The Jew on the Moon

What can happen if the Jew goes to live and settle on the Moon or Mars or another planet? How will he manage with his traditions of the Halakha? When the first man walked on the Moon, my grandmother used to say to me: 'Come on, silly, they're deceiving you. How is it possible for a person to walk on the Moon?' Today we know that this deception came true, and one day we will see colonies of people on the Moon or Mars or another Planet. Surely my years will not allow me to see that this could be realized, but my grandchildren, I believe, yes, they will be able to see it. Today when we say 'he has passed to the other world', tomorrow this will be said not for death but for another Planet than ours.

Thinking that this is going to be realized, how is the Jew going to live if he wants to fulfil his duties of the Halakha? If he wants to fast on the day of Yom Kippur or of Tisha B'Av, how will he check the calendar? The astronaut Luca Parmitano, on the International Space Station (ISS), says that in one day of 24 hours they saw the sun rise and set 16 times. If he wants to eat according to kashrut, where will he find the chicken, the fish, the lamb, the cow that live on Earth?

Rabbi David Lister, a rabbi from London, writes in his book 'Intergalactic Judaism' that there need be no conflict between the study of Science and Judaism. Rabbi Lister tells us that Science is the accumulation of wisdom. As Judaism accepts that the Creator is the most powerful sage with an endless wisdom, every innovation and every discovery of science will not be against the sacred writings. But for many thinkers Judaism cannot exist outside our World, because for these thinkers Judaism is the form of relations between the Creator, Humanity and the World. And the Halakha was written for the Holy Land and not for worlds outside ours. On the other hand, if the Jew is not going to take part in astral journeys because of the Halakha, then in the future we are not going to see Jews on the other stars. Let us not forget that climate change is going to oblige humanity to seek refuge outside our World.

In the end, we can believe that the World Bet Din will find the solution of permitting Jews to live in the future in another World than ours of today.