Every Last Crumb

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. The circumference of the collider is 16.565 miles, and it contains thousands of magnets. It was built in collaboration from over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities as well as more than 100 countries and it cost $4.75 billion.

In 2009, the collider overheated and shut down. Scientists were perplexed and investigated what went wrong. The problem was found at a compensating capacitor, one of the points where the mains electricity supply enters the collider from above ground. It turns out a passing bird dropped a crumb from a baguette into the collider causing the overheating. 10,000 scientists and $5 billion dollars couldn’t stop the impact of one crumb.

The power and potency of a crumb is at the core of Passover. The Talmud (Pesachim 29b) tells us chametz, leavened food made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt, is forbidden in the smallest quantities, and that while in many cases with prohibited food we apply the concept of “bittul” – nullification of a small amount amidst a much larger amount – when it comes to chametz, one crumb is not nullified, even in a thousand parts.

The letters in the Hebrew words "chametz" and "matzah" are almost exactly the same. The only difference is that chametz has the Hebrew letter chet, ח and matzah has the Hebrew letter hay, ה. The only difference between those two letters is a tiny little line, a speck of ink. That small fragment of a line seems so insignificant, it’s easy to dismiss. But the truth is that speck is what makes all the difference between the words chametz or matzah.

One crumb can bring a $5 billion-dollar machine to a grinding halt, and one crumb of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, can corrupt an invaluable soul.

Rav Menachem Nochum of Chernobyl explains that the yetzer hara, that evil inclination inside of us, works not by convincing us to violate a major boundary or commit an egregious transgression. It works perniciously by telling us that something is insignificant and makes no real difference. Does God really care if a small portion of what you declare as a business expense isn’t really? Is a smattering of gossip really going to hurt anyone?

Slowly, those small things add up until a person doesn’t recognize himself anymore. On Passover, the tiniest amount of chametz is prohibited to teach us how important everything, even what seems so small, truly is. One crumb can bring a $5 billion-dollar machine to a grinding halt, and one crumb of the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, can corrupt an invaluable neshama, soul.

Every Ounce of Good Makes a Difference

The converse is also true. Every part of a mitzvah or good deed means something and makes a difference.

The typical approach to self-improvement or changing habits is to set a large goal, then try to take big leaps to accomplish the goal in as little time as possible. But this method often ends in burnout, frustration, and failure. Instead, focus on a taking one small step at a time, continuous but steady, slow, incremental improvement.

It is so easy to dismiss the value of making slightly better decisions on a daily basis. They won’t make headlines, but it does make a real difference.

Just as a single crumb of chametz can destroy, any amount of spiritual growth, a moment of nobility and discipline can move the cosmos and change your life, and that of your family.

Iranian Miracle

This Passover, as we sit at our Seder tables, hostages are still being held in Gaza, Israeli soldiers are still fighting on our behalf. While we mark our freedom, some are in shackles and others are heroically fighting to liberate them. After more than six months of this war and this situation, fatigue can set in, and it feels hard to sustain the intensity of prayer, contributions, advocacy, and earning merits. Now is when it is critical to remember that every small measure of effort, of caring, of prayer and connection matter.

This past week, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles with the intent to cause severe harm and damage to our people and our homeland. While the swift and successful defense by Israel and its allies seemed almost matter-of-fact, the minimal damage caused by the attack was nothing short of miraculous. If one Iron Dome radar-guided missile is off by a drop, the attacking missile could cause catastrophic loss of life. Similarly, none of us know how much of God’s benevolence is due to the merits of our own meager contributions, our small acts of learning, prayer, kindness, and righteousness.

This Passover, dedicate yourself to making small incremental growth as you work towards liberating yourself from bad habits, and do it in the merit of protecting the Jewish People and seeing miracles of salvation happen in our days.