HALACHAH AND SPACE TRAVEL

QUESTION:

The religious school of the temple is engaged in gathering material for a discussion of the relationship of Jewish religious tradition and mankind’s new experience with space. What material is there in the Halachah that can be useful for such a study? (Asked by Rabbi Albert M. Lewis, Grand Rapids, Michigan.)

ANSWER:

THE QUESTION is, of course, primarily an exploration of Jewish thought rather than a search for practical guidance, since there cannot be many Jewish astronauts to whom the problems might apply. It might be interesting at the outset to note the potentially different attitudes of Judaism and Christianity on the problem of the applicability of the respective religions to outer space. Theologically the problem might be more difficult for Christianity than for Judaism. The essence of Christian theology is concentrated on this earth. It is on this earth alone that Christianity believes that God Himself was incarnated. The drama of salvation is, therefore, concentrated in what we now know is a tiny planet in one of the smaller of the millions of solar systems. How can it be explained theologically that the central drama of Christianity is concentrated in this speck of earth lost in the entire vast universe?

In regard to this theological question, Judaism has fewer difficulties to meet. The earth and humanity, while important in Jewish thought, are not at all central. The Midrash which expresses our attitudes makes of the whole creation of man and the whole giving of the Torah something much greater than this earth and the human race. That is why we are told that the angels argued with God against the very creation of the earth, and argued more strongly against the giving of the Torah to human beings (see the material gathered in the first volume of Ginzberg’s Legends). In other words, God’s world and God’s dominion and God’s plans include much more than this little earth and its people.

It is worth noting which Biblical phrases are brought into the regular worship and how they insist upon the larger universe. In the daily service, we speak of God as Master of all worlds (a phrase used by Rabbi Yochanan in Yoma 87b). In the daily service we have the psalm (147:4): “He numbereth the stars and calls them each by name.” In the Sabbath Torah service, we use the sentence (from I Chronicles 21:11): “Everything in heaven and earth is Thy kingdom.” In other words, the mood of Judaism, different from that of Christianity, does not concentrate God’s plan on this little planet, but constantly emphasizes the vast universe as God’s dominion. Thus it is clear that on the basis of general theology it is less difficult for Judaism to face the modern astronomical view of a vast expanding universe.

However, while it will be theologically easier for Judaism than for Christianity to confront the new questions of vast space, practically, however, with regard to the regulation of life, Judaism would have a much more difficult task of adjustment than Christianity. That is because, as far as ceremonies and observances are concerned, Judaism is full of regulations based upon time and space which would seem impossible to adjust to the new astronautic techniques. For example, in the laws of travel on the Sabbath, space is divided in Jewish law as to how far a man may travel. Also, as to carrying on the Sabbath there are definite limits. Then there are questions as to food and work. Let us take some of these questions up in order.

The question of carrying on the Sabbath is no question at all for the astronaut because everything in the capsule is weightless. The question of adjusting machinery on the Sabbath is not difficult either because it is a matter of saving life, for which all is permitted. The question of food, on the assumption that the concentrated food is not kosher, again this is permitted because of the danger to life. The astronaut is under compulsion to eat that food and, as a matter of fact, when one eats forbidden food under necessity in place of danger, he is even in duty bound to pronounce the blessing over the food (Orach Chayim 196:2).

The only question that is more difficult with regard to space travel is the question of the Sabbath journey. According to the rule, a man may walk throughout his city on the Sabbath and two thousand cubits beyond its limits. From then on, he may only move four cubits. However, the astronaut covers vast distances. He goes around the earth in eighty minutes. How is that permissible on the Sabbath? The answer is clear enough: None of the Sabbath limits of travel apply beyond the height of ten cubits above the earth. Therefore it is permitted to travel on the Sabbath on the ocean because the ship is more than ten cubits above the earth. The astronaut may cover any distance on the Sabbath because of the height above the earth.

One last question remains, however: The astronaut goes around the earth in eighty minutes. He sees the dawn every forty minutes and sunset every forty minutes. How, then, can he manage morning and evening prayers? What about the morning tallis and tefillin for an Orthodox astronaut? He certainly cannot be expected to put them on every forty minutes throughout his journey. The answer to this problem must be the same as that which was given to the soldiers in Iceland during the war: Since it was dark there for six months and then light for six months, how could they have evening services at sunset? The answer to that problem was that they must follow the hours of Boston, Massachusetts, and the soldiers in Alaska must follow the hours of Portland, Oregon. After all, the watches in the space capsule will keep earth time.

This, for the present, seems to be all that comes to mind with regard to space travel.