This week is Parashat Ekev, which means heel. The Rashi at the beginning of the Perasha says: Be careful with the small Mitzvot that people sometimes trample with their heels.
Some people like to focus on the big things.
But the Torah says no. People are made from the small things.
Rav Wolbe writes in his sefer Alei Shur: The world is made up of atoms and molecules, tiny particles that can only be seen under a very powerful microscope. These seemingly irrelevant particles are responsible for human life and the functioning of the world. In other words, all big things are made up of many small ones. So too, the success in our own lives is made up of many small steps.
The Midrash says that Yehoshua merited the leadership after Moshe Rabbenu, not because he was the greatest Torah scholar, but because of a very small and seemingly insignificant action Yehoshua used to perform. He used to prepare the Bet Midrash by arranging the benches before the students entered. Yehoshua realized that to pass on Torah, you have to take note of the small things because all big things are made up of their tiny parts.
That’s a very important point, but how does it connect to Bitachon?
Bitachon is built by all the many small actions that we do. Bitachon is built, for example, with these short, daily lessons we’ve been learning. It’s built 5 minutes a day. Don’t think it’s nothing. It will make a difference. Rav Wolbe used the mashal of medicine to illustrate this point. If someone has a rash, they put a small bit of Cortisone cream .01% on it once a day, and little by little, the rash goes away.
We are changed with small incremental steps.
During wartime, Reb Wolbe used to go around giving hizzuk to the soldiers. He recalls that once when he was being flown to the border of Egypt to give a class, the plane began to fly very low as it neared Egypt. He asked if there was something wrong and was told, When you fly low, you avoid the radar of the enemy. He learned from that: When you do things in a large, grandiose fashion, the yetzer hara’s radar picks up on it and tries to stop you. But when we take small steps, we avoid the radar of the yetzer hara. That’s the way to win the battle.
There’s a story of man that wanted to start a campaign that people return in teshuva. He asked the leaders but they were all too busy. Next he asked his shul, but they too were involved. Then he asked his family but no one was interested.
He had tried to save the world, but he decided to fix himself. He worked on himself, spoke more nicely, prayed better, learned more and his family noticed the change. Soon, they started to follow his example. After a while, the shul members saw this special family and emulated them, and so on and so forth, until eventually everything was changed.
We are the nucleus. It starts with us.
As the saying goes, “Change yourself and you have changed the world.”
We are all little molecules in the larger scheme of things. But little molecules, given the right factors, can set off atomic explosions!
We should set our sights on the small things.
The Rambam writes about giving Sedaka, that rather than giving it all in one large sum, it’s better to split it into smaller amounts.
This is what Hashem likes.
He is not looking for the large grandiose actions. Hashem likes the small things.
The Midrash teaches that Hashem says, Open for me a hole like the eye of a needle, and I’ll open for you the gateways that carriages and wagons can pass through.
Hashem wants small things. He wants our five minutes a day.
As we get ready for the High Holiday season, we can focus on the little things. They make the all the difference. Sharing a though with someone, repeating a short Dvar Torah at the table, something that you usually don’t do. These small moves are impactful.
And BeH, change yourself and you have changed the world.