חייזרים

00:02 This is Igris, and today we are going to talk about aliens. I'll tell you why we're gonna talk about aliens today, of all things, aliens. Uh, it's because somebody wrote into the website, actually. They were asking for letters on space travel and moon landings, and, uh, I guess I may be adding to their request with my own passions, my own strange passions, but, uh, I guess that also includes aliens, life on other planets. Uh, I started doing the research for these shiurim, and I realized that we can do aliens as its own thing and return to the moon landing and space travel next time. So believe it or not, next time we're going to talk about space travel and the moon landing and, uh, what the Rebbe had to do with all of that, what he had to say about all of that. But today, uh, I just wanna talk about the Rebbe's letters and sichas on aliens, and believe it or not, we have a couple. The, uh, Rebbe, as you'll see, does not at all rule out the possibility of life on other planets, but he has some rules, both about what they could be like within the confines of Torah, and as we'll see in our first letter, rules about how often he wants us talking about them and for what purpose. So without further ado, here is a letter. This is probably the main letter as far as Igris is concerned on aliens, where the Rebbe talks about it at length.

01:02 Um, the other ones, we're gonna see an English letter later, we'll see a sicha, then we'll see a yechidas. So our big letter for the day, for the day and for the entire alien discussion is labeled Yud Alef Taf Taf Kuf Beis. It is from Reish Shin Ish Elul of Tov Shin Lamed Vav, and this was around the time nineteen-- uh, nineteen... Okay. Uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna count on my fingers. I'm going to do nineteen seventy-six. Nineteen seventy-six. This was, I guess, still in the, uh, it's a little bit after the space race, but it's still in the era where people are very excited about space travel, so the Rebbe's getting a lot of letters, especially in the sixties and seventies, about this. Anyway, Reish Shin Ish Elul, Tov Shin Lamed Vav, Shalom Ubracha, the Rebbe writes. The Rebbe says, "I received your letter from the nineteenth of Menachem Av a little bit late." "And there you write about things that are going on in the science world right now." "You talked about landing on Mars," which apparently was a conversation in nineteen seventy-six. We still haven't landed on Mars. We put a rover there, no people yet. But, uh, they were talking about landing on Mars. Before that, the plan is to land on the moon. Or was to land on the moon. Is to land on the moon. I have to think about my dates. And you wanna know, according to the laws of Torah, are you allowed to land on planets?

02:14 Is there a problem in Halakha? Is this like a shayla for a rav? Is it a mashmia question? Are you allowed to go land on planets? If this is Halakha from the Maise for anybody, uh, please ask your Orthodox rabbi before landing on another planet. Uh, that's my comment. The Rebbe says, "I see no relationship with this and the laws of Torah." There's no way that this could be a Torah problem to, uh, land on a planet. This is something that I would consider, says the Rebbe, optional. You know, it's not-- the Torah doesn't say you can do it or that you can't do it. You're allowed to do certain stuff. You're allowed to, uh, I guess, play basketball, and you're allowed to go fishing, and you're allowed to land on a planet if you have a spaceship. The Rebbe says there are rules for ein yanin erushutz. There's rules for activities that are neither permitted nor prohibited, and that is the general rule that kol ma'asecha l'shem shamayim, that everything you do should be for the sake of God. And that you should know God in all of his way-- in all of your ways. And if you do that, if you do that, then that's fine. So the Rebbe's view of landing on other planets, of going, uh, if you happen to have a spaceship and taking, you know, a weekend trip to the Moon or to Mars is, look, everything a person does should be done for the sake of heaven. Everything

03:19 a person does should be a way of-- it should be, uh, knowing God in all of their ways. So make it Jewish, uh, make it practical. And sure, you know, the same way people are vacationing right now in, uh, I don't know, where do pe- where do, where do pe- where do people vacation during the summer? I guess not Florida. Wherever people are in, 'cause that's a bad place to vacation in the summer. Although a great place to vacation for the National Jewish Retreat, which is coming up. This is not an ad. Now, uh, it's not. Um, wherever people vacation normally, the Rebbe goes, "Yeah, vacation to some distant planet if you like, as long as it is l'shem shamayim, for the sake of heaven." Now, in the letter, this, uh, the person who wrote to the Rebbe said, "This might be a problem going to another planet because it says in the verse that we say in, uh, we say it in Hallel, it's in Tillim, the heavens, the heavens are for God." "And the land was given to people. It sounds like we're not allowed to encroach on God's territory and that our territory ends at the land and doesn't include the heavens." Based on that, so the Rebbe says in response to that question, The Rebbe says, "This has nothing to do with landing on planets or stars or whatever." "As is implied from the content of the pasuk." Uh, with God's help, we're gonna discuss this more tomorrow or next time

