Richard Carlson's published the book DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF AND IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF which was on the Best Seller list for two straight years. Torah hashkafa begs to differ and the Torah has been a greater best seller for over thousands of years. In the palace of the King even a trinket possesses incredible value because of its location. Hashem is called Makom because He is the location and sustains the world. Therefore everything in the world is big because it exists solely by the intervention of its creator. This perception is a fundamental truth of Torah depending on the depth of one's level of relationship with Hashem.
Rashi writes at the beginning of the parsha explaining why the passuk uses the double lashon of אמר that it is to teach להזהיר גדולים על הקטנים . We suggest that this means homiletically to warn those individuals who seek to be big oavdai Hashem they should fulfill the seemingly small mitzvos and deeds by treating them with the same concern and esteem as the well known and significant ones.
The passuk in Zecharya 4,10 says כי מי בז ליום קטנות. Chazal explain this to mean that when one gets to Olam Habah ליום and he gets for his reward a smaller than expected world קטנות, he will be embarrassed בז. However, we can interpret this meaning to include the reason why he received a smaller than expected world. The answer is קטנות that he thought there were smaller sized mitzvos besides the bigger ones. Therefore he spent his time concentrating only on performing the big ones for they give bigger rewards and he ignored the smaller ones or those mitzvos that one steps on them because he deems them insignificant והיה עקב תשמעון Rashi. In a Yid's vocabulary one must realize that every mitzvah is unfathomable because they were given by the Infinite Hashem. There is no ,קטנות only gadlus when it comes to mitzvos. The thought of them being small definitely comes from those who are really small like the angel of Aisav who is called סמאל (small). Stay far away from him!!!
The Sfas Emes קרח תרלו writes
דרך איש הישר בעבודת הבורא כל שעולה מדריגה יותר יודע חשיבות כל דבר קטן
The more one ascends the ladder of avodah the more he recognizes the significance of small things ak"d. This shows that someone who disregards involvement with small things is not a gadol.
תניא דבי רבי יעקב אומר אין לך כל מצוה ומצוה שבתורה שמתן שכרה בצדה שאין תחיית המתים תלויה בה חולין קמב : Every mitzvah in the Torah has within itself the power to perform Techiyas Hameisim. This includes even the mitzvos that seem .קטנות וקלות
Let us talk about a mitzvah D'Rabbanan that involves merely two words yet it is so important that Hashem Himself showed Moshe Rabbeinu the severity of not doing it. This mitzvah that I am referring to is saying שלום עליכם to a person especially if he is a stranger. Even amongst strangers these are the words of introduction to demonstrate that we have a common bond. This institution was made by Boaz, Ruth's husband when he met his workers in the field harvesting the barley as the passuk says (2,4) ויאמר לקוצרים ה' עמכם Boaz greeted the workers with the words ה' עמכם to which they responded יברכך ה' which is tantamount to our response עליכם שלום . We must note that Boaz was pretty bold by using Hashem's name as part of hello to the chevrah. We also follow in his footsteps and use the name of Hashem שלום which is prohibited to say in a bath house or bathroom as well. This is what Chazal mean (Berachos 54) .התקינו שיהא אדם שואל את שלום חבירו בשם This takana is one of the three which heaven agreed to (Maakos 23b).
If that is not enough proof of how significant these two words are let us see the rebuke of Hashem to Moshe for not saying it in His presence. The gemarah Shabbos 89 tells over the episode of Moshe Rabbeinu ascending Har Sinai where he finds Hashem is writing crowns on the letters of the Torah. As Moshe stands there in silence Hashem asks him אין שלום בעירך "What they do not say shalom with a greeting in your city?" Moshe answered "A servant עבד does not greet his Master for it is not kovod Then Hashem continues further "You should have at least helped me" and Rashi explains to wish me hatzlacha in my work. Upon hearing this Moshe responded immediately ועתה יגדל נא כח ה' .
If it would not have been that Moshe was an eved to Hashem, Moshe would have failed at the beginning of his encounter by not wishing Hashem with a happy greeting. This greeting of shalom or for the matter of fact Good Morning and Good evening even if they are only two words, are of incredible importance with which to greet people. Hashem himself had to demonstrate to us how humungous is the magnitude to say them and how grave it is to omit them.
The example of Boaz giving this greeting with Hashem's name was in the scenario with his workers at harvest time. This episode was purposely chosen to demonstrate that saying Shalom Aleichem is not only in holy places to mention Hashem's name in a greeting but even when at work we have to have a consciousness of Hashem helping us to make our parnassah without whom it could not happen at all. This concept is supported with the gemarah on Shabbos with Hashem's lesson to Moshe Rabbeinu. Even though Hashem was busy with work of writing the crowns on the letters Moshe was expected to still greet Hashem had he not have been such a devoted servant to Hashem.
What we also see from this encounter that one must wish a person hatzlacha in his endeavors and that he should be successful in what he does which is also only merely two words .תצלח במלאכתךBoth the greeting and the wishing of success is less than a five second investment of chesed yet worthy enough to have Hashem give a live demonstration of how important it is to make this communication to another person.
Interestingly, the secular greeting to another person begins with Hell – o an ending place for people who did not involve Hashem in their lives. The Lashon Hakodesh of greeting someone is Shalom Aleichem or Hashem Imachem where the first word of the greeting is about Hashem our creator. Someone once asked a Yid why he has the daily routine of running around seeking Yidden to ask them vos macht ihr How are you doing? He answered simply "I want them to give a beracha to Hashem when they answer my inquiry with Baruch Hashem".
And you Mr. Carlson call that SMALL STUFF?