Have you ever heard of an antipode? When I first heard that word (this past week) I thought it was referring to the phylum of invertebrate animals, such as insects, arachnids, and crustacean, which make up about 75% of all animals on Earth. I quickly learned that the fancy word for insects, etc. is arthropods, not antipodes. Similar sounding, I know, but not the same.
So, what exactly are antipodes? Because earth is shaped like a sphere, by definition every point on earth has an exact opposite side. Antipodes refer to the two parts of earth that are diametrically opposite each other.
In a stunt that arguably changed the course of history (not!), a man named Etienne Naude from Auckland, New Zealand, found a man online - named, Angel Sierra - from Spain to help arrange what is called an “Earth Sandwich,” which essentially means that: take two pieces of bread, and somehow place the entire planet earth in the middle (quite a mouthful, for sure). And that is exactly what happened. The two men, who apparently had a lot of free time on their hands, used longitude and latitude calculations to find the exact opposite antipode coordinates on the two ends of the world - New Zealand and Spain - and they each placed a piece of bread on their precise location. Hence, an “Earth Sandwich” was created. Perhaps, it was the largest sandwich ever created, as there were around 12,724km (7,917 miles) of Earth packed between the slices. Pretty remarkable!
Most of us will never be able to create this type of “Earth Sandwich.” Aside from the intense planning and coordination needed with someone on the opposite side of the world, according to World Atlas, only around 15% of “territorial land” is antipodal to other land. Most places (UK, Australia, most of the US, Israel, etc.) do not have antipodal land points – the other side of the world is water!
With that being said, if you think about it, we can all on some level still create an “Earth Sandwich.” In fact, it is arguably our very calling as human beings to create this most unique sandwich. The human being is created with antipodes – two diametrically opposing entities and realities. We each have a גוף, a physical earthly body, and a נשמה, a spiritual heavenly soul. Our job in this world is to so-to-speak create an “Earth Sandwich.” We are meant to use these two polar opposite parts of our being to serve Hashem and live the most incredible lives possible. It is precisely when we use the two of them together that our quality of life can and will take on so much more depth, meaning, and profundity.
As the Book of Shemos comes to a close, we impart with the everlasting imagery and lesson of the holy Mishkan - the Tabernacle - which represents this very lesson of bridging the physical and spiritual, and even more deeply, the idea that we can uplift the physical to be spiritual. The Mishkan - a place decked out in gold, silver, copper and the highest level of artistry - was the same place that Hashem rested His Divine Presence. It represented an “Earth Sandwich” – a unification between seemingly polar opposite realities. The lesson of the Mishkan reminds us to appreciate the physical and spiritual aspect of our lives and creatively unify these two antipodes to create our very own delicious “Earth Sandwich.” Bon Appétit.
Have a holy Shabbos!