04:26 we do the shiur, um, because we're going into a weekend. But, uh, next time we do the shiur, next episode, we're gonna discuss this a little bit more. The Rebbe makes it very clear that Hashemayim, the word Shamayim that is normally translated as heavens, means a spiritual thing. It doesn't mean the sky. Because of I guess you probably couldn't fly an air-- in an airplane either. It's not that, uh, the heavens are that place up there. It's a spiritual thing, and that the entire physical universe is essentially considered aretz, but we're gonna see more of that later. But regarding your second question, this is what we came here for. What does the Torah have to say about whether there are aliens on other planets? I will just pause to tell you, this is one of the most commonly asked questions that I get, uh, when I travel or on panels and things, and, uh, this letter is right here. So, uh, if people want the answer to the question, the question is this one, the person asks, "What's the Torah have to say about, uh, life on other planets?" and things like that. The Rebbe says, "Just like I said to you regarding landing on other planets, I feel the same way about life on other planets." "I don't see any contradiction to the Torah to say that there is life on other planets." No problem at all. And then the Rebbe explains a little. What is the point in this? The, uh, fundamental point

05:33 to understand, The main idea to understand is that the main creation, which the Torah tells us explicitly all over the place, is that God created the heavens and the Earth, which includes Everything involved in creating the heavens and the earth, all of their hosts. And in the words of our rabbis, of our sages, this word that Hashem used when he is telling us about the creation of the world, which normally is translated as in the beginning, can also be translated as. They were two beginnings, or that the beginning was created for two primaries, two, uh, principles. That's a good way to put it, that the universe was created for two principle things. For the Torah, which is called one principle. And for the Jewish people who are called one principle, which means we have two operative ideas the rabbi wants us to have going into the alien discussion. Now, operative idea number one, God created everything, and there's a lot of everything to create. He created stuff at the bottom of the ocean, the top of mountains. He created all the hosts of the heavens. He created it all. And second of all, all of his creation was for two purposes, the Jewish people and the Torah. That is to say, therefore, we are saying the main creation, the the most important part of creation, is in the place where the Torah was received and where the Jews lived, because they were the ones given the Torah. If the whole point of creation was to

06:52 create a Jewish people and a Torah, then obviously the main area of creation, the focus of it all, would be in that place, which would be here on planet Earth. But that doesn't tell us that there can't be other living things in other parts of the planet. And therefore, we don't have any debate among the sages over whether there can be-- whether there can be life in other places. What the rabbi is saying here is that obviously the focus of all life is going to be around the things that support the Jewish people and Torah. But that doesn't mean that Hashem can't make stuff or didn't make stuff in far-off places. As I'm sure you know, there's life at the very bottom of the ocean in areas that at least with current technology we can't reach because the pressure is too high. There are living things down there. Uh, they don't have a direct, a direct relationship to the Jewish people, and they're keeping up the Torah, at least the way that I see it. Uh, that said, that doesn't mean that they aren't there. So Hashem certainly created things that are beyond the scope of that. As long as we understand that it's all for the Jewish people, it doesn't, uh, and, and the Torah, it doesn't give, uh, it doesn't, um, dismiss the possibility of there being life on other planets, as long as they're not the focus of the universe. I think the reason why the rabbi's saying this, and here's speculative,

07:57 but I do want to point it out. I think based on the other things the rabbi says, based on the other, I think the reason the rabbi's saying this is that one of the discussions that comes up around extraterrestrial life and aliens is that we tend to think of ourselves as the center of the universe. And if you discover life on another planet, then you're not the center of the universe anymore. You're just another organism that God plopped on another rock. The rabbi is specifying in this, in this paragraph that, uh, while the Torah is completely comfortable with the idea of there being life on other planets, we are not just a people that God plopped on another rock. This is the center of the universe. This is where all the action is happening. This is why God made everything. As long as you're willing to put aliens in the same context that you do those weird fish at the bottom of the ocean, sort of side gigs relative to the main show happening here, there's no problem conceptually or practically with having aliens. Uh, the rabbi then points out, as we're gonna expand upon in a moment, I would like to point out that in you'll find this on thirty-six A, that is. That when in the song of Devorah, she curses and curses everybody who lives on the place called Meiroz. That Rabbeinu Hananel explains that Meiroz, um, it's actually Rabbeinu Hananel on the Gemara, because the Gemara itself says that. But in

09:03 any event, the Meiroz is, that Meiroz is a planet. The Rebbe, uh, David says, "I'm pretty sure this is also mentioned in the," which is called the , "but I don't have that book, so I can't look it up." Uh, that, that's the Rebbe talking. Uh, anyway, what the Rebbe's saying here is that if you check the Gemara, you will find reference to something like aliens. And, uh, the reason why I'm going to skim over this for now is because we're going to in a moment where the Rebbe shows us that Gemara and spells out exactly what he means. But suffice to say for now that the Rebbe is saying that in addition to the conceptual idea that aliens shouldn't be a problem for Judaism, there is also a Gemara. There is at least one Talmudic statement that would strongly suggest we have aliens, uh, as something to be recognized. Uh, it might have even been something that Devorah sort of referred to in one of her songs, or maybe even people she kind of talked to. We'll talk about this when we get to it. Anyway, the Rebbe then continues, and, uh, this is the real kicker. Although I did answer you about the questions you asked me, the Rebbe writes, It is, uh, upon me to let you know to-- that, uh, that, that I did not, uh, I didn't like it. That's what the Rebbe writes. I didn't like it. I answered you without any particular, uh, with any particular. I didn't

