17 Sep TORAH SAGES ABOUT THE MOON LANDING

The July 21, 1969,
landing on the moon
was a monumental
achievement for
mankind, and the leading
Torah scholars of the
time were as impressed
as everyone else in the
world. They responded in a variety of ways.
I. May Man Travel to the Moon?
Rav Hershel Schachter writes in the
name of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Beis
Yitzchak Journal, no. 26 [5754] pp. 193-
194; Divrei Ha-Rav, p. 243):
“’The heavens and the earth’ (Gen. 1:1) –
[Rav Soloveitchik] was asked about Judaism’s
view of man’s traveling to the moon, with
the questioner suspecting that it might be
forbidden because it is written ‘The heavens
are the Lord’s but the land He has given to
mankind’ (Ps. 115:16). [Rav Soloveitchik]
responded that one can distinguish in the
definition of heavens and earth. The term
‘heavens’ can be explained in two ways —
as something high and/or distant, as it says
‘It is not in the heavens’ (Deut. 30:12),
according to which the moon is considered a
part of the ‘heavens.’ Alternatively, the term
can be defined as including everything that
is beyond human understanding, including
the entire spiritual realm. According to this

second understanding, the stars and most
distant galaxies — and certainly the moon
— are considered part of ‘earth.’ Therefore,
[according to this latter interpretation,] there
is no contradiction between traveling in space
or scientific studies of the cosmos and the
verse ‘The heavens are for the Lord and the
land for mankind.’”
II. Is the Moon a Living Being?

Rav Ya’akov Kamenetsky (Emes Le-
Ya’akov al Ha-Torah, Gen. 1:1, 5761 revised

edition pp. 15-16):
“As an aside, we learn from these words of
the Ramban [on Gen. 1:1], and in particular
from what he concluded in the continuation
of his words on verse 8, that everything that
exists in the creation in the entire world,
including the sun, the moon and all the
heavenly hosts, are not called ‘heavens.’
The ‘heavens’ are only things that have no
physical bodies, such as angels, chayos and
the merkavah. However, anything that has a
physical body is included in the name ‘earth’
in verse 1…
“These words of the Ramban are what
carried me when we saw men descending
from a space ship on a ladder onto the surface
of the moon. I thought to myself: ‘What
would the Rambam, who wrote that the moon
has a spiritual form, answer now?’ I thought

that at that point Kabbalah
defeated Philosophy, and
comforted myself with the
words of the Ramban…
“We are forced to say that
what the Rambam told us
in these chapters [Hilchos
Yesodei Ha-Torah, chs.
1-4] is neither ma’aseh
merkavah nor ma’aseh
bereishis. Rather, he wrote
those four chapters from
his deep mind and from
his knowledge of secular
wisdom, i.e. not from the
wisdom of Torah but only
from Philosophy… and
the Rambam only wrote
these as an introduction to
the Mishneh Torah while
the main part of the book
begins with chapter 5…”
R. Menachem Kasher tried to defend the
Rambam in what I can only call a bizarre and
forced way (Ha-Adam Al Ha-Yare’ach, ch.
4):
“Question: Is it correct what many are
currently saying — that when man reached
the moon and dug from it dirt and stones, it
was proven wrong what the Rambam wrote

in Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yesodei Ha-
Torah 3:9 and Moreh Nevuchim 2:5, and

brings proof (to Aristotle’s position) from
Biblical verses and sayings of the Sages,
that the heavenly spheres have souls,
knowledge and understanding, and live,
stand and recognize He Who said and the
world came into being?
“Answer: I wrote… the early sages R.
Sa’adia Gaon, R. Yehudah Ha-Levi, R.
Chasdai Crescas, R. Yitzchak Ibn Latif, the
author of Akedas Yitzchak (end of essay
1) and the Abarbanel strongly reject the
position of Aristotle and the Rambam…
Rav Ya’akov Emden, in his book Migdal
Oz writes about Aristotle’s position,
‘It is all nonsense and lies.’ And so the
Maharal wrote in the introduction to his
book Gevuras Hashem, that the Rambam’s
position is ‘nonsense’…
“In the pamphlet Ge’ulas Yisrael of
the Maggid of Koznitz, the author attempted
to defend the Rambam. He explains [that
the heavenly spheres] ‘are intellects without
free will’… We can explain this idea based
on what Rav Chaim Vital wrote in his
book Sha’arei Kedushah (3:1) based on the
principles of Kabbalah, that just like there
is a soul in a living creature, so too there is
a ‘soul’ in an inanimate object. This is the
force that combines the four elements…
The position of the Rambam is that just like
there is knowledge and intellect among the
angels, which does not refer to the intellect
we have that is connected to our five senses
but rather is a spiritual intellect according to

their level, we can say the same for the Tohu.
[This Tohu] was the first power created by the
will of G-d and remains forever in various
forms, at first in the Bohu, i.e. atom, and later
in elements and bodies. This force is also
called an angel because it is an agent of G-d
to be made into matter. It is not impossible
that this force has its own intellect and rules
according to its level and recognizes its
creator and master…
“We can add that the ‘intellect’ of an item is
the rules by which it acts with G-d’s will and
is the essence of its existence. The ‘soul’ of an
item is the force that preserves its existence,
with G-d’s will, and is the energy inside it.”
III. Mussar Parable
Rav Shlomo Wolbe, in a talk on Shabbos
Parashas Ki Seitzei in 1969, used the
moon landing as a parable (Da’as
Shlomo, Ma’amarei Yemei Ratzon p. 81).
Unapologetically and unselfconsciously, he
told how the astronauts were quarantined for
21 days after returning to Earth to ensure that
no alien bacteria or viruses came back with
them. Similarly, he suggested, if there were
spiritual beings on the moon they would have
quarantined the astronauts for upon landing to
ensure they were not bringing any ‘bacteria’
of lack-of-G-d-fearing, any contamination
of irreligiosity. If the Chafetz Chaim, Rav
Yisrael Meir Kagan, had been the first to
land on the moon, he would have seen a pure
landscape entirely untainted by irreligiosity,
perhaps even attaining the level of prophecy.
I find this reaction entirely characteristic of
a Mussar personality — using contemporary
events to illustrate a spiritual point. I also
find it noteworthy that Rav Wolbe saw no
religious challenge in this monumental event,
referring to it without skeptical disclaimers
or intellectual alarm. Instead, he found a
Mussar aspect which could further the goal
of deepening fear of G-d.