This coming Wednesday, 10 B'Shvat, we will mark the anniversary of the death of the Rebbe of Lubavitch, the sixth president of Chabad Hasidism, and the ascension to the throne of leadership of his son-in-law, the Lubavitch Rebbe.
The Rebbe Rayatz was the only Jewish leader who dared to stand up against the communist regime in Soviet Russia, and established a huge underground of devoted Hasidim who worked to preserve the embers of Judaism. This activity continued throughout the years of the communist regime, and thanks to it, Jewish life in the Soviet Union existed.
He waged an equally heroic struggle upon his arrival in the United States, in 1940. There he found a cool Judaism, trying to assimilate into the American spirit. They tried to explain to him that America was different, and that there was no chance of building in America the old Judaism he knew in Europe.
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But the Rebbe declared: "America is no different!", and this sentence became the guiding slogan of his activities. As a result of his activities, bearded Jews began to be seen on the streets of the United States, Torah studies and yeshivahs were opened, and Shluchim on behalf of the Rebbe went out across the United States to spread the light of Judaism. In fact, he laid the foundations for the great Shluchim enterprise.
The beloved ones
On 12 B'Shvat 5710 (1950), the Rayatz Rebbe passed away, and the sun of his son-in-law and successor, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, began to shine. In the first year after his departure, his father-in-law refused to accept the leadership, but on the first day of Hilula, 12 B'Shvat 5711, he recited his first Hasidic homily, based on his father-in-law's last Hasidic homily, "Ba'eti Legani," and this was the sign that he had accepted the Rebbeship.
In this article, the Rebbe outlines the destiny of our generation, and determines how we should act at this time. The Rebbe says there that our generation is the seventh generation of the Baal Tanya, and explains the Sages' statement, "All the seven are beloved.".
The seventh's lovability is not due to his virtues, the Rebbe explains, but because he is the seventh to the first, and yet he is 'lovable', and he is actually required to complete the work of the first.
The words were spoken in a state of emotional turmoil, and from time to time the Rebbe was forced to stop reciting the article because his voice choked with tears. He also said that "that we are in the seventh generation is not by our choice or by our work, and in some matters perhaps not according to our will," but this is the reality – we are the seventh generation, whose task is to end the exile and bring about redemption.
Prepare for redemption
All of the Rebbe's actions and deeds were directed toward this goal. He reached out to every Jew, to every corner of the world, so that not a single Jew would remain unprepared for redemption. He dispatched his emissaries to every remote corner of the world, so that they would reach every Jew and grant him the commandments, so that he would not be "naked" when redemption came.
In the years that followed, the Rebbe repeatedly declared that redemption was already at hand, and that all it took was one act or one word from a Jew to tip the scales. This is the task we must complete, so that all the hardships and suffering that the Jewish people have endured and are enduring will come to an end, and we will merit the coming of our righteous Messiah very soon.