10:14 enjoy answering your questions, which is quite, quite a, quite a, a review of a letter, right? I answered you, but I didn't like it. Uh, the Rebbe continues. He explains why he didn't like it. The reason for that is, the reason why I don't really like talking about space travel and aliens and landing on other planets. The Rebbe says, "Let me give you a mashal." I believe at some point we read this letter, uh, but I think we only read this letter for this context. I don't think-- I know for sure we never did an alien class. I checked very carefully, but I feel like together we read this paragraph for something else. Can't remember what. The reason for this is what is a good analogy for the situation? You see a sick person, God forbid, or a house that's on fire, and you find a whole lot of people who are inside this house. These are two people who need rescuing, a sick person or a person in a burning building. And instead of dealing with the sick person or putting out the fire, you start having a conversation about questions and about deep things. Even if you're talking about the very deepest matters in that moment. Uh, you could be talking about the deepest, most important, conceptually, intellectually interesting things in the entire world. They're not helping the sick person, and they're not putting out the fire. The Rebbe says the same thing is happening in our generation. What's happening in our generation,

11:29 the same situation. Uh, there's-- in our generation, there is a whole bunch of confusion that is, uh, increased, increased levels of confusion. Especially when it comes to young people, the sons and daughters of Israel. They are straying from the way of life. Which is the way of Torah, our Torah, which is the Torah of life. Of course. The mitzvahs about which the Torah tells us you will live by them. It's only because-- the only reason why young people are straying from the ways of Torah and mitzvahs, which would be good for them and give them life, is only because they lack knowledge of the daily things that go into the foundations of Judaism. Or at the very least, some of them, they do know what they're supposed to do, but they're not doing it. And the reason why, the Rebbe says, is because they're waiting for a better explanation. They're waiting for that somebody should explain to them of the importance of Torah and mitzvahs. The Rebbe says here we have a generation that, uh- Either doesn't know what to do, or knows what to do, but hasn't had it explained to them properly. And bottom line, they're not living by the Torah and Mitzvahs, which are the ways of life. «וְרֶמָּה שֶׁנִּרְאֶה עַל שֶׁדּוּגְמָא חַיָּים נֶאֱשְׂרִים לִפְעֵרֶךְ מְגִלָּה עַל הַגַּז בַּחַיִּים עִמָּם פִּקְטֶר מִצְעָסָהּ הַרְזֶה תְּלוּמָס הָכִי הָלֶם לְאֻפְרַט שֶׁצִּירָה זֶה גַּם אֶת דְּבָרָם עֲלֵיהֶם דְּבָרָה מִיֵּצִים אֶל לֵב שֶׁנַּחְרַסְנוּ לֵב פֶּלֶן פּוּלַסָּם». The Rebbe says, we're seeing it work. When you do talk

12:49 to them about daily life, they end up running with it. That, uh, that, uh, we also see that when you speak from the heart, things go into the heart. The re-- the whole setup here in the Rebbe's paragraph is like this. The Rebbe's setting this up that you're talking to me about aliens, and you're talking to me about these ideas about landing on other planets. Uh, meanwhile, we have a burning building. Meanwhile, we have sick people in front of us, and there's a very clear cure, and there's a very clear way to put out the fire. If we can just get some people to talk to them about their daily observance of mitzvahs, and on occasion, uh, explain some things in depth to them a little bit more and remove some of their doubts, we can get people on board. And when we get people on board, they start living better lives, living as better Jews, and everything goes well. And here you are sending me a letter about aliens and life on other planets. It's very much, uh, this is very much musar from the Rebbe. The Rebbe says, «אַפִּילִים אֵין מַצְלִיחַ פַּם פְּרִשֶׁן מִשְׁנִיעַ», even if these people, when they're talking to the youth, do not succeed on the first and second try, «הַרְאֶמֶךָ חֲכְמֵי נְזַב חֲגָה גֹּהַל בְּכָל גֶּגֶן זֶה אַפִּילִים אֶהַפָּמֶן». Our sages say we should even rebuke somebody a hundred times. «הַרְאֶמֶךָ צַלְמָה לְבִשְׁמַיִם הִוא». This situation that I'm talking to you about, the Rebbe says, this situation of real

