Next week we will mark the day of the 4th of Shvat, on which the Rebbe the Rayatz (Rabbi Yosef-Yitzhak Schneerson) departed (in 1950), and the sun of his son-in-law and successor (Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Schneerson) – the Rebbe of Lubavitch – began to shine.
The years of leadership of the Rebbe Rayatz were a continuous sequence of dedication in the face of a difficult and threatening reality.
He assumed leadership during the terrible years of communist rule in Russia, and despite threats from the authorities, he worked to preserve the embers of Judaism throughout Russia, until he was arrested, exiled, and finally released on condition that he leave the country.
From there he moved to Latvia and Poland, and continued to stand at the forefront of the existential struggle of the Jewish people, until the Holocaust came, and he miraculously survived and arrived in the United States.
But instead of resting on the shores of safety, the Rebbe launched a campaign to revive Judaism in America, laying the foundation for the Shluchim enterprise, which his son-in-law and successor developed to enormous proportions.
Without expecting anything in return
The characteristic trait of these two leaders is a sense of responsibility for the people of Israel and thinking in terms of the Jewish people as a whole.
If a Jew in Chicago doesn't have tefillin - their sleep will be lost. If there is no mikveh in New Zealand - they will turn the world upside down so that a mikveh can be built. If Morocco lacks educational institutions of the highest purity - they will send emissaries to establish them.
Today this approach seems natural, but that is the nature of a revolution, in the end the things it has wrought become self-evident. This was not the case sixty or seventy years ago. Communities that went through the terrible upheavals of the mid-twentieth century – the communist revolution and the Holocaust – tried to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Who could have thought about the needs of all of Israel?.
The Rebbe Rayatz, and his son-in-law and successor, revolutionized the way they saw things, centered on the responsibility of every Jew. They educated generations to feel concern for a Jew who does not have tefillin, for a Jewish home without a mezuzah on its door, for a Jewish family who has difficulty obtaining kosher food, for a Jewish child who does not have a kindergarten or Jewish school in their area.
It is a feeling of caring that stems from a true love of Israel, without expecting anything in return.
The Jews you help will not necessarily join your community, will not be part of your circle of supporters, and will not reward you for your efforts.
And yet you turn worlds upside down and help them, because you were raised to feel concern for every Jew and to be restless as long as he has not received a response to his distress.
Free love
Today, more and more circles are adopting this path, but it is worth remembering the creators of the revolution, who gave their lives to cultivate this consciousness and instill it in the hearts of thousands of young people.
They are the ones who educated generations to be willing to leave a supportive family and an embracing community and go far away, out of the same sense of responsibility for every Jew.
Yod B'Shvat calls upon each and every one of us to internalize this sense of responsibility more deeply. