Category Archives: Science Fiction

As a child, my mother took me to see the movie Phantom of the Opera starring Claude Rains. There is a scary scene when a bottle of acid is thrown disfiguring a man forever. For many months afterward, I had nightmares. From that time on, seeing horror movies of any kind did not appeal to me and I rarely saw one. So it was with some reluctance that I went to see World War Z, a thriller about a zombie apocalypse threatening to take over the world.

The film opens with images of a happy family about to spend time together renewing and strengthening family ties. As they drive through stalled downtown Philadelphia traffic, however, the unexpected happens. A former UN employee, Gerry Lane, and his family are attacked by hordes of zombies along with countless others. The Lanes escape to a deserted apartment, where they are extracted by a helicopter sent by Gerry’s former UN colleague. They are then taken to a US Naval ship, where militarily analysts and scientific personnel are trying to determine the scope of this worldwide plague.

Dr. Andrew Fassbach, a virologist, is sent to a military base in South Korea to investigate the source of the virus along with Gerry, a veteran UN investigator, who is charged with facilitating the work of Dr. Fassbach. But then tragedy strikes. Fassbach is killed when he accidently discharges his gun amidst a zombie attack, and the investigating team is left without a scientist who can analyze the remains of those who have been killed by the zombies. At this moment, all seems lost. How can the problem be solved if there is no one to define the problem?

The Ethics of the Fathers says that in a place where there is no man, we have to step up to the plate and be the man. This is what Gerry does. When Fassbach dies, Gerry does not abort the mission. He does not make excuses. He understands what is at stake and continues on his search to investigate the source of the plague.

His search takes him from Korea to Jerusalem where he picks up more evidence and some helpful wisdom. Gerry learns that the Israelis had an early indication of the zombie menace and were able to use a barrier wall against terrorists as a barricade against zombie penetration. A local guru tells him that the Israelis took the zombie threat seriously and did not dismiss it because of their “tenth man” theory. This theory, based upon the experience of having miscalculated the strength and strategy of the enemy in a number of military situations, says that whenever everyone is in agreement about a potential threat, we suppose that a “tenth man” sees things differently. Moreover, we presume that the alternate view is correct and we investigate it. Solving a problem becomes similar to an exercise in Talmudic logic in which all possibilities are explored.

Ultimately, Gerry finds a path towards recovery, but it is not a panacea. As he observes the positive signs of human initiatives to end the zombie invasion, he wisely says: “This isn’t the end, not even close.” However, his comment reveals a determined optimism in the face of what seemed to be total apocalypse. This ability to focus on the positive in a desperate situation is what carries him forward to another day.

The Ethics of the Fathers tells us that it is not our job to complete the task, but rather simply to begin. This is especially true if that task seems overwhelming. Rather, all we need to do is put forth our best effort since the final result is in God’s hands.

Gerry does not solve the zombie problem, but he initiates a path towards a solution. That is sometimes the best we can do in difficult situations. Begin the process and leave the outcome to God.

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During the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s, I was taking a philosophy course at Yeshiva University. Students felt that there was real possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and my malaise was deepened when my Philosophy professor ended his Thursday class by saying “See you on Monday if there will be a Monday.”  I remember asking one of my Judaic studies teachers what would happen to the Jewish people in such a doomsday scenario. He told me that the Jews might suffer as well as the rest of humanity; but that there would always be a remnant of the people left, for God’s covenant with the Jews was eternal and the Jews would never totally disappear from the world. The only appropriate action we could take now was to do good deeds and pray for peace.

These memories percolated in my mind as I watched War of the Worlds, a story of what might happen if a malevolent extra-terrestrial force were to target the earth for destruction. The film opens as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dad, picks up his children, Robbie and Rachel, from his ex-wife who is going on a weekend vacation with her husband.

Ray has a very small parenting tool box; and while he enjoys spending time with his kids, he has little idea of who they are and what makes them tick. His parenting skills are tested when calamity strikes. Soon after they arrive at his Bayonne, New Jersey home, unseasonably strong winds and lightning set the stage for a Martian invasion of the earth.  Martian tripod-killing machines emerge from the bowels of the earth and incinerate everything around them. Ray, in a panic, flees to Boston with his children in one of the only remaining working vehicles, hoping to find sanctuary in the home of his former in-laws where their mother is staying.

Scenes of death and destruction traumatize Rachel; and when they find temporary refuge in a deserted building, she asks her father to sing her a lullaby so she can sleep. Ray doesn’t remember any lullaby, but he manages to sing a song that calms her. Ray realizes that in times of crisis, family comes first. The safety of loved ones trumps all other considerations.

Jewish tradition fosters a similar mind set. It is the family that is the bedrock of stability that enables one to endure the storms of adversity. The Bible emphasizes that when the Jews went down into the iron furnace of Egyptian slavery, they went down as families; for it is within the family unit that people can find safe haven and it is within the family where lifelong values are nurtured.

There is a well established family custom that Jewish parents bless their children regularly. Some do it once a year on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year; others do it every Friday night. It was my own custom to do it once a year, but in recent years I wished I had done it weekly. To look into your child’s eyes once a week, to utter a blessing to your son and daughter, and then to hug and kiss them seems an exquisite pleasure for a parent. Why do it only once a year? Kids leave the home when they grow up, but the memory of an embrace, of a heart to heart moment of love, leaves a bank account of affection that that can draw interest for many years.

My children and I live in different communities now but my children often call me on Friday to ask for by blessing. I cannot hug them from Israel, but I can tell them I love them and that means a lot to me and them.

