And lo and behold, just imagine the scene. After 120 years of living in this world, he gets to Shamayim (Heaven). And the Beit Din Shel Ma'alah, the heavenly court, suddenly convenes to weigh up his mitzvot (commandments) and his aveirot (sins). They go back and forth throughout the years of his life. What good did he do? And what bad did he do? And it’s looking terrible. The aveirot are piling higher and higher, and the mitzvot are, okay. Then all of a sudden, a big English double-decker red bus pulls up and puts itself on the mitzvot side of the scale. The scale goes flying down, and the mitzvah side wins by far. The man is watching, and he’s looking at this red bus full of men, women, and children. He’s thinking to himself, “What is this? I never saw this bus. I never saw these men, women, and children. What mitzvot did I do to cause this?”
And in the heavenly court, they say to him, “Let me tell you the story. One time, you were walking on the street, and there was a woman. She was dressed in a very inappropriate manner. In the corner of your eye, you noticed her, and you decided at that moment, ‘No, I’m not going to look.’ And you said, ‘No, I’m not going to look.’ And let me tell you what happened at that moment. There was an Arab in the middle of Israel, putting together a huge bomb. His plan was to take the bomb and bring it onto the fullest bus he could find—a bus full of men, women, and children. And at the very moment that you decided not to pursue your ta'avot (desires) and not to look at that woman, the bomb exploded in the Arab’s face. And you saved men, women, and children.”
Little do we realize the power of our actions. The Toldos Aharon Rebbe said over this mashal (parable) to understand what it is we accomplish when we withhold, when we refrain from doing that which we shouldn’t be doing. Let’s remember the power of our actions. And little do we know what we could be accomplishing the moment we turn away.