BINA Living
Rabbi Yaacov Chaiton
Dear Rabbi,
I know it's a funny question but you a Rabbi so you have to tell the truth. My mom and dad said I should ask my grandpa but he wasn't sure, so I am asking you: Do aliens exist?
Thanks
Josh, 9 and a half.
Dear Josh,
I am sure that you have already learnt that in the first five days of creation G-d created all the things in the world and then on the 6th day of creation he created people. The 6th day was the last day of creation and people were the last thing created.
Why did G-d decide to create people last of all?
Well, imagine your mum and dad are making you a huge surprise birthday party. Would they arrange for you to come in and then start setting up? Or would they first prepare everything for the surprise (including the beautiful decorations) and only then bring you in, once everything is ready?
I think they would first get everything ready and then arrange for you to come in. Why? Because you are the star of the show and the star of the show has everything waiting for his arrival.
The world is G-d's surprise party for people who do good things. That's why G-d first set up the whole world in the first few days of creation and only then when everything was ready, did he bring in the real stars of the show - the people - for whom the whole "party" was made.
At your party everything and everyone is there for you but that doesn't mean that you're allowed to destroy the party by breaking things and making a mess of the beautiful setup. So too, G-d made the whole world ready for us humans but we have to take good care of this world and make sure that it stays as nice as it was at the very beginning. G-d watches us very closely to see how we are behaving at this big "party" that He has made for us.
If aliens would exist and be clever like us and be able to use the world the way we do, then it would be like having another "birthday boy" at the surprise party. The Torah very clearly says that only people, not aliens, were created last because there is only one "birthday boy" for whom the world was created - us.
So, while according to the Torah, it's very possible that there are other living creatures on other planets, intelligent aliens the way they appear in the movies definitely do not exist.