Hashem Elokeichem hirboh eschem 1:10

 The Bnai Yisroel are compared to the stars with two qualities.   One is because of their multitudes, as when Hashem said to Avraham Avinu, “habet no hashomaymoh – look heavenward and count the stars.  Are you able to count them?”  Hashem said, “So will be your children.”  (Beraishis 15:5)

The second way that we are compared to stars is brought in Chazal where the question is asked:  Why are the Bnai Yisroel compared to the stars?  And it states (Devorim Rabbah 14),  that just like the stars rule from one end of the world to the other, so too Bnai Yisroel will rule from one end of the world to the other.  

We see from this that Bnai Yisroel are compared to the stars because of their greatness in number and the power attributed to them to rule the world.  

Yet, there is a great difference between these two characteristics of Bnai Yisroel’s comparison to the stars.   The fact that Bnai Yisroel may be great in numbers like the stars has nothing to do with their own work or accomplishments.  This was a promise that Hashem made to the Bnai Yisroel, and it was given over as a present to us.  

However, we do play a role in the second comparison to the stars, of having the power to rule the world.   Through improving our deeds and perfecting our character, through being involved in Torah and mitzvos, we will then be fortunate to receive the koach to rule in the world, from one end to the other, and to receive the  great and mighty things that Hashem has promised us for the future.

R’ Moshe Feinstein, one of the leading Gedolim of our generation, was always extremely calm and patient.  Someone once remarked to him when he did not become upset with a situation, “For you it’s easy, because you’re a man who is inherently serene and composed.  

Reb Moshe corrected him and said, “That is not true.“  He explained that when he was younger he saw that he became easily upset and impatient.  So he worked on himself one hundred times to subdue his nature  and eventually change it.

Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser