310 Worlds

The last Mishna in Shas tells us that Hashem will ultimately reward each and every tzaddik with 310 worlds.

Many meforshim take that statement to be symbolic and metaphorical. The Bechhofer approach has always been to take it literally. This is why there are so many galaxies and planets. Every tzaddik's ultimate reward is to exercise his (or her) Tzelem Elokim by exercising his (or her) creativity in being boneh olomos.

Tonight I noticed that in Sanhedrin 100a the statement is taken explicitly literally - as Rashi says, it is necessary for each tzaddik to have so many worlds to contain his (or her) omes. To darshen a bit further, Rabbi Clark's RSRH dictionary says that the cognate meaning of omes is to "effect graduated change" and that the phonetic cognates are chametz, chimeish, ometz, chamas and hames.

ישמע חכם ויוסיף לקח!