c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Hecht is vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America and past-president of the Rabbinical Council of California. He is the director of Chabad of South Bay in Lomita, Calif.)

UNDATED _ A few weeks back, the Pathfinder team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories _ JPL _ reported that after traveling some 300 million miles in a seven-month journey from Earth, the Pathfinder spacecraft landed virtually on the exact point the team had aimed it.

This is something of a modern miracle and a major breakthrough in space exploration.

But when we think of how this spacecraft works, we find that it is, of course, really controlled by us earthlings. Pathfinder has no intelligence of its own, it is programmed to do whatever it is instructed to do. Whenever the vehicle strays from its programmed path, the scientists at JPL send a signal to correct its flight.

If Pathfinder and its controllers on Earth were to lose contact, the craft would not know where to go and its mission would be over. Its guiding force comes from one place only, the JPL center.

Besides the scientific details to be learned from Pathfinder’s trip, there is an important lesson in Pathfinder for the conduct of our own lives.

Aboard the spacecraft are messages of our desire to reach the extraterrestrials, if they are out there. We want to learn their life and ways.

Well, in a way, we have met something extraterrestrial. And the message may be the following: That there is a God up there that created the universe, and watches over and controls the events of the worlds.

The harmony observed in space is beyond anybody’s comprehension. As we delve deeper into the insights brought to us by the entire space program, we recognize that there are limits to humanity’s knowledge. As we learn more about space, we are continually required to adjust and correct our ideas.

Yesterday’s knowledge of science, which we felt to be absolute truth, is now being rewritten. Baselines have changed and the space charts are being redrawn.

But while science changes, the Bible remains the same. As we contemplate the profound and infinite glory of the cosmos, the more our spirit rises to understand ethereal and universal truths, the closer we come to granting recognition to the one who created it all.

We realize that just as nothing in this world is an accident, neither are the current discoveries in the science of astronomy and space exploration, happening by chance. As we stop to marvel at the incredible beauty of the galaxies _ the comets and meteors, the recently discovered additional moons, the white clouds, the presence of methane gas on the cold, icy Triton, _ we hear the jubilant voices of scientists cry out in wonder.

In a way, we are like Pathfinder. As Pathfinder needs guidance from the scientists at JPL, we need the guidance of the Bible. Without ground control, Pathfinder would wander aimlessly through space. Without the Bible, so would we.

As Pathfinder’s mission is full of significance, discovery and reward, so potentially, can our lives be. The JPL team insures that the mission will succeed.

For humans, JPL can also stand for Justice, Prayer and Learning _ the laboratory insuring success for this world mission. Our true path is guided by the Bible and our mission is to travel, to explore the world and chart it with good deeds and kindness.

MJP END HECHT