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Ode to Small Things

Our historical and religious sources, as well as modern writers, attest to the very great task of the ostensibly ordinary person to forge a society of honor and dignity and hope.
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December 7, 2022

It would be easy to give oneself over to despair in the world today. Politics are toxic worldwide; in Europe, ancient feuds play themselves out once again; modern technology has turned everyone anxious and frantic with its constant communication. All of this gives the individual a sense of powerlessness. The Athenian historian Thucydides sounds modern in his well-known declaration that “the strong do what they will and the weak suffer as they must”.

Tractate Semachot of the Talmud (8:7) states that “When kings die, they leave their crowns to their sons; when wealthy men die, they leave their riches to their children; but Samuel the Small has taken away with him all the desirable things in the world”. Samuel the Small, Shmuel ha Katan, may well have been short physically (Katan) but he was a great Jewish scholar during the first century CE. 

If kings and the wealthy leave power and wealth, what are the desirable things in the world that the Jewish scholar took with him? The rabbinic story conveys the idea that what most people value are temporary and transient and that true value lies in what people consider small and intangible yet are immortal. In this case: piety, scholarship, and a good name. Note that the names of the kings and the wealthy are not mentioned but Shmuel ha Katan’s name is remembered 2,000 years later.

The idea that “the little guy” counts as much as the great giants of any age is a powerful theme of Jewish texts. 

The idea that “the little guy” counts as much as the great giants of any age is a powerful theme of Jewish texts. The Talmud (Berakhot 17a: 8) states: “Perhaps you say ‘I do great things and he small things,’ we have learned it matters not whether one does much or little if only he directs his heart to heaven”. Shmuel ha Katan did not rule an empire and no statues were erected in his honor, but his legacy endures.

In Mishna Torah (4:17), the philosopher Maimonides makes a remarkable statement: “Small things are the overflowing goodness that Hashem gave us to settle this world in order to inherit the next world”. The emphasis is on small things that are filled with such goodness that they entitle one to heavenly reward. Why? Because they “settle the world”. I take this to mean that it is not the grand gestures in society that solve the issues between people but rather the intimate, personal and caring relationships that are developed over many years.

The philosopher turns poet in his comment on Pirkei Avot (5:6:1) which discusses the “shamir.” In Maimonides’s words, “the shamir is a small creeping thing that chisels big stone when it goes on top of them, and Shlomo built the Temple with it”.

Now, Maimonides was a rationalist and I seriously doubt that he thought that the “shamir” was responsible for the construction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Instead, he suggests that the greatest of projects are completed by small actions that cumulatively result in important ventures. We know that at the centre of sovereign Israel there stood the Temple for hundreds of years, but we forget that the Temple and the nation were built and sustained by individuals working together for the common good. It is a subtle but critical reminder that the ordinary, anonymous people are what constitute civil society.

This idea is relevant in our modern age. The American author Danusha Laméris’s “Small Kindnesses” is a touching and vivid testimonial to the fact that the holy exists in the small gestures of everyday life: 

“I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by … And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it … We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, ‘Here, have my seat,’ ‘Go ahead – you first,’ ‘I like your hat’”. 

Kindness and consideration are like creating a temple, albeit fleeting, and bringing the holy into our relationships and our fractured world.

My ode to small things does not suggest that we do not fall prey to forces beyond our control. Much that happens in society is decided by others, often not wisely, sometimes malevolently. But it does affirm the role and the importance of the individual in building what is in our control. 

My ode to small things does not suggest that we do not fall prey to forces beyond our control. Much that happens in society is decided by others, often not wisely, sometimes malevolently. But it does affirm the role and the importance of the individual in building what is in our control. 

Our historical and religious sources, as well as modern writers, attest to the very great task of the ostensibly ordinary person to forge a society of honor and dignity and hope. This sustained effort is at the very heart of the human enterprise. It makes us more than hapless figures on the chessboard of life. We have agency in our own lives and the lives of those around us. It is important to reflect on this critical lesson in a time of turbulence and upheaval.


Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Waterloo.

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