matt@brl-tgr.ARPA (Matthew Rosenblatt ) (09/03/85)
> >(1) The land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael, is referred to as "eretz tzvi", the > >land of (which is like a) deer. It looks small, but it is like the skin of > >a deer. Namely, while on the deer, the skin stretches to cover his whole > >body. Once the soul has been removed from the deer, the skin seems to > >shrink greatly; it cannot be stretched to fit the body that it once held. > >So it is with the holy land, Eretz Yisrael. When Jews live there, and > >follow the teachings of HaShem, it can support any number of them > >(no matter how large) for then they embody the spirit of the land. > >^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >When Jews do not live there, it just cannot support many inhabitants. > >They will always struggle to find enough food, and may have to live > >like nomads, travelling from place to place, in order to survive. > >It is interesting to note that there are people who live like that > >in Eretz Yisrael itself, today, in the here and now (i.e., this is > >fact; note the Bedouins). (ASHER METH) > > Are you literally saying that there is something magical about us as Jews, > (even considering that we are chosen as we are for G-d's service) which > allows us to transcend, INDEFINITELY, physical limitations? The zeal > with which Jewish people have populated Israel has led to developments not > short of miraculous (in terms of what man in general has found himself able > to do if he really tries) but there must be some upper limit unless G-d > comes down and changes the rules. (Which if you are a fervid believer is > not impossible.) (DANIEL LEVY) > > >(4) Concerning those empty, barren hills, on which cities are rising : > >The Talmud makes mention of a Jewish king who had established on each of 60 > >hills, 60 cities - an enormous population. (I think that it may be found in > >Gittin, among the discussions of the destruction of the Temple.) (A. METH) And that's not all! The same Gemara in Gittin says that at the time of one Roman attack, there were 600,000 towns, each of which held as many Jews as took part in y'tzias Mitzrayim (i.e., about 600,000). That's 360 thousand million Jews, 360 billion according to the American convention. This is not a Midrash, but a Gemara. The fact is that the "rules" of physics and ecology are the creations of G-d, who can alter them locally and globally, and has done so, especially in cases concerning His people. -- Matt Rosenblatt
rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (09/05/85)
> The fact is that the "rules" of physics > and ecology are the creations of G-d, who can alter them locally and > globally, and has done so, especially in cases concerning His people. > -- Matt Rosenblatt Or could it be that "His people", either learning it from God or figuring it out for themselves, learned enough about the rules to maximize their configuration of constructions so as to gain the most benefit? (NAAAH!) -- Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen. Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr