By the Grace of G‑d
22nd of Iyar, 5721
[May 8, 1961]
Brooklyn, NY
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, “The Heavens belong to G‑d, and the earth He gave to the children of man.”
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 G‑d created the so-called heavenly bodies to serve our world, and to give light, warmth, and energy to it, and placed them in the firmament of the sky at a certain distance from our earth, does not preclude man’s attempt to learn all about them. Similarly, when the Torah states that G‑d 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 G‑d, etc.,” is in the sense that while G‑d 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 Toras Chaim, the Law of Life, and the Mitzvahs whereby Jews 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.”
With blessing,
With our celebrations, let us recall those who lost their lives and families left behind..
Aboard the Columbia was a young Jewish man IIan Ramon.
He was not the first Jewish man to travel outside the earth’s atmosphere, but his voyage was certainly the most special for us
He was the first to go not as an individual, but as the representative of the whole Jewish people. That is why, although he did not identify as an observant Jew, he insisted that NASA provide him only kosher food. He hung a mezuzah and a symbol on one of the portals of his capsule. In his bag was book of Psalms and a dollar bill given him by Lubavitcher Rebbe
As he passed over Jerusalem, he said the Shema Yisrael,
And the whole world watched as he lifted a small Torah scroll that had miraculously survived Auschwitz.
Why the Almighty took him and the other six astronauts from us as He did, I will not venture to know. But I must admit that, in so many ways I envy him.
Rabbi Tzvi Freeman