Elon Musk is working hard to create the reality that humans will live on Mars but will Jews ever move there?
That was a question I got at the Ask Us Anything table.
Hashem gave us the Torah which needs to be practiced on Earth. Ideally on or near Har Habayit where we have all the mitzvot of the korbanot and Beit Hamikdash. There are less mitzvot in Yerushalayim, but we still have eating maaser shein, kodashim kalim and other mitzvot only applicable in Yerushalayim. The rest of Eretz Yisrael has shmita, yovel, maaser, truma, and other mitzvot only applicable in the land.
Outside of Israel, there are less mitzvot and the farther north and south you go, the harder the zmanim get until there are no zmanim. Like the North and South poles where there are 6 months of daylight followed by 6 months of darkness.
Leaving Earth altogether takes that to new level. Rav Moshe Sternbuch writes that leaving Earth takes a person out of the normal framework of time-bound mitzvot. Our Torah was given to us according to the days and nights we experience here on Earth.
So will Jews ever move to Mars? I wouldn’t.
Hashem gave us so many opportunities to connect with Him. I want to take advantage of as many of them as I can.
Wouldn’t you?