13:45 danger for the lives and the souls of the Jewish people is not in the heavens. «לְבֶקֶךְ בְּלֶכַךְ», it's not on any planets. «אַפִּילִים לְבֶקַצַת תֵּיבָל», it's not even on the other side of the earth. «כִּי אִם בְּדָלֶת אַמָּה שֶׁלֵּבִשְׁ אֶל חֲבֵרֶת נְצַיִם מֵלֶבֶ שֶׁבֶרֶ שִׁבֶּה סְעָה». Uh, it's, it's in-- it's found in your dalet amahs. It's right around you. It's not in the heavens, it's not on a distant planet, it's not on another side of the planet. This job of helping, uh, with the fire, putting out the fire, and helping these sick people get well, and helping the Jewish people come closer to Torah and Mitzvahs is in your immediate vicinity. It's right around you, where you and your friends live, and in surrounding areas, your town. «כַּמָּה דּוּבֶר כַּמָּה פְּקוּחַ נֶפֶשׁ». And of course, as I mentioned to you already, says the Rebbe, we're talking about life and death matters. «פְּקוּחַ אֲשֶׁר כַּשְׂבָּר חֵזְבֵי גַת נְתַצָּה». It is certain that God will help you, and if you try, you will succeed. And the Rebbe says, «וִיְרַצִין», it should be God's will, that you should send me good news about all of these things, about spreading of Yiddishkeit, true Yiddishkeit, and that you should be a positive influence on all of your friends. He gives him a brocha, «וְרְכַסִיבָה לְכַסִי פְטֵיבָה». Uh, and that's the end of the letter. What we have here is the Rebbe does answer his question. The question was, what's going on with landing on other planets? And the Rebbe says,

14:47 "I don't see why that would be a problem. Just make sure everything you do is l'shem Shamayim." The asker wants to know what do you do with aliens? The Rebbe says, "I have no problem with aliens. Um, aliens, uh, are allowed to live as long-- on some other planet, as long as you remember that Earth is the focus." And as a matter of fact, there's a Gemara that seems to mention aliens, which we're gonna get to in a second. But when it comes to the question about landing on other planets and talking about aliens, says the Rebbe, "I don't know why you're wasting your time on these matters, even if you're gonna tell me they're very deep matters. At the end of the day, the most urgent thing in the entire world is that Jews need your help. There's a burning building, there are sick people," and, uh, that's of course a metaphor. And practically speaking, that means that we have to reach out to every single person, explain to them what it means to live your life daily as a Jew, explain to them the hasbara, the, uh, the reasons why it makes sense to live their lives that way, and you're gonna see successes with that, and I don't understand why you're messing with things in the heavens, because this very basic job and this most fundamental job is not in the heavens, it's not in the planets, it's not on the other side of the Earth. It's right in your dalet amahs,

15:39 right in your immediate area. So we have an answer, and we also have the Rebbe sort of complaining about the question. I have an English letter to show you that is along similar lines, although it's much shorter. The letter, I feel like we should read the whole letter just 'cause it's so interesting, but the part we need is only at the top. We'll see if we have time. Uh, the letter is from twenty-six MarCheshvan fifty-seven twenty-six. This was once again retrieved from the Rebbe Responsa app, which I am a big fan of, uh, and I think you absolutely should download. Uh, you can search, uh, you can search on the app for topics, which is just great. So under the aliens topic, this is the letter that they have. And it says here that it's to Mr. Blank from Brooklyn, New York, and the Rebbe writes, "Greeting and blessing." This is an English letter. "I am in receipt of your letter in which you ask various questions, the kind of which can hardly be discussed in a letter, nor is there a necessity for it inasmuch as there-- as they are explained in various sources in our holy Torah. Moreover, you can also discuss these matters with your Rosh Yeshiva. However, inasmuch as you have already written to me, I will answer some of your questions, at least specifically whether there is life on other planets according to the Torah." So the Rebbe opens the letter by saying that, uh, "I got your letter. I

16:39 can't really, uh, I can't really, uh, talk about a lot of the things in your letter in letter form." And also, uh, you're, you're kind-- And he's not saying you're wasting my time, but he's implying it. He's saying, "Look, a lot of these things are already in the Torah. You can talk about this with your Rosh Yeshiva. That's not really what I'm here for, but since you asked me, I feel like I should answer. Let me answer about aliens at least." And the Rebbe writes, "In regard to this question, there are various opinions, and inasmuch as it is not a question of practical importance, which in any way affects a Jew's daily conduct, there is no psak din on it, as in other matters which are of practical concern. Thus, for example, we find in the commentary by Rabbeinu Chananel, Shabbos thirty-six A on the verse Shoftim five twenty-three, where according to one opinion, there is an inhabited star called Meiros." So the Rebbe answers, "This has nothing to do with you. Uh, this has nothing to do with anybody. The reason why we don't have a psak din, the reason why we don't have a halachic ruling regarding aliens in the Code of Jewish Law is because there is no practical outcome to it one way or another." This is not dissimilar from what the Rebbe said to the other person. The other person talked to the Rebbe about aliens. The Rebbe said, "I'm talking about to-- I'm responding to you b'lichashad, b'lichashad. I,

