What’s Beyond the Edge of the Universe? Science and Torah Explain

Isaac asks: "Shalom and blessings. I read your articles where you explained that the universe is not infinite because it was proven to have had a beginning. But if the universe is actually finite, then what’s after all the space? Suppose for a moment I am standing at the edge of the universe, looking forward with all the galaxies behind me — wouldn’t I see something? Even if you say there’s some kind of barrier, like a wall, then there must be something behind that wall at the end of the universe, right? I’m confused..."

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Shalom Isaac, and thank you for your interesting question.

Before the findings of the Hubble Space Telescope, most scientists believed that the universe was infinite and eternal — that there were endless stars and planets in an unchanging, endless space. This was called the "Steady State Theory" (or simply, the "static universe").

This theory was completely overturned after the discoveries of the advanced Hubble Space Telescope (named after astronomer Edwin Hubble), which revealed that the universe is expanding, and galaxies are moving away from each other — a phenomenon referred to as "redshift."

Our universe is "aging" and growing. In the past it was younger and smaller, and galaxies were closer together — and at the very beginning, all matter was concentrated in a single, tiny point, which scientists refer to as the "singularity".

Additional findings, such as the cosmic microwave background radiation, confirmed that the universe was created ex nihilo, in an immense burst of light — "Let there be light!"

More than 800 years ago, the Ramban (Nachmanides) described the creation of the universe from hyle (primordial matter), from which the Creator formed all the galaxies and stars. Thousands of years later, modern science reached this exact conclusion, calling it the Big Bang Theory.

Every beginning points to a beginner. Since science has proven that the universe came into existence at a specific point in time, and was not always here, it means that before the universe there was no matter, no space, and no time. This is a strong scientific argument for the existence of an infinite, eternal Creator, Who brought the entire universe into existence ex nihilo and is not Himself bound by matter or time.

Your question is logical: if the universe was once smaller, what’s at its edge? To answer, we first need to understand what space actually is.

Space is simply the distance between material objects. Matter needs volume to exist and move. Its existence and movement determine the size of space. In other words, if there’s no matter, there’s no space.

When we say that the universe (space) is finite, we mean that the amount of matter in it (the number of stars) is finite. NASA estimates the number of stars to be about 10²⁰. If there were no galaxies and stars in the universe, there would be no distance between them, and therefore no space. Space is finite because the matter in it is finite.

If we travel in a straight line through space, wouldn’t we eventually reach the "end" of the universe? The answer may sound frustrating but you can’t reach the "end" of the universe because you are part of it. Think of traveling on Earth: whether you go east or west in a straight line, you eventually return to where you started. You could circle the Earth forever, even though the Earth is finite and it has a definite size and volume.

The universe is built from curved space, somewhat like a sphere, but more complex. Imagine the universe as a hollow balloon, with galaxies drawn on its surface.

If that’s hard to picture, think of tiny ants walking inside the balloon — they walk straight ahead and eventually return to where they started. Traveling in the universe would be like this: if we flew in a spaceship in a straight line from Earth into deep space, after billions of light-years we’d find ourselves back at Earth!

Whether we travel in a "straight" or "curved" path, we would always end up back where we began because we are bound by the curvature of space — just like on Earth, no matter which way we walk, we remain subject to its gravity.

A more precise analogy: a drawing on a balloon can never escape the balloon, because the balloon’s material is its space. Likewise, we are bound to the dimensions of space and time.

Because the human imagination is limited compared to the true reality, it’s natural that some readers will still ask: But what’s behind the balloon or sphere in the analogy? What would we see if we could break through the "walls" of space, the way spacecraft escape Earth’s gravity?

I understand that "it’s impossible" doesn’t feel satisfying. So, to illustrate further, even if we could "break through" the boundaries of the universe, all that would happen is that we’d create a little more space. That’s it.

Remember, the Hubble Telescope showed that galaxies are moving apart — the universe is growing, like a balloon inflating endlessly. Even now, at this very moment, God is moving the galaxies apart, and as they do so, new space is coming into existence that didn’t exist before.

In our analogy, if the ant could "break through" the balloon’s surface, all that would happen is the balloon would get slightly bigger.

The answer to your question is actually simpler than it seems: outside the universe there is nothing, in the most literal sense. If something were to arrive there, it would simply become new space.

Now you can understand why, before the universe existed, there was no space — because there was no matter. Matter, space, and time are interdependent. These three were the first things created, and all three are mentioned in the opening verse of Genesis: "In the beginning" (time) "God created the heavens" (space) "and the earth" (matter).