You see, if you’ll excuse the technical term, outer space has a lot of stuff. And ever since Adam, human beings have enjoyed naming things they had no part in creating. Planets, stars, asteroids, all of these have famous human counterparts. So of course, many of these are Jews.

That’s right: Everyone knows about the Global Jewish Conspiracy, but did you know that it in fact extends beyond the globe?

For example, there are at least thirteen craters of Earth’s moon alone named for Jewish scientists. That’s enough for a lunar minyan of some intellect, which would include Albert Einstein (who also has his own asteroid), scholar Abraham Ibn Ezra, and Challenger Shuttle victim astronaut Judith Resnik.

It’s a fruitless task to find a comprehensive list of planets outside our solar system or smaller bodies within it that have names… There are a lot of them, named for people real and fictional, famous for pretty much every reason you can consider. So, who are just some of the Jews who made the list?

Well, like the artist list on some cosmic ipod, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, and Aaron Copland all have planets, as does, a bit more awkwardly, Phil Spector (it was discovered and named before his murder conviction). Another planet is called Simon-Garfunkel, which miraculously hasn’t fractured down the middle like the former duo.

On our continuing journey through space, why not stop off at Spinoza, Hannaharendt, or Karl Marx’s asteroid, or the planets for both Sigmund and Anna Freud?  Top it off with Isaac Asimov’s planet, and you have the shaping’s of a Jewish atheist intellectual’s personal library.

And what of Jewish stars, entertainers? Alas, there is no Stresiand planet or asteroid (there are few women on this list at all), but Danny Kaye, Jon Stewart, Adrien Brody, and even Jerry Lewis have astronomical namesakes. Leonard Nimoy and Mr. Spock both have one, which sounds like cheating, but the latter is actually named for the discoverer’s cat, itself named for Nimoy’s Star Trek character.

Presumably, these planets and asteroids’ travels through space are dictated by directors Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick (though for the latter, we can only ever assume his planet must be viewed or referenced with “Thus Spake Zarathustra” playing in the background).

As memorials, there are multiple teen diarists who died in the Holocaust on this list: Petr Ginz and Anne Frank. This is both beautiful and sounds like something from a Neutral Milk Hotel album.

For good measure, there is also a planet for Simon Wiesenthal, and with any luck he can keep a watchful eye on the cosmos for us. Wagner, after all, has a crater named for him on Mercury.

So when God told Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky, maybe God was being a bit more literal than we realized.

Also, it would be a crime to not include this video:

Image Credits: Pixabay, Wikipedia

The post The Jewish Heavenly Bodies (Of Outer Space) appeared first on Jewcy.

The internet has gone bananas for a bunch of photos of Israel on Christmas morning—taken from space. The six photographs, which are jointly credited to astronaut Barry Wilmore and NASA, were uploaded to the International Space Station’s Facebook page on December 26—and they’re pretty stunning.

“Israel – completely clear – on Christmas morning from the International Space Station,” reads the accompanying caption. “Astronaut Barry Wilmore woke up early on Christmas to reflect upon the beauty of the Earth and snap some images to share with the world.”

So far the album has been liked 32,000 times, and shared over 6,000 times. It’s no Gangnam Style, sure, but compared to the ISS’s previous Facebook post (Christmas night in Nashville) and following post (a weekly video update), it’s a runaway success.

But did the beauty of the Holy Land, the Glory of Science, and the Birth of Christ quell the hot tempers of the internet commentariat? Alas, no. The comment thread quickly devolved into a vitriolic propaganda fest, because internet. On Facebook, as in space, no-one can hear you scream.

Anyway—enjoy the photos and happy holidays!

(Photos: NASA/Barry Wilmore)

The post Stunning Photos of Israel—From Space appeared first on Jewcy.