The Ultimate Identifiable Flying Object

Dear Friends,

In 1984, when I was a 16-year-old student in Melbourne, Australia, our Yeshivah participated in the annual Lag B’Omer parade. It was shortly after the blockbuster movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had captured the world’s imagination. (The movie had come out just two years earlier, in 1982, and everyone was still talking about it.)

Each group of students prepared themed floats for the parade. One group built tanks. Another worked on giant mitzvah displays. My assignment? Helping create an E.T. figure.

But in true Yeshivah fashion, we gave it a Jewish twist.

Instead of “Extra-Terrestrial,” our E.T. stood for:

“The Eternal Torah.”

At the time, it was just a clever play on words.

But looking back, I realize it captured something profoundly Jewish.

The world has always been fascinated by the mysterious, the unidentified, the unknowable — by what may exist somewhere beyond us. Humanity gazes upward in wonder, searching the skies for meaning.

And lately, with renewed headlines about UFOs, government disclosures, mysterious aerial phenomena, and speculation about extraterrestrial intelligence, that fascination has only intensified.

Are we alone?
Is there life beyond Earth?
Is someone trying to contact us?

Interestingly, Torah does not dismiss the possibility of other forms of life somewhere within G-d’s vast universe. The Creator who fashioned billions of galaxies is certainly not limited by our imagination.

But Judaism makes a critical distinction.

The unique gift of moral freedom — the ability to choose between good and evil, to shape oneself and transform the world through those choices — was entrusted to humanity.

And that is precisely the message of Sinai.

If people are searching for the ultimate “UFO,” then the Giving of the Torah was actually the ultimate IFO — the ultimate Identifiable Flying Object.

Not unidentified. Identified.

The Midrash describes how multitudes of angels descended upon Mount Sinai. Heaven itself came down to earth. The mountain trembled, the heavens opened, and an entire nation witnessed Divine revelation together.

But here is the truly revolutionary part of the story.

Most spiritual systems seek escape from the physical world. The goal is often to transcend earth and ascend heavenward.

Sinai reversed the direction.

The novelty of Matan Torah was not that human beings could climb to heaven.

It was that Heaven came down to earth.

Judaism introduced a radically different vision: that the deepest truth is not hidden in distant galaxies, but revealed through eternal Divine wisdom brought into ordinary human life.

The purpose of Torah is not to detach from the world, but to sanctify the world — to bring holiness into business ethics, family relationships, meals, conversations, kindness, community, and daily existence.

Not mystery for mystery’s sake.

But eternity with purpose.

That is why the Torah we received at Sinai is called eternal.

Not because it remains in heaven.

But because it transforms life on earth.

And that is why the most important response to Shavuos is not merely inspiration.

It is action.

A little more Torah study.
A little more kindness.
A little more holiness brought into everyday life.

In that spirit, we are excited to make Torah learning even more accessible in our community.

Beginning Thursday, May 28, we will launch a new weekly Lunch & Learn Torah class at Avi’s Grill at 12:30 PM — an opportunity to pause in the middle of the workday and reconnect to something higher.

And on June 9, we are launching a fascinating new Jewish Learning Institute course in honor of America’s 250th anniversary:

Sinai and Civics: The Jewish Ethics that Shaped America’s Founding.

At a time when society is searching the skies for meaning, perhaps Shavuos reminds us where the deepest answers are truly found:

Not in distant galaxies.

But in bringing Heaven down to Earth — one mitzvah, one act of goodness, and one moment of UFOs may come and go. Fascinations rise and fade. Headlines capture attention and then disappear into history.

But the great IFO of Sinai — the eternal and identifiable revelation of G-d at Mount Sinai — continues to illuminate and guide Jewish life thousands of years later.

May we merit to receive the Torah joyfully and inwardly, and may the eternity of Torah continue to illuminate our lives, our homes, and our world for generations to come.

Good Yom Tov and Good Shabbos.

Rabbi Ruvi New