Landing on the Moon - Part I

00:00 It was 30 years ago, on Shabbos Parshat Noach, Tov Shin Nun Beis, late 1991, when the Rebbe elaborated at length on the uniqueness of Kiddush Levana and its fulfillment with joy, etc. On this occasion, we will, im yirtza Hashem, begin a series of letters and sichas talks of the Rebbe regarding the historic landing on the moon in the summer of Tov Shin Chav Tes, 1969. We will begin with a letter which is known to us as the first occasion during which the Rebbe referred to this project. And we will then discuss the Rebbe's various talks in the later years, including in the Yechidus, a private audience, and sichas in public. The nature of the correspondence and the sichas generally touched on the events and facts and the lessons we can derive in Avdei Hashem, serving the Creator. Firstly, we will cite some historic facts which will give an understanding of the date of the Rebbe's first letter on this topic. It was on May 25th, 1961, when President Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the moon before the end of the decade. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States catch up to and overtake the Soviet Union in the space race. It was four years after the Sputnik shock of 1957, after the Russian cosmonaut had become the first human in space on April 12th, 1961, greatly embarrassing the United States. While Alan Shepard became the first

02:26 American in space on May 5th, he only flew on a short suborbital flight instead of orbiting the Earth as the Russian cosmonaut had done. Now we get to the letter that the Rebbe wrote on the 22nd of Iyar, May 8th, 1961. As mentioned, this was the first reference that we find when the Rebbe is referring to this project. Baruch Hashem, Brooklyn, New York. The letter is written in English, so it says by the grace of Hashem. And the Rebbe begins, Greetings and blessings. I received your letter of April 24th, in which you write about the apparent contradiction between the latest scientific attempts to penetrate outer space, especially reaching the moon, which seems to you to contradict the statement in the Torah that the heavens belong to Hashem and the earth He gave to the children of men. Actually, there is no contradiction at all. If you consider the term earth not in the narrow sense referring only to our globe, but in its proper sense as meant in this verse, which includes also the atmosphere and the whole physical universe with which mankind is concerned and directly affected by. We must not confuse the terms heaven and the planets. The stars, planets, moon, etc. are not called heaven, since heaven is something spiritual, whereas those planets are physical and belong in the physical universe. The fact that Hashem created the so-called heavenly bodies to serve our world and to give light, warmth, and energy to it, and place them in the firmament of the sky

04:45 at a certain distance from our earth, does not preclude man's attempt to learn all about them. Similarly, when the Torah states that Hashem placed the moon in the sky so to give light on earth, this does not exclude the possibility of man's landing on it at some future time. The meaning of the verse, the heavens belong to Hashem, is in the sense that while Hashem is everywhere, including the heavens, man was placed in the physical universe and is part of it, and therefore must make the most of it as long as there is life on this earth. There is nothing in actual scientific experiments and accomplishments that contradict the Torah, nor is there such a possibility since the Torah is truth. Judging by your writing and background, I firmly hope that you are conducting your daily life in strict accordance with the Torah, which is called Torah's Chayim, the law of life and the mitzvahs whereby Yidden live, and that you attempt to make steady advancement along this road in compliance with the principle that all things of holiness should be on the upgrade.