Count the stars (Bereshis 15:5)

A few months ago, I moved to a new neighborhood. My first night there, I saw something that I hadn’t seen in a long time – stars in the sky. Not only the few bright ones which everyone can see, but a hundred or so stars shining brightly.

What is so special about stars? They look like they are just white dots in a black sky. But they are really much more. They are huge balls of gas that can be seen millions of miles away. They don’t look special, but they are very special. Rabbi Zelig Plisken points out that this is the way we should look at other people. Other people might not look like very much, but they are very important.

Within the first three years of my marriage, I had two children. It then took seven years until my next child was born. About a year before this third child was born, I heard a story from Rabbi Yissochar Frand that when a person is struggling within a certain area, he should ask for a blessing from someone who is successful in that area. This person has a certain amount of good luck at that moment so ask them for a blessing. This is what I began to do. When I saw someone who just had a child, I asked them to give me a blessing that I should have a child. I asked about half a dozen people when I heard about someone in my neighborhood who just had a baby boy. I was wondering if I should really ask this person though. I did not think this person was anything so special. He kept mitzvos, but he wasn’t the most careful person. He didn’t come to minyan every day. I never saw him learning. He was a nice person, but I didn’t think he was anything special. In the end I decided to ask him for a blessing. Well, nine months later, the baby was born and he was the last person I asked for a blessing. He didn’t look like much but he was the special one.

A star might look small, but it is very powerful. So are many people.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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