Throw a pebble into a vast still river and watch its ripples. Our actions are like stones dropped into a pond, creating ripples that travel outward. For we are all somehow incredibly interwoven and connected.
A little over two weeks ago, I was scheduled to travel to Florida to deliver some lectures. A couple days before leaving, a colleague emailed me an article that had just appeared in the Jewish Week, titled, Godsend: How Lawrence Met Esther.
It was an incredible article about a Persian Jewish woman, Esther, in her 80s, living in Florida, who had been widowed forty years earlier. She was beginning to feel very lonely and had decided to move back to her family in New York, when her friend suggested—and worked hard to convince her—to meet with Lawrence.
After Lawrence and Esther met only a few times, they knew they were meant for each other and Lawrence proposed. Though Esther felt that this was her dream come true, she still felt she had to "sort things out."
"I was in my 80s," she explained. "What would my children think? My siblings? My community? Would they understand? Would I be ostracized?"
As Esther was toying with these doubts and uncertainties, she "happened upon" a question and answer published on the Ask the Rabbi section of our Chabad.org website. Another elderly woman was asking me, "Is it right in Judaism to seek male companionship or marriage at my age?"
As the Jewish Week quoted, I responded, "There is nothing at all wrong with looking for a spouse at your age. You are still a person and you still need love, companionship and emotional support."
Reading this response strengthened Esther and enabled her to take the plunge. She broke the news to her children and her family, and to her great relief, they were all truly happy for her.
The article concluded, "Lawrence and Esther married on September 9, 2007."
Reading this, I was amazed by how we just never know how a little action of ours can have such a profound influence on someone's life. Something so small can create so much happiness. Our words, our actions, our writings—our smiles and our greetings, are all so powerful and so significant.
With that thought in mind, I boarded the plane for my lectures in Florida.
My first talk was at the Chabad campus at the University of Miami. There I met a woman who is the shlucha (Chabad emissary) of a neighboring community. We began chatting and she told me that just the previous Shabbat she had hosted a young man who was well on his way to Jewish observance. He had informed her that that his entire Jewish education came from one address—from the insights, articles and information here on our site, at Chabad.org!
The next evening, I was scheduled to talk at "The Shul" of Bel Harbor and, since it was just days before Rosh Hashanah, my topic was on prayer and forging a relationship with our Maker through our sincere words of expression.
After the lecture, an elderly woman approached me, "You know," she said. "You and I have been in touch before."
"Really?" I responded, perplexed.
"Yes," she continued. "I wrote to you a long time ago, on Chabad.org. I am a widow and I asked you if at my advanced age, I should consider remarrying."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing! The woman with whom I had corresponded with a while back, whose response prompted another woman (Esther) to marry (Lawrence), and consequently, about whom an article had just been published in the Jewish Week just days before, was standing in front of me!
I immediately filled in my new friend on the aftermath of her letter and how it had caused another woman to find so much happiness. She was incredibly pleased to hear of the positive effects of her letter and concluded, "Well, if a woman in her 80s can get remarried, then maybe I, too, should redouble my own efforts!"
And the ripples continue…