17:36 I don't enjoy this because this has nothing to do with being a Jew. But if you are curious, it does seem that the Gemara mentions it." Once again, we have a reference, excuse me, to this Gemara, Masechet Shabbos thirty-six A. I do wanna skim the rest of the letter just because it's so interesting, but we need to keep moving. Just to show you what happens in the rest of the letter, uh, the second question was why there are different Hasidic schools of thought. And the Rebbe says back, "There's different schools of thought in every part of Torah. Why would there not be different schools of thought among Hasidim?" Which is a great answer. And, uh, number three, he asks, "Why does it seem that some people can foretell certain events?" He wants to know about, like, soothsayers and people who can tell the future. And the Rebbe has a discussion here saying that, uh, maybe they made a good guess, maybe they have extra knowledge. It could be that they have some sort of extrasensory perception. Um, the Rebbe really keeps every option on the table and once again says, "The questions you ask have no immediate concern for you and probably would not be of concern for many good years in the future, that this is merely a matter of curiosity. Surely it would be sufficient to satisfy your curiosity by giving it a moment of your thought now and again, but don't let it dominate your concentration to the extent of it interfering

18:32 with your proper mental activities." This is a klal, a general rule we've seen in many Rebbe letters, that if you ask the Rebbe about something that has no practical im-implication for you, he will either turn it into something that has a practical implication for you or tell you, "Don't ask about things that don't have an implication for you." Those are sort of the two answers you'll get for theoretical Rebbe questions. If you ask the Rebbe something that's in theory, he'll either force it into a practical thing or tell you, "You shouldn't have asked me something that has no practical implication." The Rebbe keeps on referencing this, uh, Gemara, the Masecha Shevuot, in Tractate Shevuot, that talks about aliens. The Rebbe actually unpacks this completely in a sicha that was given on the eve of the moon landing. This is Tish'ei Adar, this would be nineteen sixty-nine. I believe the moon landing was, uh, that Sunday. This was the Saturday before. Um, and the Rebbe gives a sicha about the moon landing that is coming up, and I think we're gonna look at other parts, Im yirtze Hashem, of the sicha tomorrow to, uh, help us figure out what the Rebbe thinks about space travel in general. But there he has a discussion of aliens specifically, and that's what we're gonna look at today. So here in Yud Beis, once again, the sicha is, uh, Shabbos Parshas Devarim, Shabbos Chazen, Dalet Menachem-Av, Tav Shin Chaf Tes. This is page one seventy-two. You'll find it in Toras

19:35 Menachem, volume fifty-seven, page one seventy-two. And the Rebbe says, "Thechen hu b'negeh l'chakir she'zeh l'achrenei mi yesh tzurim b'lechaiim al hareach." The same thing we've been discussing in the sicha so far, the Rebbe says, applies to the current investigation that has happened in recent times to figure out whether there are living things on the moon. "U'vach damah," the Rebbe says by way of introduction, "She'lo cheireh la'az tzarich litzi achas inin zeh." It would seem that we would not have anything to do with this discussion. "Kim she'nigeh l'chim Torah u'mitzvos." Does that sound familiar to you by now? The Rebbe told somebody in a letter, "Don't ask me about this, this doesn't have to do with Torah and mitzvos." The Rebbe responded in an English letter the same way. The Rebbe is now talking about it at a sicha, so the Rebbe needs to open the sicha by explaining why he's talking about something that he says has nothing to do with us. So the Rebbe opens by saying, "Lo cheireh la'az tzarich litzi achas inin zeh, kim she'nigeh l'chim Torah u'mitzvos." You would think that we shouldn't be talking about this at all because our discussing this at all having anything to do with this, because it does not have any practical implication for Torah and mitzvos. "Aval," but, "kim shemishkavim lehudeh mikach zeh," since people are very excited right now, "ve'yes le'ez mitzvas tefillin." Uh, right now we want to-- really wanna point out to people about the importance of mitzvas tefill-- of m-

20:38 of mitzvas tefillin. "Har yeudah chen she'kash yerpleini yadam al hashivah hakirah nal." It's possible that if somebody knows how to answer this question, what does the Torah say about aliens? "Az ays es v'eyudi she'aniach tefillin," he might be able to get another Jew to put on tefillin. "Val deraz ave nigeh l'shmiras Shabbos v'kashrus kirzu," that might be you'll be able to help them with Shabbos or with kashrus if you can answer the question about aliens. "Hashav z'pleini she'shal ezli ez zachakir anal sh'tzina manal zeh b'Gemara." Anyway, the Rebbe says, "I did answer somebody who asked me about this, that we will find the answer in a Gemara." Before we go into the Gemara, I want to summarize what just happened in this paragraph because I learned this paragraph years ago, and it became the basis for all of the weird shiurim that I give. I give a lot of shiurim, especially to, uh, to high school students, about, uh, strange topics, and this little paragraph inspired that entire thing. This little paragraph is saying that even things that do not befit a Jew to invest their time in because they don't at the surface have a practical implication for Judaism, it ma-- excuse me, it makes sense to know the answers to those things, to be able to point out to people where things are in the Torah. Because people who c-- you can show where their place is in the Torah, they say, "I'm interested in aliens," you go, "Great, aliens are in the

