The purpose of this blog is to make small giant steps at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
If you missed Andrew Chaikin's thrilling seven-minute retelling of the moon landing, you can stream it here or download it here.
Cool. But let's try to go a small step beyond the wow.
Apollo 11 was amazing. It was hard, and required the concerted effort of thousands of dedicated people (according to NASA, hundreds of thousands, when you include the many companies in the supply chain). Not to mention the price tag - about $140 billion in today's dollars.
(Which inspired certain critics.)
But the obvious question for your table is, How was the moon landing truly a giant leap for humanity?
Here's another way of looking at it - and asking at your table. Compare and contrast the image above with this one:
For your table: Which represents a greater moment?
Thinking back to that era, other putative "great leaps" come to mind, such as this, this, or this (or more specifically this detail)....some say even this.
Here are two editorial thoughts from the era, one from a Jewish and the other from a non-Jewish source. Can you guess which is which?
1. Building on his knowledge of our planet, and the laws which govern nature on Earth, man was able to plot a course to a place he had never been; land on a surface he had never before touched; and predict quite accurately what that surface would be like. Man was able to protect himself against an environment he had never experienced, and find his way back through the blackness of Space. And-the laws worked: they worked on the Moon exactly as they worked on Earth.
2. An accomplishment of this immensity had transcended nationhood. Such global unity was something that no peacemaker, politician or prophet had ever quite achieved. But 400,000 engineers with a promise to keep to a president had done it and Nasa knew it. On the plaque fixed to the legs of their machine they had written the words: "We came in peace, for all mankind."
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Yes, LTC Armstrong's footprint is clickable.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, forward it....
If you missed Andrew Chaikin's thrilling seven-minute retelling of the moon landing, you can stream it here or download it here.Cool. But let's try to go a small step beyond the wow.
Apollo 11 was amazing. It was hard, and required the concerted effort of thousands of dedicated people (according to NASA, hundreds of thousands, when you include the many companies in the supply chain). Not to mention the price tag - about $140 billion in today's dollars.
(Which inspired certain critics.)
But the obvious question for your table is, How was the moon landing truly a giant leap for humanity?
Here's another way of looking at it - and asking at your table. Compare and contrast the image above with this one:
For your table: Which represents a greater moment?
Thinking back to that era, other putative "great leaps" come to mind, such as this, this, or this (or more specifically this detail)....some say even this.
Here are two editorial thoughts from the era, one from a Jewish and the other from a non-Jewish source. Can you guess which is which?
1. Building on his knowledge of our planet, and the laws which govern nature on Earth, man was able to plot a course to a place he had never been; land on a surface he had never before touched; and predict quite accurately what that surface would be like. Man was able to protect himself against an environment he had never experienced, and find his way back through the blackness of Space. And-the laws worked: they worked on the Moon exactly as they worked on Earth.
2. An accomplishment of this immensity had transcended nationhood. Such global unity was something that no peacemaker, politician or prophet had ever quite achieved. But 400,000 engineers with a promise to keep to a president had done it and Nasa knew it. On the plaque fixed to the legs of their machine they had written the words: "We came in peace, for all mankind."
Shabbat Shalom
PS - Yes, LTC Armstrong's footprint is clickable.
Enjoyed this Table Talk? Vote with your fingers! Like it, forward it....
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