C7: Aliens

Issue Navigation:

Scientific background

- Ice breaker: Take a show of hands from your audience in response to the following questions:

Do you believe that life exists on other planets?

Do you believe that intelligent aliens exist?

Do you believe that we will make contact with them within the next twenty years?

- Now explain the high probability of alien life existing, mention the Mars rock and tell them about the views of Sagan and Hoyle. Ask again for a show of hands in response to the same three questions.

- Discuss whether your audience's responses are based on extensive knowledge, gut feeling or wishful thinking. Are they excited by the prospect of contact?

Israeli Aliens

- Debate: 'This house believes that alien encounters are a more reasonable explanation for the miracles in the Bible than Divine intervention.' This can be done seriously or humorously. Seriously: explain what a "miracle" really is and talk about the large number of sightings in Israel etc. Humorously: Make up complex crackpot theories involving aliens to explain biblical miracles.

- How has television shaped our attitude towards aliens? Thousands of years ago people imagined, and told stories about, many gods whose exploits could explain the unexplainable. Are contemporary stories and films about alien adventures on distant planets a modernized version of these classic myths? Why is the 'X files' so successful? Why is 'Star Wars' one of the most popular films of all time?

The Uniqueness of People

Do a short sketch of an alien encounter. Play for laughs. You could have a third character who acts as translator for the audience's benefit only, while the human doesn't understand a word. Have the alien as more intelligent than the human. The alien gets more and more frustrated as the conversation continues and gets depressed about the savagery and barbarism of our species. Use this for a discussion about the worth of humanity in light of possibly meeting other more advanced lifeforms.

The Uniqueness of God

- Ask the following two questions: Who is the first Jew in the Bible? (Abraham) and, why doesn't the Bible start with him? the answer is because the Torah describes the beginning of everything. God is not limited to Earth. God has no limits.

- Would Judaism accept alien converts? Now there's a fun discussion! Explain how the Torah is terrestrial and human-centered.

The need for contact

Have an open discussion about why our culture is so obsessed with all things extraterrestrial. What would be the consequences of contact?

Divine contact

- This is a fundamental point and is quite hard to grasp and digest. The search for alien contact is not a metaphor for the search for God. It is effectively the same thing because it is based on the same primal human urge: to understand oneself. To do this we need to communicate outside ourselves, to move beyond our own consciousness. Only try and explain this point if you are confident that you understand it.

- 'God is not everywhere,' said the Rebbe of Kotzk to his puzzled students, 'Because God is only where you let him in!' How difficult is divine contact today? Read out the Hide-and-seek story on the back page. Are we our own worst enemy when it comes to trying to reach God? Which Jewish customs or laws best enhance a real relationship with God? Prayer, Shabbat, Israel? Give your own personal answers.

- There are three kinds of close encounters: sighting, physical evidence and contact. It could be fun to apply this to God and Judaism. Sightings would come from the prophets, physical evidence would be the continued existence of the Jewish people (think about that one) and contact would be Mt. Sinai and possibly personal experiences.

Fear of insignificance

By reaching for the stars do we negate the value of our own little lives? Human acts of kindness and care appear less than significant when the entire universe is taken into consideration. Can we combat this erroneous feeling? This point might best be expressed when performed as a passionate monologue.

Ready for the future

Discuss the contrasting visions of ourselves we have in Star Trek shows (co-operative, harmony) and in the film Independence Day (frightened, destructive) which is based on HG Wells' 'War of the Worlds.' Are we threatened by outer space or does it hold the promise of new ideas, visions and dreams? We'll have to boldly go there to find out!

Famous Israeli Encounters

These could be performed as funny short sketches. Fake UFO boffins could comment on, and argue over, the significance of each of these tall stories.

Next Page