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In Devorah and Barak's song (upon defeating Sisra), part of the song went as follows (Shoftim 5:23): 'Curse you Meroz,' said the messenger of the Lord, 'curse you bitterly (you) inhabitants thereof,' because they came not to the aid of the Lord, to the aid of the Lord against the mighty. The Talmud (Mo'ed Kattan 16A - English on page 59 here) brings ...


To answer your question clearly, Although the Pentateuch does not seem to make any mention of extraterrestrial life, some places in Nevi'im and Ketuvim may be understood to be making reference to Extraterrestrial life. One instance is in Shoftim 5:23, 'Curse ye Meroz', said the angel of the LORD, 'Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they ...


In the Guide of the Perplexed, Chapter XIV, the Rambam comments on "behold the height of the stars, how high they are!" (Job xxii. 12) that is to say, learn from the height of the heavens how far we are from comprehending God, for there is an enormous distance between ourselves and these corporeal objects, and the latter are greatly distinguished ...


Similar to several answers above: there was a Jewish biologist who consulted for NASA when they were concerned about viruses being brought back by astronauts and the like. He said he spoke with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneurson, the 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe, about extraterrestrial life. The Rebbe said that sentient beings would be theologically problematic, but ...


Again. If living someplace where there is no concept of sunrise/sunset at all, the opinions are: Follow your hometown Follow the last normal place you'd been (in this case, Florida) Follow Jerusalem Follow an artificial 6AM-6PM clock, using whatever timezone you have.




Traditionally no, however a alien inclined reading of the Bible, could lead one to believe that the "Nephilim" (נְפִילִים) and "Anakim" (ענקים) might be aliens, or other races of humans. They are treated as goyim and not animals. However, the alien life forms so far discovered by science all fall under the halachic category of 'non-existent' since they can ...


The grandeur of creation increases the importance of keeping Torah - it is the point of a much greater world. It also gives us a better understanding of the greatness of Hashem. The entirety of creation is nothing compared to Hashem. So the greater the world, the more we realize how much greater Hashem is, that all of it is as nothing compared to Him.


You might first ask, Rabbi Ben-Zion Firrer asked, whether the mitzvahs are required at all in space. After all, the Torah says that you should do the commandments "all of the days which you are alive on this earth" (Deut. 12:1), maybe we aren't obligated to perform the commandments in space or on the moon. Rabbi Shlomo Goren, in an interview published in ...


Based on this article: I would say that people in the ISS would keep Shabbat based on the location of the place they will be landing when they come back, or based on the location of the earth crew that is working with them. This is how the people aboard the ISS mantain their daily lives, and it would be peculiar to do it another way.


First you have to differentiate between Reshut HaRabim and Hefker. Nobody can do a Kinyan on Reshut haRabim; it belongs to everybody unless the "king" or local equivalent decides otherwise. (Unless you cause damage; it belongs to you insofar as you are responsible for restitution.) When a tract of land is Hefker you can do a Kinyan - appropriate to land ...


The Sheva Mitzvot of Bnei Noach are for the decendants of Noach, so unless the aliens were first offspring of Noach and then moved to another planet, then no, aliens would not need to keep Sheva Mitzvot. If they are in a similar image to Noach, it might be a good idea to teach them the Sheva Mitzvot though :-P
