www.LubavitchArchives.com - Chabad history on the web


Home

Letters

Article

Pictures

Soul Meetings

About

Contact

 
 
 

Spiritual "spaceship danger"


Landing on the Moon - 1968

This year marked an extraordinary event, the landing on the moon.

We can perceive two ideas from the moon landing:
There formerly was scientific proof that it is not possible to land on the moon, since it was thought that it was impossible to achieve the necessary takeoff velocity without breaking or burning up the rocket, and the like. From this we see that mortal intellect is worthless and unreliable, given that whatever man thinks today may very well be proved erroneous tomorrow.

The second lesson we can derive is that G-d transcends any understanding, as great as the mind may be. Therefore, not only should the moon landing not be a cause for confusion, on the contrary it should enhance our service of G-d.

In order to land on the moon, they took three men, and told them ahead of time that they would have to ignore their own personal will and to behave, down to the last detail, according to the instructions they will be given from their superiors. If they wanted to eat, they would only be able to eat when and what they will be allowed to. The same is for sleeping, and even for what shoes they will be able to wear.

Every astronaut was informed that a slight deviation from instructions in any of his actions can cause the loss of billions of dollars and endanger all of his colleagues in the spaceship.

We learn from this how crucial a single act of one man can be. The astronaut, even if he does not comprehend why he must not do it and the harm it could cause, and he only heard that this is the case from a sixty-year-old man who studied the subject for a time, he trusts him and follows his orders precisely.

Nor does he argue that he's only one astronaut out of three, and can therefore do whatever he wants as long as the others follow orders—after all, he's just the minority—for he knows full well that whatever he does affects not only himself but the others in the spaceship with him.

From this we may learn a lesson in “our service of G-d” through Torah and adhering to the commandments of G-d: What a Jew does, effects not only himself and his family; it effects his whole city and the entire world.

  Landing on the moon
 
   

Previous Article

Next Article
If you have any comments or
additions please
E-mail us
 
© All rights reserved to
Lubavitch Archives