B"H
The famous physician Stephen Hawking once said that mankind has detroyed planet Earth and must now search for another planet to settle. As our climate, nature and resources go down the drain, mankind should move into space as soon as possible. A new potential home for us could be planet Mars.
According to the Torah, G - d gave us planet Earth because this planet would be good for us. As a matter of fact, our planet provides us with everything we need: Oxygen, climate, nature, gravity, resources and a protective shield. Without this protective shield we would be vulnerable to meteorites and magnetic fields. Just look at the Moon where meteorites hit the surface on a regular basis (causing tons of craters).
Although Mars may a bit similar to Earth, our live would be extremely different from the one on Earth. Not only because of the drop in temperature.
If G - d had intended that mankind should live on different planets, He surely would have taken care of everything we need in order to survive. However, He didn't and the Torah is only referring to planet Earth.
I am not at all against Astronomy. Just the opposite and I love dealing with the subject. Reading everything about science and astronomy is one of my favourite hobbies and whenever I find the time, I surf around on different sites and watch all kinds of space videos. In Judaism, science and Torah are going hand in hand and I wish that more Yeshivot started teaching science. The Rambam and the Ramban knew science and already Avraham dealt wth the stars. Let alone the Talmud Tractate Rosh Hashana where you find all kinds of astronomical explanations. Now NASA has started its CURIOSITY project exploring Mars in detail. Although I love reading everything about it and looking at photos, I would never pack up my stuff and move to Mars.:-)
I disagree. The Torah is a compass for us to become moral human beings. We will leave Earth at some-point if technology advances, and we survive as species long enough.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean once we're in space it's okay to not observe the Torah or the Great Maker anymore? No! We should always be observant, of course by choice, and continue to do so wherever we are!
You neglect to mention things like lack of atmosphere, terra-forming, etc. We can already "artificially" inseminate women, we can communicate live audio and visual feeds with technology. It's only a matter of time until we can traverse space in a reasonable manner to colonize other planets.
At the time He gave laws, technology, was more or less a lot different in terms of standards and quality of life. If you believe that He gave everything we need, then in a sense you are saying people don't need glasses or surgery that was discovered past ~800BCE!
But that's just my opinion.
-Eric
PS: If we terra-form Mars, we can send the Palestinians and Americans there!
B"H
ReplyDeleteDo you really think that Mars wants the Palestinians ? :-))))
Anyway, I am not too much concentrating on today's advance in technology but rather on the sentence in Bereshit 1:26 where G - d said that man should rule over the whole world.
This world and not other worlds (planets).
This is just my opinion.