Timeline for Does the Torah prohibit leaving Earth?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 10:41 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Nov 19, 2019 at 23:12 | comment | added | Turk Hill | I would add that not only does He [G-d] not ban it, He expects it. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 20:15 | comment | added | Heshy | Yes but if G-d had wanted to ban space travel, He could have written "don't travel into space". Since He didn't, and anyone with the authority to make derabbanans didn't know it was possible and therefore couldn't ban it, we have no basis for issur. (Except possibly danger, which will change generation by generation) | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:50 | comment | added | Turk Hill | Yes, I agree with you. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:49 | comment | added | Al Berko | @TurkHill I don't judge Rabbis, I only point to the fact that we had no such tradition, so all the Rabbis speculated to their best. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:47 | comment | added | Turk Hill | @AlBerko I agree that most, if not all rabbis and laypeople alike were ignorant of science and rejected and opted for blind faith, the Torah, which is certainly holy, knew that space was a very big place and that people could penetrate it and explore it. The Tower of Babel myth is a story with a moral lesson when it says the tower reached into heaven, it is not meant to be taken literally. (Also, the Bible uses firmament for a poetic, stylist approach, again not to be taken at face value). | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:40 | comment | added | Turk Hill | But G-d does know everything and G-d does expect us to explore space. However, Ralbag says that G-d only knows the general and not the particular. In other words, G-d knows the species but not the man. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:36 | comment | added | Turk Hill | Thus, Maimonides felt that G-d is transcendent and either created or formed the universe, placed in it the laws of nature, and does not communicate with prophets or interfere with nature by performing miracles, then it follows that, unless G-d somehow deviated from this norm, G-d did not communicate the Torah. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:36 | comment | added | Al Berko | @Heshy G-d knows many things He didn't include in the Torah like that washing hands before a meal to avoid diseases. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:36 | comment | added | Turk Hill | Moshe looked into the laws of nature, which is a divine creation of G-d, and produced the Torah. Similarly, Abraham discovered G-d by studying the heavens, natural law. Thus, Maimonides considers it an obligation to develop one's intelligence. It is a mitzvah to study philosophy, science, and metaphysics to improve society. Thus, revelation does not exist. Are you bothered if the event was natural? How does this make you feel? | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:36 | comment | added | Turk Hill | @Heshy This may come as a shock for most laypeople, but the Torah is a great human achievement but nevertheless, only a human achievement. For what exactly is “revelation”? Maimonides writes in the first chapter of his Mishneh Torah that G-d does not speak. How was the Torah revealed? | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:35 | comment | added | Turk Hill | @AlBerko I agree with you. Actually, I need to correct my statement, because I remember Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin saying that most Jews rejected copernicus theory at first. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:29 | comment | added | Heshy | God wrote the Torah, and God knew that space travel was possible. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:28 | comment | added | Al Berko | @TurkHill Yeas we all are very smart retrospectively. Many love Judaism for our ability to pick and choose - first we burn Rambam's books and then we claim we always counted on him. I think we should be strong enough to admit our heritage as it is. One hint is not enough to present it as the official Jewish standpoint. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:17 | comment | added | Turk Hill | Although Rambam felt that we could not reach the moon, it is inaccurate to suggest all rabbis or even the Torah, for that matter felt the same way. For one, Ralbag knew the sun was the center, and the Bible never meant for its words to be taken literally. See Philo. | |
| Nov 19, 2019 at 19:15 | history | answered | Al Berko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |