B"H
Friday, Mar-Cheshvan 10, 5783 (Hakhel Year) / November 4, 2022
In this week's Parsha, Lech Lecha (Gen. 13:14), we read that G-d tells Abraham, "Lift up your eyes and look northward, southward, eastward and westward; For all the land which you see, to you I will give it and to your children forever. And I will make your children as the dust of the earth. Just like one cannot count the dust of the earth, so too, will your children not be counted."
Our right and ownership of the Promised Land is clearly stated in G-d’s promise to Abraham.
Later in the Parsha (Gen. 15:3-5) G-d says to Abraham, "Look toward the heaven and count the stars if you are able to count them; and He [G-d] said to him [Abraham] so shall your children be."
Q. G-d compares the Jewish people to the sand of the earth and to the stars in heaven. One can understand the blessing to be like the stars which shine, but why to the sand of the earth?
A. Maimonides, in a letter of encouragement to the Jews of Yemen, who experienced great difficulty and oppression, writes, "G-d promised our forefathers that, although the nations will oppress His children and try to annihilate them, the Jewish people will survive and be around long after their oppressors will already have been gone.”
Maimonides continues, “This is the reason for comparing the Jewish people to the sand of the earth. The earth is continuously stepped upon yet outlasts all those who step on it. The same is with us. The nations who oppress and step over us will in the end not survive, while we will last forever."
Comparing the Jewish people to the sand of the earth is G-d's promise to Abraham that his children, the Jewish people, will last forever. Although so many nations, over the past 3000 years, have tried to annihilate us, we have survived them all.
The Baal Shem Tov sees the comparison to the sand of the earth as follows: "Just like the earth contains great hidden treasures deep inside it, which can be extracted only through much effort, so too, every Jew has great spiritual treasures hidden within them. In some cases, it needs effort to reveal it.
A Jewish student once said to Rabbi Meir Leibish Malbim, “Rabbi, I would like to get into university, but as you know, Jews are barred from entering the university. I was told that in order to be accepted I would have to convert. What would be so terrible if I let the priest spray some religious water on me? I’m doing this only so that I can be accepted to university, but in my heart I’m a Jew like before. Can a few drops of water be so harmful?
The Malbim replied, “G-d blessed Abraham that his children, the Jewish people, will be like the sand of the earth. You know that when you mix earth with water it becomes mud. Why would you let anyone make mud out of you?
Shabbat, is the 11th of Cheshvan, the yartzeit (day of passing) of the matriarch Rachel. She passed away right after giving birth to her son, Binyamin. She is buried in Bethlehem. May her memory be a blessing.
SHABBAT SHALOM
Montreal Shabbat candle lighting time: 5:19 / Shabbat ends: 6:22