21:40 Torah. You wanna put on tefillin?" They're more likely to put on tefillin. You tell somebody, uh, when they say, "Where are aliens in the Torah?" You go, "They're right there." They go, "Oh, great. I'm, I'm int-- I'm interested now in Shabbos." This idea that even though the Rebbe doesn't want us to have a particular interest in aliens, the Rebbe understands that if we know how to point out Jewish things about aliens and where the Torah talks about aliens, that gives us a sprach that allows us to connect to people and help connect them in turn to our holy Torah. This entire idea is, uh, is fundamental for me at least. This is something I take very seriously, so I did need to spend some time on it. Anyway, the Rebbe says, "If you-- you have to look no further than the Gemara. Let's look in the Gemara." "Uvechen." We're gonna finally look at this Gemara the Rebbe keeps on promis-promising us. "Divri haGemara heim beis makomos." The words of this Gemara you will find in two places. Masecha Shevuot, which is the one the Rebbe keeps on quoting. "Masech ta'shonen b'yeshivas," because that's a yeshiva, she'masechta. And also Maseches Kiddushin. "Sh'lonen b'nei, b'nei, b'nei, b'nei Benai Mitzrayim." And Kiddushin, which is learned during the Benai M-- b- during the Benai Mitzrayim, the weeks between, uh, the Shivas B'Tammuz, the seventeenth of Tammuz, and Tisha B'Av, the time that we're in right now. "U'vefeir shaposach sh'nem v'shiras Devorah v'Barak u'Sisra." Uh, Devorah, after she and Barak

22:44 win a war against Sisra, d-uh, she, Devorah, she sings a song. That song is recorded in Shoftim, and there she says, among the things she sings in her song, "Uru meiros am amalach Hashem." Cursed is meiros, we don't have a translation for meiros, says the angel of Hashem. That is supposed to be Barak. "Bish'lo choshesh al haKodesh Baruch Hu." That's supposed to be Barak, and he's, uh, doing the messa-- he's the messenger of God in this instance, so he's called an angel. "Uru uru yeshveha." Cursed, cursed are all of those who dwell upon it. So we have this place, meiros, that is cursed, and we have its-- and we have a statement from, from Devorah, the prophetess, saying, "I'm cursing meiros, and I'm cursing everyone who dwells in it." "Hayeshin b'arba amot sh'lei." Anything who dwells in the arba amot, in the immediate vicinity of this, of this meiros. "Ki leivo lo eizeh et Hashem," uh, because they did not come to help Hashem. "Ki v'yachol sh'nishu eizeh et Sisra ke'ezeh es eshtena." Because they didn't, if that's said, uh, metaphorically, the Rebbe says, because anybody who helps the Jewish people is considered somebody who is helping Hashem. "Sheyeshveiz deis u'feiris meiros." Now, the Rebbe says, in the Gemara, there are two commentaries on what the word meiros means. We know that meiros is cursed. We know that anybody in their vicinity is cursed. We know yeshveha, those who dwell upon it, are cursed. And we know that they're cursed because they didn't help out

23:49 in a fight against the bad guys, against Sisra. The question is, where is meiros? "Veshul gan peir Rashi al posuk ichad ikad amri gam rabo." What's brought is iikad amri. Some people say, gam rabo, that meiros was a strong man. He's just a, uh, powerful guy. "Hay samach lamacham u'leibah." He was local to the war, and he didn't show up. He could have brought his soldiers, those who were around him. "Yeshveha ichad amri keichava mazal de Sisra." Some people say that it was a planet, the, or a star. Planet or-- keichav can mean both. A planet or a star, which is mazal de Sisra. That is the star that corresponds to the luck of Sisra, to the astrological sign of Sisra. "Sh'nem min hashmaim nicham ha'kechavim," as it says in the verse a little bit earlier in the Song of Devorah, "From the heavens, the stars fought." Now, the Rebbe has a par-- has a, uh, parenthesis here. I think we're going to skip it for now and just jump to the next part, but he goes into whether we should take this literally or not, and then he continues. "Ta pizeh lefi peir Rashi sheini b'Gemara." Based on all this, the second explanation of the Gemara, "Keichav hi," which is that meiros should be defined as a star. "Shul peir Rashi al posuk b'Torah peir sh'rishon," and Rashi brings this in Tanakh as the first commentary. "Im ka'al ken tzad achlemish yeshveha kaila eilu yeshvim b'keichav zeh." We should conclude that the word yeshveha,

