[Avodah] Sand and stars

[T613K at aol.com]

From: hankman <hankman at bell.net>
"

>> While I  had the Chumash Torah Mai'ira open on my computer, I checked
out something  else that bothered me in the past. In the bracha that
AA would have children  as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the
shores of the sea. The  implication is that the huge numbers of grains of
sand and the numbers of  stars should be equivalent. I found this to be
a stretch not likely to be  true so I looked for other ways to understand
this bracha.

Here are  some of the peshatim he brings:

[snip]
 
2) They should be as large as stars b'ayechus in that each star  is
individually large as an entire world, and be many b'kamus, as the  number
of grains of sand, [snip]

6) Even should they be trodden upon  by the nations like the sand on the
shores, nevertheless they will shine as  brightly as the stars,

7) they are compared to the stars that they will  be a guiding light to
the proper path to the nations, just as the stars are  guides to find the
right path in navigation, and they are compared to the  sand that they
will endure the constant trials and tribulations of the  nations just as
the sand endures despite the constant battering by the waves  of the ocean. 
<<

Kol Tuv
Chaim  Manaster





>>>>>
   
The Torah doesn't say that the number of Avraham's descendants will be the  
same as the number of stars or the same as the number of grains of sand in 
the  world.  That would be an impossibilty, because that number of people  
couldn't physically fit on the surface of Planet Earth, even stacked up in  
skyscraper buildings.  (To picture it, picture that every grain of sand in  
the world was the size of a person!  Where would they all fit?!)
 
What the Torah actually says is just as the stars and the sand are too  
numerous to count, so Avraham's descendants will be too numerous to  count, and 
it uses stars and sand as metaphors for objects that are too numerous  to 
count.
 
"I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth so that if one  can 
count the dust of the earth, then your offspring, too, can be counted." (Ber  
13:16)
 
"And He took him outside, and said, 'Gaze now, toward the heavens, and  
count the stars if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall  
your offspring be.' " (Ber 15:5)
 
And finally:
 
"I shall surely bless you and greatly increase your offspring like the  
stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore." (Ber 22:17)
 
Now, even though the Torah doesn't say that stars = grains of sand, it  
does seem to imply that.  Yet, as you say, to the naked eye of the average  
observer, there appear to be far more grains of sand than there are stars in 
the  heavens.  In fact, on a clear night with no light pollution, a human 
being  with excellent vision can only see about 5000 stars.  That is certainly a 
 number that can be counted!
 
Yet today we know that there are far more stars than that.
 
We have here one of many clues scattered through the Torah as to its Divine 
 authorship.  Thousands of years ago, when the Torah was given, what human  
being could have known that there were many, many more stars than the 
visible  ones in the heavens?
 
By juxtaposing stars and grains of sand, the Torah does seem to imply that  
the numbers are of equal magnitude, but who could  have known that a few  
thousand years ago?   Indeed, even a hundred years ago, people didn't  know 
that!
 
Today we know that there are in fact MORE stars in the universe than there  
are grains of sand on earth!  The numbers are staggering, truly  
mind-boggling, numbers that even the greatest genius cannot really grasp.   There are 
somewhere between two billion and four billion stars in our galaxy  alone, 
and this Milky Way galaxy is only one of BILLIONS OF  GALAXIES!
 
There is a very suggestive Rashi on one of the pesukim I quoted  above, Ber 
15:5 -- "Hashem took Avraham outside."  The pshat, as Rashi  says, is that 
He took him outside his tent so he could look up at the night  sky.  But 
Rashi brings another explanation, namely, that He took him  outside the world 
(!) and raised  him above the stars so that he could look  down on them!  
This certainly suggests that Hashem showed Avraham the true  magnitude of the 
numbers involved and the accuracy of the comparison between  stars and grains 
of sand.
 
Of course, as I said, He could not have been promising that we would  
literally reach the same number, because it's not physically possible.  It  is 
just that we will be uncountable.
 
It is also likely that the use of stars and sand as metaphors is meant to  
convey other, additional, messages (you mentioned some).  I could make some  
up on the spot, e.g., that something which is trampled underfoot and 
considered  worthless -- sand -- can in fact be incredibly valuable and important 
-- when  silicon is turned into computer chips.  And so the Jews....etc.
 
I would urge you to read a magnificent, fascinating and inspiring  science 
book about how the universe not only gives signs of being Designed, but  
also gives signs that its Designer deliberately planted clues to His  
existence.  The book is called *THE PRIVILEGED PLANET: HOW OUR PLACE IN THE  COSMOS 
IS DESIGNED FOR DISCOVERY* -- by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W.  Richards. 
 
Meanwhile, see "The Galaxy Song," a delightful and edifying  little video 
about the vast size of the universe:
_http://www.flixxy.com/galaxy-song-eric-idle.htm_ 
(http://www.flixxy.com/galaxy-song-eric-idle.htm) 
 
 
 

--Toby  Katz
================




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