Doing the Impossible Possible

Written by: Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu and Eitan Olevsky

In the Torah portion of Lech Lecha, G-d took Abraham outside, and said to him, "Please look heavenward and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So will be your children."

This portion of the Torah is very symbolic. When G-d takes Abraham outside, what He is really doing is taking man out of himself. As humans, we tend to live in a world where we create our own box for ourselves— and what’s worse, we trap ourselves there, within the confines of society, culture, ideas and presuppositions. That is why we must go “outside”, to be able to think out of the limits of our own box.

G-d then tells Abraham to count the stars, something utterly impossible. Nevertheless, Abraham had the faith, and in doing so, started to count one by one all the stars he could see with his limited eyes. The story goes, that when G-d saw Abraham’s attempt, He promised him that all his children and the generations to follow would be like the stars. Yet, if we analyze how many Jewish people there are around the world, we'll notice there are only a few of us. So what happened? Comparing the coming generations with the stars, was apparently not meant to be understood quantitatively, but more so qualitatively. That is to say, if we believe the impossible to be possible, we can excel in whatever we propose ourselves to do.

So this simple sentence in the Lech Lecha summarizes the secret of our nation: not only are we capable of getting out of the box, but in doing so and with faith, we can also achieve the impossible. That is why Abraham did not doubt when he was told to count the stars. In fact, Abraham embodies the idea of surpassing nature— going beyond it. And that is part of the essence of the Jewish people; being capable of doing the impossible for we don’t feel restrained by the laws of nature. Reason why we have survived in a world where in theory, we shouldn’t have.

This amazing video serves as an example of the impossible taking place. Survival at its best.