Q. Re- Question 711, An Alien Shaileh. You quote; “Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson Zt"l, the Lubavitcher Rebbe mentioned "One who declares that there is no life besides on earth is limiting the Creator's abilities." (Sichas Hashavua Shoftim 5749) Does that mean that the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt'l actually believed that extraterrestrials exist? Are they more sources for his opinion? (I couldn't find the one you quoted)
A. I consulted with Rabbi Meir Wagner Shlit"a and he provided me with the following information:
In the Scientific Journal "Mind Over Matter" it is brought down that the Lubavitcher Rebbe ob"m addressed this topic in private audiences on two occasions, and the individuals who were in yechidus later wrote of the exchange.
One was Professor Herman Branover, a refusenik from Russia who specialized in the field of magnetohydrodynamics and had a research and development company in Israel in addition to authoring dozens of articles and books on the unapologetic convergence of Torah and science. He asked the Rebbe if according to the Torah there is the possibility that there exists other civilizations besides on earth. The Rebbe replied that there are sources in Torah that mention the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms. [He quoted some of the sources that the Rov mentions, particularly "Maroz".] However, civilizations which would mean intelligent life forms, are a different story. According to the Torah, a defining quality of intelligent life is the presence of free choice. The existence of free choice and man's ability to use it is only possible by virtue of the Torah. Therefore, if we were to assume that there was intelligent life somewhere else in the universe, they would have to have Torah. That is impossible. They cannot have their own Torah, since the Torah is truth and there can only be one truth. It is also impossible to assume that they have our Torah, for the story of how the Torah was given to the Jewish People here on earth is described in the Torah in great detail.
In other words, the Torah's viewpoint is that it is possible that life exists elsewhere in the universe, but societies of intelligent or human-like life do not exist anywhere but on earth.
A second was Professor Velvel Greene, a Chabad Baal Teshuva from Minnesota, who was an exobilogist for NASA. He was a pioneer in their search for life on Mars, and was once told by an Orthodox Rabbi that his work was forbidden as it was in contravention to Torah. When he asked the Rebbe about this he was told, "One who declares that there is no life besides on Earth is placing a limit on the Creator's abilities as it were."
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a.
Important Numbers
