Why did God tell Avraham to count the stars if no one can count them?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau explains that Hashem told Avram to count the stars not so that he would finish, but so that he would begin. The verse says Hashem took him outside and said, “Please look towards the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them,” and then promised, “So will be your children.”
Counting the stars is impossible, Rabbi Landau notes. “But Avram should count it anyways. Not to finish. You are being asked to follow your instinct and begin.”
That, he teaches, is the lesson for anyone facing something that looks impossible. You are not responsible to finish the dream; you are responsible to begin it, to move and to act. “Your job is to lift your eyes, point to the first star and say, ‘I’m in.’”
Related concepts: Inspiration has to become a deed · Motivation
In A Soul at Peace: Look Up and Count the Stars
Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Avram was asked to count the stars knowing he could not finish; the point was to begin.
What may be behind it
In A Soul at Peace, Rabbi Landau notes that the blessing “So shall your children be” did not wait until the counting was done. It came in return for one small act of beginning.
Deepest human truth
You are responsible to begin, not to finish: lift your eyes, point to the first star, and say, “I'm in.”
More questions from this teaching
More answers: Faith, Providence, and the Jewish Destiny · All questions · Questions about Rabbi Landau and Rivnitz