War of the Worlds reminds us that in times of crisis, family comes first. It is wise to nurture family ties with our young children so that we and they can enjoy the warmth and constancy of our mutual love as we and our children grow older together.

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In my career as a school principal, parents from time to time would ask me to break a school rule when their child was in trouble. In one case, the parent told me that enforcement of a particular rule would turn off his child from Judaism and I would be responsible for his son’s lack of faith. Such a comment weighed heavily on me. Moreover, in my early years, I wanted to be liked, and enforcement of the rule would make me unpopular with a few parents. Fortunately, a mentor of mine reminded me that my goal in my professional life should not be to be liked but to be respected. He impressed upon me that whenever I make an exception for one student, I have to make it for all students. There is no such thing as a private deal when it comes to maintaining the integrity of a school rule. Everybody has to follow the same Bible. Whatever expedient decision you make in the short term may bring you some satisfaction and peace momentarily, but it will eventually bring you havoc. It is just a matter of time.

The consequences of a decision to break a long-standing policy for a short-term benefit, however noble it may seem at the time, is the catalyst for all the mayhem that erupts in  Alien, a tense and disturbing science fiction thriller, which spells out in grim detail the horrific results of breaking one rule to ameliorate an immediate problem.

The Nostromo, a commercial towing vehicle traveling to Earth with over a million tons of mineral ore, intercepts a signal which the crew perceives as an SOS. When Kane, a crew member, leaves the ship with the captain and investigates the origin of the signal, he is attacked by a foreign life form which attaches itself to his head. Some crew members want to bring Kane back to the ship to see if they can save him; but Ripley, the commanding officer when the captain is not on the ship, refuses to bring Kane back on board, citing quarantine protocol and the real danger of putting more lives at risk. In spite of her ruling, one of the ship’s officers disobeys Ripley and opens the door of the spaceship allowing the contaminated Kane to enter. This marks the beginning of the end of most of the crew who do not realize that they have allowed the alien to enter the ship as well.

The Ethics of the Fathers tells us that the wise man is he who foresees the consequences of his actions, who does not put others at risk to satisfy his own immediate needs. One rash act can leave in its wake a plethora of tragedy.

It is a Jewish sensibility to do whatever we can to prevent danger and harm to others, to minimize risk to our friends and neighbors. The Torah lists numerous laws that are designed to protect people. When we build a house, we are enjoined to erect a guardrail on a roof. Furthermore, we are enjoined not to possess an unstable ladder, not to own a vicious dog, or do anything that may create a hazard for anyone who enters our home. Moreover, contemporary authorities in Jewish law argue that driving recklessly is a violation of Jewish law in that it puts the lives of others as risk. In truth, when a Jew drives with courtesy, it is a way of sanctifying the name of God.

Although Alien deals with a foreign universe, it reminds us of the importance of following the rules and not placing others at risk. We cannot predict the outcomes of our actions. Therefore, it becomes incumbent upon us to think wisely before making an exception to the rules.

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In my volunteer work for an international Jewish matchmaking site, I work with many dreamers. The people who dream the most are single men over 50 who want to marry girls under 35 because they would like to have children. On the surface, the dream makes sense, but the reality proves otherwise. Most girls in their thirties do not want to marry men in their fifties. And the dream gets scarier with advancing years. Men in their late 50s and even men over 60 cling to the dream while life is slipping away. It is very sad, because the dream prevents them from dealing with reality. I sometimes suggest to my “clients” that they should at some point reconcile themselves to the reality of just having companionship into their senior years rather than cling to an impossible dream that, in the final analysis, will leave them isolated and alone as mature adults. G-d tells us that “it is not good for man to be alone.” Companionship, even without the possibility of having kids, is superior to being by oneself. Our tradition tells us that a shared life refines a person. Being married compels one to think of another, not just of oneself, and that paradigm is Torah-based. The Torah tells us to “love your neighbor as yourself,” and the penultimate neighbor is one’s spouse. Therefore, it is good occasionally to dream but it also good to live in the real world.

To dream excessively is dangerous for it can make you lose touch with reality. This is the crux of Inception, a wildly imaginative thriller that deals with dreams and their consequences.

The story line of Inception is almost impossible to summarize. In simple terms, it involves a plot to plant a dream in someone’s mind in order to change an oncoming reality. In the course of the film, reality and dream are constantly intertwined, so you have to pay close attention to determine which parts of the narrative are real and which are projections of the subconscious. It is this confusion which is at the core of the relationship between Dom Cobb and his wife Mol. Dom is involved in corporate sabotage, extracting valuable secrets from vulnerable subjects who are dreaming. He is so expert at this that he introduces his wife into the world of dreams, with terrible consequences. Mol loses touch with reality because of her deep and extended exposure to the dream state of awareness, and their life together is transformed from a dream into a nightmare.

The only salvation for Dom is to return home to reality, a reality which requires him to leave his idealized mate in her world of fantasy. In a wrenching climactic scene, Mol asks Dom to remain with her in her dream world: “You said you dreamt that we would grow old together.” Dom responds that they did grow old together in their dream world. An image of intertwined hands of an elderly couple walking together exquisitely expresses this idea. He then confesses to her: “I miss you more than I can bear. But I have to let you go.” He understands that as painful as it may be, he must leave the dream world in order to enter reality and survive.

This willingness to accept reality even though it is not ideal reflects a mature outlook on life. We all need to dream, but the dream has to be tempered by a true comprehension of the real world around us. This perhaps is emblematic of the dream of Jacob’s ladder. Alone in the wilderness at night, Jacob had a dream of angels going up and down a ladder; but the ladder, which soared into the heavens, had its feet firmly planted on the ground.

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