A Spark on Earth Can Create Echoes in Heaven

Rabbi YY Jacobson recently shared a story that gave me chills. It’s one of those rare moments that reminds you just how deeply connected we all are, across time zones, across continents, across souls.

His brother, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, noted author of Toward a Meaningful Life and many other profound works, had received an unexpected email from a musician living in upstate New York. What followed is a story I felt compelled to share.

“Dear Rabbi Jacobson,” the man wrote,

“I’m a musician. I usually play secular rock music. On Thursday night, June 12th, 2025, I was performing at a bar in Poughkeepsie, New York. While on stage, we suddenly got news that Israel had just launched a surprise strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. It was the middle of the night in Israel, but early evening for us.”

“Even though I didn’t think there were any Jews in the bar, I felt a strong pull to say something. So I paused the show and addressed the crowd. I told them what was happening and asked everyone to pray in their own way for peace, and more than that, to take on one act of kindness to help bring light into the world.”

The concert ended. But the story didn’t.

That Friday night, the musician had a dream. A very vivid one.

“A man appeared to me in the dream. He introduced himself as Rabbi Leibel Groner, the late personal secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He said, ‘The Rebbe asked me to thank you for what you did last night in the bar in Poughkeepsie.’”

“He told me that because of my announcement, a Jewish woman had been inspired to light Shabbos candles, for the first time in decades. That one act of holiness, Rabbi Groner said, brought down divine protection. It helped the Israeli Air Force succeed in its mission. It protected lives. ‘The Rebbe says thank you,’ he said.”

The musician woke up shaken, the dream so vivid, so real, but he tried to brush it off as just “a nice dream.”

Until Sunday.

“That’s when I got an email from a woman. She had been in the bar during my performance. She told me that something I said deeply moved her. She hadn’t lit Shabbos candles since her Bat Mitzvah, over 50 years ago. But that Friday evening, she lit them. For the first time in half a century.”

She had searched his name online and tracked him down, just to say thank you.

And with that, the dream became real.

We often look at life on the surface, seeing only headlines, dates, and dry facts. We rarely witness the spiritual threads that run beneath history. But stories like this peel back the curtain for just a moment.

The Midrash teaches that the world is one guf, one body. Every Jew is a limb in that body. Every mitzvah we do sends ripples across the spiritual system. A candle in Poughkeepsie can bring light to the skies over Tehran. A word on stage can ignite a soul. One act of faith can unleash protection for thousands.