24:56 those who dwell on meiros, refers to people who live on a star. Let me just unpack what happened for you in case you missed it, because what the Rebbe just said is that there is, in the Song of Devorah, the phrase, "Uru meiros," cursed is meiros, and cursed is everybody who lives on meiros. And we have a Gemara that says that meiros could either be a strong man or it could be a planet. The Rebbenow saying, so according to the second Peirush, what did the Gemara just say? According to the second commentary, uh, the second opinion in the Gemara, the Gemara just told us that Devorah cursed people who live on a distant planet. That would be those Kol Yeshveha, those who dwell on the Keichev called Meiros. That would be aliens. So the Rebbe said in these earlier letters, we have a Gemara that seems to talk about aliens. This is what he's talking about. He's referring to this Gemara in Masechet Shvuot. He has here the Rabbeinu Chanana, which we're going to also skip and jump to the bottom. "Umizem muchach sheyesh yeshveha lo rak al kol ha'aretz ela gam al keichav hineisfim." Says the Rebbe, from here we see clearly that there can be, as a matter of fact, he says there is, yesh yeshveha, that there are dwellers, not just on the planet Earth, but also on other planets, other stars. "Miko chake, venehi adam sh'ninzham al kol ha'aretz heim ha'ma'aleh l'dei v'yesh mebirim sh'ninzham al keichav hineisfim." However, don't

26:01 forget, this is the rule from our first letter, that people who are found on this, the creations, the people who are found on this planet, they are at a higher level than anything we will find on other planets. And the reason why, "Sh'lachein nitna Torah al kol ha'aretz davka," and therefore the Torah was given on this planet specifically. So once again, we have the reminder from the Rebbe that although he is not at all dismissing, and the Torah doesn't dismiss, and the Gemara seems to even sort of tacitly allow the idea of life on other planets, that life would not be as central to creation. It would not be as important. And one proof for our importance is the fact that Hashem gave us the Torah. You might have noticed that in the sicha, the Rebbe sort of does the opposite of what he did in the letter. In the letter, he says, the reason why we're so important is that Hashem gave us the Torah. And here he says, the proof that we're so important is that Hashem gave us the Torah. But it's the same central idea, that people living on this planet are going to-- are the c- are the center of the universe. This is again, in my opinion at least, the Rebbe pushing back against the notion that having, uh, life on other planets would de-center humanity and make us just another civilization amongst the stars. We remain the center because we have Yiddishkeit, because we have Torah, because we

26:56 have Yidden. That keeps us the center. But the Rebbe is not at all dismissing the possibility of life on other planets. And as a matter of fact, we just saw a Gemara that doesn't dismiss it either. Last thing I'm gonna show you today, and with that we will conclude, is a Yechidas. This Yechidas is with a certain professor. That's how it's labeled in all of the books. Um, this Yechidas with a certain professor, I don't know for sure who it was, but I have some guesses. In any event, they're not labeled in any of the books, so who am I to say the name? Afterwards, if somebody wants to, uh, propose who it might have been, there's a couple options. I have one I'm pretty sure. Anyway, shalom. Here's the question. It was a Yechidas, and this person, this professor, asked the Rebbe, "Ma das haTorah b'shailas av sharai shel ki yemtaruiyu machutz l'kol ha'aretz?" What does the-- what is the Torah's opinion on the question of whether it's possible to have, and the way I'm gonna translate this word is, I guess, advanced civilizations, um, cultures, uh, outside of planet Earth. He's not really asking right now about bacteria. He's asking, is there intelligent life? And not just that, is there a culture? Is there a civilization of life on other planets? "Tshuva," and the Rebbe answered in the Yechidas, "Av sharai shel ki yemchayim michutz l'kol ha'aretz al keichav m'cheirim ein ish l'azla b'yedei Torah." The possibility of life outside of planet Earth

27:59 on other planets is not at all dismissed by the Torah. "Zeh muskab b'Talmud," it's mentioned in the Gemara, as we just saw inside. "Ach lai tach at ah min ha'geleh taruiyu," but this would not apply to cultures and civilizations. "Ki lo yaminu min ha'geleh tzur baalei tivona." That is to say that you wouldn't have creations who are baalei tivona. You would not have, I would initially translate this as intelligent life. I'm only hesitating to an-- to translate this as intelligent life because as the Rebbe will point out a little bit later on in this discussion, we mean intelligent life at the level of human intelligence. I think we can probably agree that apes are intelligent, but not human life. So we're talking here human-level intelligence. So the Rebbe's saying that this would only, uh, that, that although there can be life on other planets, and there could be a planet of the apes, there could be apes on other planets probably, there could be advanced life on other planets, you wouldn't have baalei tivona. You wouldn't have, um, intellect the way, human intellect in those, in those beings. And here's the reason why. "Petum l'Torah sh'aiytin l'sug sheyeitzerim nivainim eis nimtzurim hashem b'dei el adam hei nivara b'chirachavshis." Uh, in the Torah, we have things that are created here that are yetzirim nivainim. They are baalei b'chirachavshis. These are things that have this level of human intelligence. They have free will. "Ach b'chirachavshis munakas miskaimas mamtzaya haTorah." But the free will of humanity only comes

