The Small Act That Changes the World

A patient once said to his doctor after being saved from a serious illness,
“Since we’ve become such close friends, I won’t insult you by paying you. But as a sign of my gratitude, I put you in my will.”

“That’s very kind,” said the doctor. “But give me back the prescription—I’d like to make a small change.”

Another man came to the doctor complaining of terrible forgetfulness.
“Yesterday I forgot where I live. The day before, I forgot I even went to synagogue. And earlier in the week, I forgot I was supposed to play golf!”

“Oy, doctor, what should I do?”

“Pay me now,” the doctor replied.

Ezekiel: A Prophet in Exile

Yechezkel—Ezekiel—was one of the greatest prophets in Jewish history. His prophecies span 22 critical years, from 592 to 570 BCE, a period marked by catastrophe.

In 597 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar exiled thousands of Jews from Jerusalem to Babylonia, including Yechezkel and the Jewish elite. Eleven years later, in 586 BCE, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the First Temple was burned.

At that time, the Jewish people had two prophets:
Jeremiah, who remained in Jerusalem and witnessed the destruction firsthand, composed Eicha.
and Ezekiel, living in exile by the Chebar River in Babylonia.

Ezekiel’s final recorded prophecy, delivered on the first of Nissan in 570 BCE—sixteen years after the Temple’s destruction—concludes this week’s Haftorah. And it tells a deeply puzzling story.

Superpowers and Strategy

Babylonia and Egypt were the superpowers of the ancient world. Israel lay between them, a strategic land bridge.

Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea and destroyed the Temple. He then turned his attention to Tyre, a wealthy coastal empire. The siege lasted thirteen years. When Tyre finally fell, much of its wealth had been lost to the sea.

G-d then tells Ezekiel that, because Nebuchadnezzar fought so hard and gained no spoils, Egypt would be given to him as compensation. Egypt—arrogant, corrupt, and deceitful—had betrayed Israel by promising military support and then abandoning them.

Babylonia would conquer Egypt, plunder its riches, and humble its power.

And then the prophecy concludes with a surprising line:

“On that day, I will cause the horn of the House of Israel to blossom, and I will give you an open mouth among them; and they shall know that I am G-d.”

Meaning: when this prophecy comes true, the skeptics among the Jews will finally accept Ezekiel as a true prophet.

All This—for a Few Doubters?

This is astonishing. History repeats itself.

Two global superpowers clash. Empires fall. Millions are affected.
And the Torah says: one of the goals of all this is that a few skeptical Jews should finally believe in Ezekiel.

Really?

From a human perspective, that sounds insignificant. From the Torah’s perspective, it is not.

Big and Small

Judaism teaches a principle we might call spiritual relativity.

A speck of dust requires as much Divine energy to exist as a galaxy.
What we call “small” may be central to G-d’s plan.

The Baal Shem Tov taught:
A soul may descend into this world for 70 or 80 years just to do one favor for another Jew.

One favor.

Eighty years—for one act.

Where did he learn this?
From the final verse of Ezekiel’s prophecy: world-shaking events unfolding so that a few Jews would recognize the truth.

News Not Fit to Print

History teaches this again and again.

In 1842, Britain and China signed the Treaty of Nanjing, opening Shanghai to international trade. Hardly headline news for Jews.

Exactly 100 years later, Shanghai became the only city on earth that accepted Jewish refugees without visas. Sixty thousand Jews were saved from the Holocaust because of a treaty signed a century earlier.

Which story mattered more?

Four Words That Changed History

Martin Luther King Jr. prepared a careful speech in 1963. But when Mahalia Jackson shouted, “Tell them about the dream,” he went off script.

Four words—I have a dream—reshaped America.

A Missing Key

On the Titanic, the binoculars were locked away.
The officer who had the key forgot to hand it over when he left the ship.

One forgotten key.
Thousands of lives changed forever.

One Mitzvah

Maimonides writes that a single good deed can tip the scales for the entire world.

So we ask ourselves:
Is it worth the effort to help one Jew?
To smile at someone lonely?
To help a struggling family?
To inspire a mitzvah?

The answer of the Torah is unequivocal: Yes.

“A Jew Needs Help”

Rabbi Mendel Baumgarten once recalled a wealthy man who publicly apologized to the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Why?

When the man lost everything paying for his brother’s cancer treatment, he placed a tiny ad in a Yiddish paper:
“A Jew needs help.” 

No one responded—except the Rebbe.

An envelope of cash arrived days later.

Because sometimes, the entire purpose of a life—or even of history—is answering that call.

History Repeats

In January 1967, the Rebbe delivered a fiery talk about world events unfolding for the sake of a few Jews recognizing the truth.

Five months later came the Six-Day War.

Again in 1991, the Rebbe published this talk, four days before the Gulf War erupted. Again, he predicted safety, calm, and miracles. Again, events proved him right.

Even the skeptics listened.

The Lesson

We do not know which act is big and which is small.
Which story matters?
Which kindness changes history?

But Judaism teaches us this:

Sometimes the world turns
so that one Jew can believe,
One soul can be helped,
One mitzvah can be done.

And that is enough.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yoseph Geisinsky