Shamayim va’aretz–שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ– heaven and earth.
There are moments in our lives when we are struck by the beauty and wonder of it all.
Yesterday morning, just a few miles from the final resting place of David and Paula Ben-Gurion, I experienced a magical sunrise in the Negev desert
Then, we traveled to Makhtesh Ramon, the largest erosion crater in the world, which was formed some 220 million years ago. Our guides, Boaz, Shaked, and Yonatan, explained the geology of it all and showed us fossils that were part of an ancient ocean that once covered this region. We stood in awe, inspired by the beauty and profound silence of the desert.
Mah rabu ma’asecha Adonai–מָה־רַבּוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ ה׳–How awesome are your works O Eternal!
As we begin the secular new year of 2025, consider how relatively insignificant our time on this earth is. Homo sapiens have walked this planet for roughly 300,000 years–a mere blink of an eye compared to the 220 million-year-old formation of Makhtesh Ramon, the 4.5 billion-year history of our planet, or the 13.7 billion-year journey of the universe itself.
In the evening, we went stargazing with an extraordinary guide, Nadav Silbert, who helped us understand the vastness of the heavens. Using a laser pointer, he showed us constellations, galaxies, planets, and stars.
Nadav pointed out one of the brightest stars in the night sky, Betelgeuse. Situated 700 light-years away, it forms one of the shoulders of the figure in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is extraordinary–not only because of its brilliant red color but also because it’s one of the largest stars ever discovered, 700 times the size of our sun.
While Betelgeuse is remarkable in size and brilliance, it is, in other ways, rather ordinary. In our galaxy alone, Betelgeuse is just one star among more than 100 billion. In the universe, it is one of an estimated septillion stars; that’s a trillion trillion or one followed by 24 zeros.
Shamayim va’aretz–heaven and earth.
Older and more immense than we can possibly comprehend.
Endlessly fascinating. Spectacularly beautiful. Mysterious and awesome.
All of it should fill us with wonder and gratitude.
Among the countless planets orbiting those septillion stars, ours is the only one we know of where life not only exists but flourishes.
At the dawn of 2025, alongside our prayers for peace and security, health and prosperity, the end of the war, the safe return of our hostages from captivity, and the reunion of soldiers with their families, let us also pray for mindfulness. Let us pray for the ability to experience gratitude for the unlikely miracle of our own existence. And let us pray for the awareness to appreciate the wonder all around us: from the depths of the earth to the highest reaches of heaven.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Yoshi