I have never had any “extraterrestrial” experiences: I was not abducted by a UFO, I did not see strange lights in the sky, and I did not go through any unusual experience. Nor did I ever consciously believe or disbelieve in extraterrestrial life. I was simply curious about two very specific things. The first was to distinguish between evidence and imagination (or deception) in this subject. And the second was to find out whether the Tora, any contemporary rabbi, or any modern Jewish book seriously refers to the possibility of other forms of life beyond this world. To my surprise, I found very little — or almost nothing.
So I had to conduct my own research.
Let us begin with the basics: what is known about extraterrestrial life?
This weekend, a documentary will be released in the United States — and I believe also in the rest of the world — that will undoubtedly fuel the debate about extraterrestrial life and non-human intelligence. The documentary is called “The Age of Disclosure” and features testimonies from United States government officials, such as the current Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, military personnel, members of intelligence agencies, and high-level scientists, who for the first time in human history speak openly about the existence of “aliens,” non-human intelligences, and their possible interaction with human beings.
The use of the term NHI — non-human intelligence — more in use today than UFOs is not accidental. It is connected to the rise of quantum physics, which has increasingly demonstrated the primacy of “consciousness” — the observer — over the physical world. Over the past five to ten years, science has taken a radical and completely unexpected turn. It has moved away from the idea that human mind is merely the product of chemical and electrical reactions in the brain, and toward the possibility — now far less disputed — that human consciousness is something much more primordial and profound than the physical universe itself.
Some of the most modern theories, known as “simulation theories,” view the physical universe — time and space — as an interface: a kind of screen or stage that allows consciousness to experience a “virtual reality,” an artificial reality created by a Higher Intelligence. This represents a 180-degree turn in the understanding of reality. Without exaggeration, it is a giant step by science toward a spiritual plane, in which reality is no longer defined by particles and atoms, but by “consciousness, perception, and meaning.” One might even say that, unintentionally, modern science is beginning to discover the dimension of the Divine.
Some of the most recognized scientists in the field of extraterrestrial life research, such as Jacques Vallée and Gary Nolan, insist that reducing everything to “spaceships” traveling from one planet to another is a very limited conceptual error. They argue that we are surrounded by non-human intelligences that can materialize in very diverse forms, and that they do not necessarily come from other planets, but from different levels of existence.
And this leads inevitably to my question: is there anything in the Jewish tradition that refers to this phenomenon?
Surprisingly, yes.
MAIMONIDES AND NON-HUMAN INTELLIGENCES
The great Sephardic rabbi, Moshe ben Maimon, or Maimonides, wrote nearly 900 years ago a text that, when read in contemporary language, is astonishingly relevant. In Chapter 2 of his monumental work Mishneh Tora — which contains exactly 1,000 chapters distributed across fourteen books — Maimonides describes the existence of what he calls “separate intellects” (tzurot nifradot): non-human intelligences or consciousnesses that have no physical body, do not occupy space, are not bound by time in the same way we are, and do not operate through physical senses.
For Maimonides, the existence of these non-human intelligences is an essential part of the Divine design of the universe. They are entities that exist on the highest planes of being, that can interact with our reality/simulation, but do not belong to our material dimension.
In Hebrew, this category of beings is called malajim. I must note that translating malakhim as “angels” can be misleading, because those of us who grew up in a Western culture tend to automatically associate “angels” with chubby babies, curly hair, and rosy cheeks, as in the paintings of Goya or Botticelli. But for Maimonides, and within Judaism, malakhim are forms of consciousness, bodiless intelligences, that can “descend” or temporarily materialize — as in the episodes of Abraham and Lot — in order to fulfill a specific function.
In other words, according to Jewish tradition, the universe is definitively multidimensional and is populated (or over-populated) by non-human entities that do not follow the biological rules of our species.
The idea of non-biological and non-physical intelligences has never been foreign to Jewish thought.
It is a concept so deeply integrated into Judaism that, although many people may not realize it, we mention it every morning in some of the most important parts of our daily prayer, when we refer to the different levels of the universe created by God.
It is difficult not to notice the conceptual affinity between what today is being discussed in scientific circles and what Judaism had already been articulating for centuries.
Perhaps it is time to reread what Maimonides and our Sages wrote with new eyes, and once again marvel at how modern science is now beginning to discover what the Tora and Jewish thought declared so long ago.
MAIMONIDES
Mishne Tora, Yesode haTora, Chapter 2: 4-6
והמלאכים אין להם גוף וגוויה אלא צורה לבדה נפרדת זו מזו. ואינן שווים במעלתן, אלא אלו למעלה מאלה. כולן קיימים, ויודעים הבורא וגדולתו ביותר מדעת בני אדם ומן החכמים.
שמות המלאכים נחלקים לעשרה שמות לפי מדרגות מעלתן, והן:
חיות הקודש, אופנים, אראלים, חשמלים, שרפים, מלאכים, מלכים, אלהים, בני אלהים, כרובים.
וכל אחת ואחת ממדרגה יש לה מדרגות אחרות ומספרן אינו ידוע לאדם.
כל המלאכים הם בעלי צורה בלבד ואין להם גוף וגויה, ואינם תופסים מקום, ואינם מקבלים משקל ולא גבורה, ולא חולשה ולא שינוי, ולא יכולים לראות אותם אלא בנבואה בלבד.
Angels have no body or physical form, but only form (i.e., categories), which distinguishes one from another. They are not equal in their level; rather, some are above others. All of them know the Creator, and their perception of God is at a higher level than the knowledge of human beings and even of the wise.
Angels are divided according to ten names, corresponding to the level of their category, and they are:
Chayot HaKodesh, Ofanim, Arelim, Chashmalim, Serafim, Malakhim, Melakhim, Elo-him, Bene Elo-him, Kerubim.
Each one of these levels also has further subdivisions, and their number is not known to man.
All angels are purely entities of form, without body or physical substance. They do not occupy space, they have no weight, no strength or weakness, no decay, and no change of any kind, and they can only be perceived through prophecy.
