UFOs and Extraterrestrials

For decades, there have been many conspiracy theories about Aliens from another Earth-like place. Now, recently, there have been more revealed on the topic by legitimate government sources. Some pilots for the United States Airforce, have witnessed an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), claim that they’ve seen flying aircraft that defy our understanding of physical science. And some have claimed to have seen non-human people coming out of these UFOs

So what’s the perspective of The Torah on the topic of extraterrestrial life? If we do find life on another Earth, then that means that Hashem has the means to create life on other Earths. Hashem created everything for a purpose even if it’s initial purpose has now been defiled.

There was a holy prophetess in Israel named Devorah as written (Judges 5:23) to curse the Star of Meroz and the people who reside there. The Zohar says that there are people inhabitants on other Earths. They do not look like us but maybe endowed with intelligence. However, they do not have Beḥirah (בְּחִירָה) – freewill.

In theory, this means that they could be akin to angels and demons who do not have also lack בְּחִירָה. Perhaps, these other Earths include places that have demons. Freewill is exclusive to the descendants of Adam Ha-Rishon and thus Noaḥ Ha-Tzaddik.

The Gemara in Avodoah Zarah that asks what Hashem spends time doing…The Gemara says that there are 12 hours during the day and 12 hours at night. During the day, Hashem is reviewing His Torah. During this time, he is judging This World. At night, He is floating over 18,000 other worlds and judging them. The word for World is “Olam” (עוֹלָם). This means universe. There are thousands of parallel universes. Each of these universes have their own Earth. Hashem is charge of all the worlds.

The Ba’al Ha-ittim says that these Extraterrestrial Earths could all have life on them. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan has an essay on Extraterrestrial life. He says that the aforementioned quote on the Gemara could refer to spiritual beings, but he said that the Gemara is, very likely, discussing living beings on other Earths that do not have בְּחִירָה.

The Aḥaronim also discuss the topic of Extraterrestrials. Rabbi Yosef Shalom DeLemadigo asks if Hashem is able to create life on other worlds. He said that for many years, he thought that life was only on Earth, but he thought that believing in such would be limiting G-d to a specific place. To him, if there are other Suns, then there are other Earths.

In the Tractate of Ouktzim, the last Mishnah of Talmud, at the end of it’s last chapter, it says that each righteous person will receive 310 worlds. What kind of worlds are they? Rabbi Yonathan Eybeschutz was able to explain Migdal Babel (Tower of Babylon) from a scientific, humanist perspective writing that the Bnei Noaḥ were scared of another Mabul (flood), so they build the Migdal in order to escape Earth since the air is thinner in higher altitudes. Thus, the Bnei Noaḥ could then inhabit other places beyond Earth. Some Rabbis think that other Earth-like places are for our future inhabitance. However, the Rabbanim believe that Earth itself is the center of Hashem’s creation.

Rabbi Tuvia Kohen of Poland said that he thought that there are 5 reasons for life elsewhere.
1. If life exists here, on our small Earth, then in the larger worlds, there must be life.
2. If all other worlds are desolate, then Earth is akin to a large forest that only has one bird living in it.
3. What are the purpose of all of the stars if there are no extraterrestrial worlds near them?
4. We know that astronomers have telescopes that were able to see things on other planets.
5. If our Sun has an Earth-like place, then other Sun-like stars have their own Earth too.