How Doing Your Part No Matter How Small Can Change the World

Have you ever had an idea that seemed so big that it felt impossible to bring it to life??

It's easy to get stuck in the planning stage and never go from concept to execution, thinking that doing our small part can’t truly make a difference, but experience has taught me otherwise. I had the zchus of being part of launching and orchestrating the fundraising efforts after the 2014 Har Nof Massacre and discovering once again how one action can spark an incredible chain of events that leads to unimaginable outcomes.?

The day of the Har Nof Massacre, while everyone was still finding out what was going on, Rav Nissan Kaplan, who lived there at the time, knew something needed to be done for the families affected by the tragedy. He felt that if we don’t figure out how to start raising money now while everyone is feeling the pain, then people wouldn’t be as motivated later. Nobody knew it at the time, but his wife was going through a health battle, and he wanted to do something in her zchus.?

Knowing that I had connections, he reached out to me to see if I could somehow leverage them as well as using technology and social media to help raise the needed money. From there, he would make sure the money was distributed properly. Since he was willing to take the achrayis of distributing the money, I gladly agreed to help manage the rest.

I treated the Rabbi's one action of calling me not as a request, but rather as a responsibility. I knew that in times of crisis, our job is just to act and Hashem will handle the rest. So I immediately enlisted the help of my brother Baruch to put together a website where people could donate. From there, I started reaching out to organizations to partner with us, and we began featuring them on our site. Since we were the first, many organizations were glad to have a solution they could send people to so they could get involved.

Of course, some people asked things like, "How is the money going to be distributed? And why are you giving it out this way?" But my mission was clear: I was trusting in Rabbi Kaplan and following my D'aas Torah.

This was before any Jewish tzedakah crowdfunding platforms existed. We were determined to pioneer a solution for Klal Yisrael that could bridge the gap between those in need of resources and those who wanted to give but didn’t have a channel or vehicle to make it happen.?

In doing so, we demonstrated that even a small group could make an immense impact with something as simple as collecting donations online. But this ended up only being the beginning.?

Soon after we started our fundraising efforts, I got a cold call at 9:00 p.m. at night from an unknown number. When I answered, I learned that it was Rabbi Aryeh Young, a 10th-grade Rebbi from Rambam Yeshiva.?

After his classroom decided to raise money for the victims of the Har Nof Massacre and their families, his students didn’t waste any time. They immediately took action, and just two days later, they had raised over $24,000.

After speaking with Rabbi Young, I learned that he had heard about my fundraising efforts and searched for my number online to see if we could work together. I was blown away by his initiative, so the very next morning, I got up at 5:45 a.m. to make the two-hour drive to Long Island to daven at Rambam Mesivta and speak with the students there.?

Their fundraising efforts were going well, but they didn’t have a website to make a bigger impact. Since none of us cared about getting any credit, the 10th-grade students and I decided to join forces. We partnered together using the crowdfunding website Baruch had created, and before we knew it, contributions began pouring in from all over the world.

Just 11 days after the attack took place, we had thousands of donations reaching over seven figures—both from small and large donations—and it all started with one phone call that ended up snowballing into an avalanche of support.

Not only did this open peoples’ eyes to the power of social media and crowdfunding, but it also proved that one small action can have an enormous impact on our world. Rav Nissan Kaplan reached out to me not knowing what could be done and I reached out to Bruce not knowing what we could accomplish together. But looking back, I'm so glad that I had the zchus to participate and was able to do our small part as soon as the idea came to us—even if we didn’t know where it would lead at the time.

Small steps make up the building blocks that eventually lead us to success, so when an idea comes to you, don't let it overwhelm you. Take one action—no matter how small—and trust that Hashem will do the rest!?

I find that even in business, that the same principle applies: Hashem puts an idea in your head, take action—that is your hishtadlus.?