<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19046"></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: hankman <hankman@bell.net><BR>"<BR><BR>>> While I
had the Chumash Torah Mai'ira open on my computer, I checked<BR>out something
else that bothered me in the past. In the bracha that<BR>AA would have children
as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the<BR>shores of the sea. The
implication is that the huge numbers of grains of<BR>sand and the numbers of
stars should be equivalent. I found this to be<BR>a stretch not likely to be
true so I looked for other ways to understand<BR>this bracha.<BR><BR>Here are
some of the peshatim he brings:<BR><BR>[snip]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>2) They should be as large as stars b'ayechus in that each star
is<BR>individually large as an entire world, and be many b'kamus, as the
number<BR>of grains of sand, [snip]<BR><BR>6) Even should they be trodden upon
by the nations like the sand on the<BR>shores, nevertheless they will shine as
brightly as the stars,<BR><BR>7) they are compared to the stars that they will
be a guiding light to<BR>the proper path to the nations, just as the stars are
guides to find the<BR>right path in navigation, and they are compared to the
sand that they<BR>will endure the constant trials and tribulations of the
nations just as<BR>the sand endures despite the constant battering by the waves
of the ocean. <<<BR><BR>Kol Tuv<BR>Chaim
Manaster<BR><BR></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>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?!)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"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)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"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)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And finally:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>"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)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Yet today we know that there are far more stars than that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Meanwhile, see "The Galaxy Song," a delightful and edifying
little video about the vast size of the universe:</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.flixxy.com/galaxy-song-eric-idle.htm">http://www.flixxy.com/galaxy-song-eric-idle.htm</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR><STRONG>--Toby
Katz<BR>================</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial PTSIZE="10"
FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________ </FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
id=role_document color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial><FONT lang=0 color=#000000
size=2 face=Arial PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR><BR></FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>