29:08 by way of the Torah. And I will remind you that there is a sicha from the Rebbe in Chelek Kaf Vav of Likutei Sichos, uh, one of the Breishes Sichos, where he says over there that non-Jews have free will as well. We know that for sure. And where do they get it from? They don't have Torah, and the answer is they get it from the Sheva Mitzvahs. But Torah, that is a divine command, is the only way to give someone free will. So the Jewish people, lahav dil the non-Jewish people, they all have free will. That's what makes us special. "V'etze nikan," we see from here, "sheima nichim sheyesh nebeideh izem bakah m'tevil yetzirim nivainim." That means that if you're gonna tell me that there are other people who have human intelligence and human culture and civilization at, at the level you would have to give them free will, "muchrach lemishi esh lam Torah," you would have to say they have a Torah. Because as the Rebbe has just established, you can't have our level of free-- you can't have free will without Torah, and free will is one of the marks of true baalei tivona. "V'ze iyyuf shebiglot zimrim kaba," and that's impossible that they have Torah for the following reasons. Number one, "Iyyuf shel aniach shel Torah al yetzurim shel yeshurim-- shel yetzurim yeshuarim eli Torah acheres." We can't say that those aliens have a different Torah, "shun meshalanu," that's different from our Torah, "ki hi Torah emes," because our Torah is the

30:09 Torah of truth. "V'emes yesh rak emet-- yesh rak achas," and there can only be one truth. So it's impossible that God gave out like an alien edition of the Torah and published it on Mars because there's only one Torah, because there's only one truth. "Ach ki mechein iyyuf shel aniach shel yetzurim eli yesh nam esa Torah kemishlul kamay iladu." We also can't say that they have a copy of our Torah, that he gave it once on Earth and once on Mars. "Ki man Torah leha'am Yehudi al ha'aretz livura praptie prati," because the Torah as it is given to the Jewish people on this land has a ton of specifics in it. "Es u'mas lei b'rav munakas l'praptim eile," and spends a lot of time paying attention, the great importance of the details of the Torah. "Vehem baalei vas mos rabu etzma banasa Torah," and they are fundamental to the understanding of the Torah. The Rebbe is saying the Torah has so many details in it that are earth-bound, it wouldn't work on another planet. You can't take the Torah, give it to Martians, and expect it to not need a translation or a reapplication of some of those laws. And, uh, that is not possible because there's only one Torah, and that's the Torah of truth. So the Rebbe has ruled out the possibility of there being a Torah given in other worlds. If I can clear my voice, I'll tell you what the ending is. All right. So here's what the Rebbe is saying

31:10 in this, uh, in this paragraph. He's saying, number one, I have no problem with life on other planets. But if you wanna give me advanced intelligent life at the level of humans, you're gonna have to give them free will. And if you want things that have free will, you're gonna have to give them a Torah, and I know for sure they didn't get the Torah. First of all, because they couldn't have been given a different Torah because we have the one true Torah. And second of all, because we-- they couldn't have been given the same Torah because the Torah was given specifically for planet Earth, and it's written specifically for planet Earth. It was given only once to us here. And so because of those reasons, it can't be they have free will, and they can only be so advanced. They can be pretty advanced, but there'd be a limit to how advanced these aliens could be. All right. So here's what the Rebbe is saying in this, uh, in this paragraph. He's saying, number one, I have no problem with life on other planets. But if you wanna give me advanced intelligent life at the level of humans, you're gonna have to give them free will. And if you want things that have free will, you're gonna have to give them a Torah, and I know for sure they didn't get the Torah. First of all, because they couldn't have been given a different Torah because we have the one true Torah. And second

31:48 of all, because we-- they couldn't have been given the same Torah because the Torah was given specifically for planet Earth, and it's written specifically for planet Earth. It was given only once to us here. And so because of those reasons, it can't be they have free will, and they can only be so advanced. They can be pretty advanced, but there'd be a limit to how advanced these aliens could be. The Rebbe says, "Therefore, we must say that according to the Jewish outlook, it is not possible that you can have advanced societies of aliens outside of planet Earth." And I would add to the note of advanced societies, we mean advanced societies with free will and with, uh, and with the whatever the Rebbe is calling baalei tvona, this advanced kind of knowledge, because I certainly can imagine an ant society on another planet, and the Rebbe is not saying that would be a problem. So what we have from the Sichos is another limit on, uh, aliens. I guess from the letters altogether, plus the Sichos, plus the Sicha, we have one big idea with a couple limits. Let's summarize it that way, and with that, we'll conclude for today. Here's the one big idea. The one big idea is that life on other planets would not be a problem at all. The Torah has no problem with life on other planets. The Rebbe has no problem with it. The Rebbe quotes a Gemara that has no problem with it. Well, it seems that Shir

32:33 HaShirim, it seems maybe Devorah was, uh, was sort of in touch with them. I don't know, 'cause if you-- you're yelling at them for not coming to help. Presumably, she reached out. I, I, I don't know. I don't know. What I am saying is that, uh, the idea of life on other planets, not a problem at all. That said, it comes with a couple rules. Rule number one, life on Earth, specifically res- revolving around Judaism and revolving around the Torah and revolving around Jewish people, remains the center. We are not just one civilization amongst the stars. We are the principal civilization and the principal reason for creation.