Adapted from the dvar Torah by Dean Rachel Friedman at Lamdeinu on Yom Ha’atzmaut 5779
In Bereishit 13:16, God promises Avraham numerous descendants using a graphic simile for extraordinary multiplication.
“And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth; just as the dust of the earth is impossible to count, so too will your progeny be innumerable.”
Later, in Bereishit 15:5, God uses a different image to dramatize how numerous Avraham’s progeny will be.
“… God brought Abraham outside, and said: ‘Look toward heaven, and count the stars, you cannot count the stars for they are innumerable. So too your children will be innumerable’….”
What might account for the two very different images employed by God to describe the vast number of Avraham’s descendants—the dust of the earth and the stars of the heavens?
Perhaps it is that the dust of the earth (and similarly the sands on the seashore) are accessible and tactile. You can touch them and feel them even if you cannot count them. Stars, on the other hand, can be seen from earth but not touched. Stars are the stuff that dreams are made of: reaching for the impossible, the seemingly unattainable. God’s message in comparing Avraham’s children to the dust of the earth and the stars of the heaven is an implicit mandate: the nation of Israel must not only grasp the possible, but reach for the seemingly impossible.
I would suggest a slightly different approach.
God tells Avraham on alternate occasions that his children will be like the dust of the earth and like the stars of the heavens because the promise to Avraham is that his descendants will be like both. God’s promise to Avraham is two tiered: Am Yisrael must be like the dust of the earth and the stars of the heavens, because to reach for the stars, you must be firmly rooted on the ground. And remember, Avraham’s blessing is not only that his own children will be blessed, but also that his children will be the source of blessing for all peoples.
To reach out to other nations, to extend your largesse in health, economics, science and technology to other nations, you must be a nation firmly established in your own land. That is the message of the Bible and Jewish history. The ultimate role of Am yisrael is to be an ohr lagoyim, a source of enlightenment for all nations. But before you can reach out to others, you must be firmly grounded yourself.
For this reason, at the end of Avraham’s life, when he has passed all of God’s tests and proven his faith and devotion, God declares that Avraham’s descendants will be as numerous as both the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore. (Bereishit 22:17)
God is deliberately underscoring our message. If the nation of Israel is to reach for the stars, the people of Israel must be firmly established in its own land. The land of Israel must be an epicenter toward which all Jews and all nations of the world look for inspiration and guidance. To draw from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his essay “Israel, Gateway of Hope”:
“Without a land, Judaism is a shadow of itself. God may still live in the heart, but not in the public square, in the justice of the courts, the morality of the economy, and humanitarianism of everyday life.”
Since the establishment of Medinat Yisrael in the Land of Israel, the Jewish nation has “reached for the stars” and reached out to the world in so many ways. In its 71 years, Israel has become a source of blessing not only for the Jewish people but for all the nations of the world by sharing its Torah, science, medicine, technology, music, economics, agriculture, to name but a few examples.
Being an epicenter of the world, as Israel undeniably is, has its challenges as well. If you reach for the stars, those on earth will hold you to the highest standards. And that is where being firmly rooted on the ground comes in again. Let it be said today on Yom Ha’atzmaut at Lamdeinu by all of us that our verbal, material and moral support for our sisters and brothers in Eretz Yisrael must be ironclad and unwavering, whether or not we agree with every policy decision. The very word Diaspora is an acknowledgment that our hearts and souls as Jews are firmly rooted in the State of Israel, our homeland. You can lovingly “critique” your family in the confines of your privacy, but your admiration and uncompromising support must be your voice to the world. Shout it, scream it, sing it with all your strength.
In the inimitable words of Yeshayahu the prophet (Yeshayahu 12:6) at the close of the special haftarah recited in Israel for Yom Ha’atzmaut, “Sing out loud and with joy, dwellers of Zion, because the holiness of Israel dwells within you.” Chag sameach!
