make us afraid; what is to be feared is error. “Science opens up the human mind to new knowledge and contributes toward the fulfillment of humankind,” the cardinal said, according to Father Funes.[3] The soul of Bruno must be saying, “See, I TOLD you so!”

Early Judaic Reflections on Parallel Earths

But what are the theological implications of sentient and intelligent life? Would such life-forms invalidate the commonly held biblical notion that humankind and this world are the most important creation in the cosmos?

L. Ginzberg cites a number of early medieval views from midrashic sources, which bear witness to the early rabbinic discussions on the subject:

“Corresponding to the seven heavens, God created seven earths, each separated from the next by five layers. Over the lowest earth, the seventh, called Ereẓ, lie in succession the abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters. Then the sixth earth is reached, the Adamah, the scene of the magnificence of God. In the same way the Adamah is separated from the fifth earth, the Arḳa, which contains Gehenna, and Shaʿare Mawet, and Shaʿare Ẓalmawet, and Beër Shaḥat, and Ṭiy ha-Yawen, and Abaddon, and Sheol, and there the souls of the wicked are guarded by the Angels of Destruction. In the same way Arḳa is followed by Ḥarabah, the dry, the place of brooks and streams in spite of its name, as the next, called Yabbashah, the mainland, contains the rivers and the springs. Tebel, the second earth, is the first mainland inhabited by living creatures, three hundred and sixty-five species, all essentially different from those of our own earth. Some have human heads set on the body of a lion, or a serpent, or an ox; others have human bodies topped by the head of one of these animals. Besides, Tebel is inhabited by human beings with two heads and four hands and feet, in fact with all their organs doubled excepting only the trunk. It happens sometimes that the parts of these double persons quarrel with each other, especially while eating and drinking, when each claims the best and largest portions for himself. This species of mankind is distinguished for great piety, another difference between it and the inhabitants of our earth.” [4]

Needless to say, Jay Leno could do some great parodies on this midrash, but if nothing else, the ancients truly wondered whether this world is truly unique in all the universe, evidently their fantasies about extraterrestrial life were not much different from our own.

Early Judaic Theological Discussions on the Uniqueness of the Earth

Jewish tradition has already wrestled with this inquiry in the past. Following in the footsteps of Ptolemaic science, the great 10th Century Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon was convinced that entire universe revolved around the earth. Humankind was seen as THE goal of ALL creation—without him the universe could NOT exist—everything would be devoid of meaning. Just as the kernel is lodged in the center of the fruit, just as the yolk is at the center of the egg, so too this planet earth is at the center of the universe. God created the entire universe existed for the benefit of humankind.

Would Maimonides have been perplexed by the religious implications of extraterrestrial life? Unlike Saadia‑‑Maimonides did not claim that humankind was the sole purpose of the universe. Such a view the Maimonides said, is one of the fundamental errors we as human beings make‑‑in theological terms it is a sign of an over‑inflated ego. The Universe need not exist solely for man . Though man is superior to all other creatures on this world, it does not follow that we are superior to other creatures that exist beyond this world. Granted, Maimonides may well have been referring to angels, but could he not be referring to extraterrestrial beings as well? Maimonides’ own teaching has its parallel in the eighth Psalm which reads:

What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen; Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.

Are we really as great and as important as we would like to think we are? To Maimonides, it is human hubris that posits the belief that everything in the vast universe revolves around us‑‑ Such a view might even be construed as infantalizing. Perhaps we are not as unique as we once thought we were. Who is to say what is the relationship between God and other lifeforms?

Perhaps similar to Maimonides, Hasdai Crescas the great Spanish Judaic thinker of the 15th Century felt convinced that there was nothing in Jewish tradition that precluded the existence of life on other worlds. There is no limit to the power and possibilities of the Heavenly Kingdom. As proof he cited the verse from Psalm 145:13 “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” Does this verse not suggest that God’s kingdom might extend to all worlds in the universe, and to the myriads of life-forms teeming throughout the universe?

Other rabbis still had their reservations. Hasdai’s great pupil, Rabbi Joseph Albo was of the view that if other creatures existed, they could have no free choice ‑‑ for only man has free choice. Certainly, when Nicolai Copernicus introduced his heliocentric view of the universe, most pious and learned Jews did not lose any sleep when the old Ptolemaic paradigm was overturned.

