One Mitzvah Can Change the World: מצוה גוררת מצוה!
It all started with a conversation I had with my daughter during the first days of Sukkot.
She was telling me how she had been inspired by Rabbi Yitzchak Barber. He had been planning to go to New York for Rosh Hashanah but wanted a blessing before he left. Since today we can no longer ask the Rebbe directly, he wrote a letter and placed it in the Igros, the Rebbe’s published replies to letters. Often, the letter that appears on that page is exactly the answer one needs to hear.
In his case, the Rebbe’s letter told the person not to travel, to wait.
Rabbi Barber took this as a sign. Soon after, he met a Jewish man in the Apple Store and helped him put on tefillin for the first time in his life. What an honor! After that encounter, he felt that his mission was fulfilled and that he could now travel to New York.
My daughter, Chavi was so inspired by this story that she decided to take her husband’s lulav and etrog with her everywhere she went, so other Jews could have the chance to make the blessing. (To read her story go to blogs.timesofisrael.com/light-a-flame/).
She went to the beach, and again, many grateful Jews said the blessing.
She even took her lulav and etrog to the mall!
Her passion inspired me.
That Sunday morning, I saw on the community WhatsApp group that there was going to be one last Sunday morning gathering in honor of the hostages, as please G-d they were coming home the next day.
Right then and there, I decided I would go, and somehow get a lulav and etrog for the people there who might not have had the opportunity to make the blessing.
I texted a friend to ask if her husband was home from shul, since mine was still there. Hers wasn’t home either, so we decided that whoever’s husband got home first, we’d use his lulav and etrog.
My husband came home soon after, and off I went — Israeli flag in one hand, lulav and etrog in the other!
I walked to the park with so much joy, passion, and excitement for the mitzvot I was about to do in honor of the hostages being released. I knew it was going to be special, I just didn’t realize how amazing it would actually be.
When I arrived, I started asking people at the edge of the rally if they would like to bless the lulav and etrog. Most people said yes, Baruch Hashem. I felt like I was being propelled from one person to the next.
Each person thanked me, but I kept thanking them.
Because to me, they were doing me the biggest favor!
I moved from person to person, family to family. Then, to my surprise, I bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen in twenty years! We hugged, kissed, and promised to stay in touch.
At the end of the official gathering, I asked the lady in charge to please make an announcement: that anyone who would like to make the blessing over the lulav and etrog should come to the front.
Baruch Hashem, many people came forward. I felt G-d was helping me.
As I moved through the crowd, I realized I had reached more people that day than ever before in my life. At first, some said no, but when I told them that their mitzvah would be an extra merit to help the hostages come home, many changed their minds.
The atmosphere was electric. After two long, harrowing, horrific years, they were finally coming home. The simcha was palpable!
I walked home on a high, actually, I practically glided home on a cloud of joy.
On my way, I passed a café and, of course, couldn’t stop myself! I asked one table if they were Jewish. The man laughed and said, “Don’t you know everyone in this café is Jewish?”
Well, I got down to business! Lots more blessings over the lulav and etrog were said that day.
At the park earlier, a woman had told me, “You have such beautiful energy.” (I think my face was literally radiating joy!) She asked for my number, and I happily gave it to her. I told her I’d keep in touch with her.
The following day I went to my lovely Israeli dentist. You guessed it!
I took my husbands Lulav and Etrog.
Baruch Hashem 20 hostages had been released by then. We are still waiting for the ones they murdered.
Not only did she do the blessing but her 2 secretaries, a lovely couple and young woman and an older gentleman that was waiting to get his teeth cleaned!
G-d was smiling down at me, BIG TIME!
The next day I invited both my old friend and that lovely lady, along with her husband and two children, to our home for the following weeks Shabbat meal. We also invited a few other interesting people, so it was a real mix of wonderful souls.
In our family, we have a tradition I copied from my brother: we go around the table and ask each person to share something inspiring that happened to them that week, or anything they’d like to share about themselves.
At first, people can feel a bit shy, but once one person starts, it inspires others.
That day my friend shared something remarkable. She told us her son was engaged to a lovely Buddhist woman, and they weren’t sure whether she should convert Reform or Orthodox. Sitting at our Shabbat table, she said she had made her decision, she would advise her son’s fiancée to convert Orthodox.
That decision will forever change the trajectory of her son’s life, and of future Jewish generations.
We never know what one mitzvah can do. Just one little, teeny-tiny act can create a ripple effect across lives and generations.
Let us all be inspired to go out and make a change in the world, do one mitzvah today!
