What’s the Big Deal?

Ever hear anyone ask, “what’s the big deal?” If you’re a parent or a teacher, chances are one (or more) of your children has asked you that when you were annoyed about something they did or didn’t do. Truthfully, you may have asked the same question to someone else who was annoyed at you for something you did or didn’t do. (Word of advice: It’s probably not a good idea to ask your spouse what the big deal is when he/she is upset about something.)

As a rebbe, I’ve heard the question asked when learning certain areas of halacha, particularly specific laws of Shabbos. Sometimes a student has a hard time understanding that sorting books, sports cards, or cutlery on Shabbos may raise an issue of borer (selecting – one of the 39 forbidden melachos on Shabbos).

Another example is when students learn that making a salad can involve some halachic issues, such as cutting vegetables too small can be an issue of tochen (grinding, another one of the 39 forbidden melachos). It also can only be done shortly before the meal in which it will be eaten. (As this is not a halachic forum, I only mention these concepts to bring out a point. There are permitted manners to do the above actions, which are important to become familiarized with.)

Sometimes these concepts sound foreign to one who has been observing Shabbos his whole life yet wasn’t aware of these issues. It can lead the person to wonder, “What’s the big deal? It’s not like I’m driving a car or turning on a light. I just want to dice a pepper or put my cutlery back in the drawer!”

A few years ago, I was reviewing our bank statement, and I discovered some charges from a computer game. They weren’t significant charges, but I didn’t recall purchasing them. My wife immediately realized that one of our children (who shall remain anonymous) had clicked on a couple of options from something open on the computer, not realizing that he was purchasing it and was incurring charges.

It reminded me that a few years ago, a similar thing happened with one of our children who was a toddler at the time. After his Mommy got up from making some purchases on the computer, he decided to click, just like Mommy did. When he was done, we had to cancel the charges.

These days it’s not hard to understand how a few nonchalant and effortless clicks can have tremendous consequences. Clicking on one part of the computer screen may be completely innocuous, while clicking an inch over, into a little box on the screen can cost you big time, in more ways than one.

As Torah-observant Jews, we believe halacha is real. It’s not just something we observe as a matter of custom or tradition. Rather, we observe it because we believe it is G-d’s will and we are bound to it.

Does it really matter on Shabbos whether I dice a tomato into a little piece or whether I cut it into bigger slices? And does it really matter if I do it five minutes before the Shabbos seudah or if I do it that morning?

Well, does it really matter if I unwittingly clicked on something that costs $10,000 or if I clicked on the line underneath that merely takes me to the next page?

The answer is obviously a resounding yes!

What we do matters and what we say matters. Our words and actions have value! I guess that means we are much more important than we realize or give ourselves credit for.