A contemporary of Copernicus, Rabbi Yehuda Lowe (better known as the Maharal of Prague) saw nothing spiritually offensive with Copernicus’s revolutionary theory that the earth was but a tiny planet revolving around the sun. He writes, “Is the new astronomy the end of the world, the final truth? Not at all . . .The very author of the bold new doctrine concedes in his writings that he cannot explain everything. Though science is a valuable tool in deciphering the physical universe, it cannot give us the answer to the deeper questions that the heart seeks to resolve. It cannot deal with non‑material reality ‑‑ the world of spirit—only religion can.” [5] Were the MaHaral alive today, I do not think he would have been dismayed or upset by NASA’s great discoveries of life teeming in the universe. There are other rabbinic texts as well that allude to life on other worlds, but time does not permit me to go into too much detail. [6]

Monuments of Mars?

One of the more speculative debates are the so-called monuments of Mars, which were photographed by the Viking Spacecraft a couple of decades ago. For those not familiar with the topic, several Viking images show features on the surface of Mars that, in the eyes of some people, resemble “faces,” “pyramids,” and other such “artifacts.

Many people feel that the controversial Cydonia region should be re-photographed by Mars Global Surveyor, since with high resolution we should be able to prove that they are artificial. If they are in fact artificial, this would rank as one of the greatest discoveries in history and thus every effort should be made to acquire images.” Evidence cited as presently “proving” these are unnatural land forms include measurements of angles and distances that define “precise” mathematical relationships.

Whether these are genuine traces of an alien race remains to be seen, but these findings do certainly say something about the nature of human psychology. According to one anthropologist, Steward Elliot Guthrie, in his seminal work, “Faces In the Clouds—A New Theory of Religion,” the author regards the use of anthropomorphism as a perceptual strategy of how humanity sees itself in an uncertain world. If, for instance, we mistake a dark shape in the forest it is better to assume it is a bear and not a boulder.

Guthrie’s innovative idea is a patterned after the famous wager of Pascal. If what we are observing truly resembles human behavior, then our use of anthropomorphic language is correct; if we are wrong, then that did we forfeit by employing anthropomorphism? In a world where scientific analysis fails or is severely limited, human beings consciously and unconsciously gravitate toward imagining the universe in the likeness of themselves. Expanding upon Guthrie’s insight, the idea that extra-terrestrial life resembles human beings may yet be another example of our cultural hubris. As we mentioned above, the majority of life-forms even on this planet do not resemble human beings that much, why should we expect the cosmic presence of life on other planets to be any different?

The fact we see faces on Mars, is part of the perceptual technique we use in ascertaining the nature of our universe that says more about us and our prejudices and assumptions than it does about the planet we are studying.

This question concerning life on other planets need not pose any serious spiritual or theological concerns. If anything, if the discovery of organic life on a the Martian meteorite or the presence of methane gas on Mars and Titan someday proves life truly exists in the universe, it ought to inspire all of us when we recite the biblical verse, “How marvelous is Your Creation, You have made them all with wisdom!” The great Baal Shem Tov once observed: The whole world is full of wonders and miracles, but man take his little hand and covers his eyes and sees nothing. Let us pay heed to the Baal Shem Tov’s advice and recognize that the emergence of life on any planet is nothing short of the miraculous.

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Notes:

[1]. Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus.

[2] Giordano Bruno, De L’infinito Universo E Mondi.

[3] Carol Glatz, “Vatican-sponsored meeting discusses chances of extraterrestrial life” ASTROBIOLOGY Nov-10-2009.

[4] L. Ginzberg, L Szold, H.& P Radin, Legends of the Jews (2nd ed.) (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2003), 6.

[5] Ben Zion Bokser, From the World of the Cabbalah: The Philosophy of Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague‎ (New York: Philosophical Library, 1954), 105.

[6] The late Orthodox scholar, Aryeh Kaplan, explores this question in one of his last books and mentions that according to the Zohar, there are seven earth’s that are inhabited like this world we live in. Though they are not inhabited by humanity, they are inhabited by sentient and intelligent life-forms. There is a passage in the Tikkuney Zohar (14b) that says there will be a time when the righteous will inherit 18,000 worlds and that each righteous person will have at least one world (cf. T.B. Uktzin 3:12).