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The Little Things in Life (September 2009)

Insight into our lives often comes from large, lifechanging events: the birth of a child, the loss of a loved one, a sudden change in our work. But sometimes, insight comes from a far simpler place, from a book, or a passage, or even from just a few words. The great
commentator Rashi has given us just such an insight into our lives, written in a single sentence.

In his commentary on the opening verse of Parshat Emor in VaYikra (Leviticus), Rashi states that the phrase “say unto them” is repeated twice in order to remind “the great ones (HaGedolim)” to pay attention to “the little ones (HaKetanim).” One could interpret this to mean that adults must pay attention to their children. But another interpretation gives us this meaning: that the “great ones” are those who pay attention to the “little ones” - that is, to the little things of life.

So often, we are overwhelmed by the big things, the gedolim, of the world: the current state of the economy, the events in Israel, the growing threat of Iran, the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pollution of our air and our water and our soil….the list seems endless at times. We read the paper, listen to the news, and feel as if there is nothing we can do to address these serious and large issues of life. We feel small, and
helpless, and powerless to affect any of these things. We are merely one among billions.

The same is also true of the big things in our personal lives: the sudden loss of a job, the financial pressures that we have no control over, an unforeseen illness, the sudden and tragic death of a loved one…so often, we have no warning, no way of knowing or predicting these tragedies, or of preventing them. Once again, we feel small, and helpless, and powerless against the unpredictable nature of life.

Yet Rashi’s comment teaches us that while we cannot always affect or change the larger things, the gedolim, we can have an impact on the smaller aspects of our lives, the ketanim. How we listen to our wives and husbands and partners; how we spend time with our children; how we treat our colleagues at work, especially during difficult times; how we greet a neighbor; how we greet a stranger. These are some of the little things, the ketanim, that fill our days. We are not helpless here, or powerless. We can make the effort, each hour of each day, to get the little things right, and we can succeed.

When we engage in our introspection and selfexamination that marks our fall holidays, let us focus not on the gedolim, the big things, over which we have little power; instead, let us focus on what we need to change, to do, in order to get the little things in our lives, the ketanim, right. Let us pledge to have each detail of our day, each action, each conversation, reflect the image of the person we wish to be, and the values we hold dear. Then we will truly be “the great ones,” for it is the little things in life, and how we handle them, that make us great. L’Shana Tova