Jews in Space
A crowd of human males, dressed in black, left the beit midrash and headed toward the space station's mikveh to purify themselves before Yom Kippur. Their mothers, wives, and sisters were preparing for the holy day in their respective quarters. Two of the young men continued their discussion of Yevamot 4a, while others contemplated the significance of the coming holy day.
The Rabbi had already immersed in the mikveh and prayed deeply while in the warm water. It had taken much effort, argument, and negotiation to provide fresh water that makes a mikveh kosher. The Rabbi was proud of his achievement.
As he left the mikveh, he heard one of the students expound an a verse of gemarah, saying that immersion in the mikveh is like conversion and transforms one into a new person. He would speak to the young man after the Holy Day.
The aliens on the planet below had been inquisitive towards his group of humans and now they wished to convert. He had rejected them more than the requisite three times and they had contacted Chabad. He had spent days considering how to respond to the leader of Lubavitch movement in the next sector. How, the rabbi wondered, could beings so different from humans become Jews, if they couldn't be circumcised, if they didn't have males and females?
Already the aliens were gathering in the watery room that overlooked the men's section of the synagogue. Their eagerness for words of Torah was immense and gratifying, but also disturbing to Rabbi Murphy.
The Rabbi had already immersed in the mikveh and prayed deeply while in the warm water. It had taken much effort, argument, and negotiation to provide fresh water that makes a mikveh kosher. The Rabbi was proud of his achievement.
As he left the mikveh, he heard one of the students expound an a verse of gemarah, saying that immersion in the mikveh is like conversion and transforms one into a new person. He would speak to the young man after the Holy Day.
The aliens on the planet below had been inquisitive towards his group of humans and now they wished to convert. He had rejected them more than the requisite three times and they had contacted Chabad. He had spent days considering how to respond to the leader of Lubavitch movement in the next sector. How, the rabbi wondered, could beings so different from humans become Jews, if they couldn't be circumcised, if they didn't have males and females?
Already the aliens were gathering in the watery room that overlooked the men's section of the synagogue. Their eagerness for words of Torah was immense and gratifying, but also disturbing to Rabbi Murphy.
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| from "Jews! In! Space!" by Mel Brooks |
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