Parshas Mattos-Masei (5779)
By Rabbi David Zauderer (Toronto, Canada)
Our family has just returned from a much-needed vacation at a cottage two hours north of Toronto. One of the days we were there, we drove down to a gorgeous beach. As it turned out, the beach was too crowded for our liking, so we left. But just being at the sandy beach – if only for two minutes – got me thinking about the connection between the Jewish people and sand.
In Genesis 22:17, G-d promises our forefather Abraham that his offspring will be “like the sand on the seashore†which is too numerous to count (see Genesis 32:13 where this promise is mentioned a second time).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that this blessing refers not to the Jewish population at any one time, but to the total of all the generations of the immortal nation that will flourish throughout history.
There is another connection between the Jewish people and sand. Each granule of sand on its own gets blown around by the wind and kicked around by those walking on it. However, when you stick the granules of sand together (with water) as one unit, they become strong and powerful. The same is true with the Jewish people. On our own, we are not that strong. But when we have achdus (unity) no one can stop us.
We can suggest yet another connection: The waves in the sea are a metaphor for all the mighty nations surrounding us that are forever trying to engulf us and destroy us. As we say in the Passover Haggadah on Seder night, “In each and every generation, they rise up against us to destroy us…†The Jewish people – with the power of G-d behind them - are like the sandbank at the seashore that prevents those mighty waves from coming ashore and doing great damage.
Here is one final connection between the Jewish people and sand. As any mother will tell you, sand at the beach is ubiquitous – it is everywhere and gets into everything. The Jewish people are the same. We are everywhere and we get into everything. Just read the news every day and you will see just how ubiquitous we are … in a good way.
But we Jews are not just everywhere … we are forever.
In fact, we are known as the Eternal Nation. As G-d promised our forefather Abraham: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and your descendants after you throughout their generations, an eternal covenant, to be your G-d and the G-d of the descendants after you." (Genesis 17:7).
This means that we, the Jewish people, will always be around …for eternity.
Now I know that eternity is a long time, and it can be very hard for us to wrap our heads around such a concept, so maybe this humorous piece from comedian Emo Philips will help:
What is eternity? You're on the checkout line at a supermarket... There are seven people in front of you. They are all old. They all have two carts, and coupons for every item. They are all paying by check. None of them have ID. It's the checkout girl's first day on the job. She doesn't speak any English. Take away fifteen minutes from that, and you begin to get an idea of what eternity is.
All kidding aside, eternity can be very hard for us to picture, so here is where sand comes in. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler ZTâ€L has a very helpful parable to describe eternity:
Imagine a beach with white, powdery sand that stretches as far as the eye can see, and much farther. Once in every 1,000 years, a bird swoops down, picks up one tiny speck of sand, carries it to the water and drops it in the ocean. How long would it take for the bird to transfer those trillions of specks of sand on the beach to the water? That is eternity.
So the next time you’re sitting at a beach complaining about the ubiquitous sand blowing in your face and getting into your egg salad sandwich, just remember that the sand at the seashore and the Jewish people have a lot in common.
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