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"שְׁתֵ֣ה אֲדֹנִ֑י וַתְּמַהֵ֗ר וַתֹּ֧רֶד כַּדָּ֛הּ עַל־יָדָ֖הּ וַתַּשְׁקֵֽהוּ." (24:18)
"’Drink, my lord,’ she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and let him drink.”
In this Pasuk, Rivkah, a three year old girl, gives a thirsty man a drink and helps give water to his camels. At first glance, there’s nothing glaringly significant about this event. It seems like nothing more than a simple act of Chesed. However, this event ends up changing the course of Rivkah’s life and is her first step towards becoming the Matriarch of Bnei Yisrael. Perhaps her generous act was more than just a small Chesed, and really reveals something deeper.
It is human nature to take things for granted. We tend not to pay much attention to the small things in life. Modern media captures our attention with either big, exciting news, or awfully bad news. It’s either a new revolutionary medicine, or a huge robbery. They’ll capture our attention with an exciting basketball game, or a mystery murder. Unfortunately however, it’s unusual that you’ll find the media publicizing a kind deed. This is because a small act of kindness is something that is less likely to capture the public’s attention, something that may not be of as much value in our minds as, say, the score of last night's game. How significant can such a small deed be anyway? Can it really be as important as my fantasy football matchup? I mean, with fantasy football there’s serious “gelt” on the line, but that can’t be true by a small act of chessed! Or is it?!
When we take a deeper look into human nature, we’ll find that we tend to get tired quickly of the things we do day in and day out, and we forget that life doesn't consist of firework displays all the time. As Rav Abraham J. Twerski ZT”L puts it: “Most often, the only things that shine outdoors are street lights; rather boring, but providing the necessary illumination. Come to think of it, for all their dazzling brilliance, how much useful light do fireworks provide? Our task is to do what is right and proper. How much impact any given act will have is not for us to consider, because that is out of our hands. Hashem wants us to do the ‘little things’ too. One young girl gives a thirsty man a drink of water, and changes the course of history forever.” Rav Abraham J. Twerski ZT”L, in his brilliant wisdom, teaches us the essential lesson that it is the little things that matter most.