(א)בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹקִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃(ב) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹקִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃
(1) When God began to create heaven and earth—(2) the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—
(ה) וְכֹ֣ל ׀ שִׂ֣יחַ הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה טֶ֚רֶם יִֽהְיֶ֣ה בָאָ֔רֶץ וְכׇל־עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה טֶ֣רֶם יִצְמָ֑ח כִּי֩ לֹ֨א הִמְטִ֜יר ה׳ אֱלֹקִים֙ עַל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאָדָ֣ם אַ֔יִן לַֽעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃
(5) when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because God ה׳ had not sent rain upon the earth and there were no human beings to till the soil,
(ח) וַיִּטַּ֞ע ה׳ אֱלֹקִ֛ים גַּן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר׃(ט) וַיַּצְמַ֞ח ה׳ אֱלֹקִים֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כׇּל־עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְט֣וֹב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃
(8) God ה׳ planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and placed there the Human who had been fashioned.(9) And from the ground God ה׳ caused to grow every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.
וְאָמַר עוּלָּא: בְּאַרְבַּע מְאָה שִׁיפּוּרֵי שַׁמְּתֵיהּ בָּרָק לְמֵרוֹז. אִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי גַּבְרָא רַבָּה הֲוָה, וְאִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי כּוֹכְבָא הֲוָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״מִן שָׁמַיִם נִלְחָמוּ הַכּוֹכָבִים״.
And Ulla said: Barak ostracized Meroz with the blowing of four hundred shofarot due to his failure to come. As for the identification of Meroz, some say that he was a great man and that he was ostracized because he did not join in the war effort. And others say that the reference is to a star and not a human being, and that it did not aid the Jewish people in their battle, as it is stated: “The stars fought from heaven; in their courses they fought against Sisera,” (Judges 5:20). This star, which did not help the Jewish people, was cursed.
The Shla, Rav Pinchas Elijah ben Maimar Horowitz of Vilna (d. 1821), wrote a book where he showed from various sources that we believe that there is life elsewhere. On the basis of the verse in Isaiah 45:18, he showed that there are creatures on planets other than earth: “For thus said Hashem, Creator of the heavens: He is the G-d, the One Who fashioned the earth and He is its Maker; He established it; He did not create it for emptiness; He fashioned it to be inhabited.” In other words, if there are other inhabitable planets, they were created to be inhabited.
The Shlaw refers to the passage in the Talmud (Mo-ed Katan 16a) which according to one opinion, the word meyroz in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:23), is a star or a planet. Oru meyroz, says the passage, “cursed be meyroz,” indicates that it was inhabited since it could only be cursed because of something its inhabitants did.
From the Rebbe:
Are these inhabitants intelligent? Intelligence is defined by Torah to mean the capacity to make decisions with free will. Free will is only possible where there is Torah, whereby the Creator offers His creatures more than one possibility and asks that they make the appropriate choice. (Torah includes the laws of Noah, which are given to all human beings.) In other words, just as we are created by the Creator's word, so we are provided free choice by His command to do or not do.
So, if there would be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, those creatures would have to have Torah. Could they have a different Torah than us? This is not possible, since Torah is truth, and there cannot be two truths.
Could they then have the same Torah as us? This also seems impossible, since the Torah itself describes in detail how the Torah was revealed on this planet, and that account itself has a strong impact on how the Torah is to be fulfilled.
It therefore appears that although it is quite possible there is life on other planets, that life would not be intelligent in a way similar to human life and culture.
But should we be looking?
Dr. Velvel Greene was a microbiologist who was enlisted by NASA in their project to determine if there is life on Mars. He asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe privately if this was something he should be doing.
The Rebbe replied, “Dr. Greene, look for life on Mars! And if you don’t find it there, look somewhere else in the universe for it. Because for you to sit here and say there is no life outside of planet Earth is to put limitations on the Creator, and that is not something any of His creatures can do!”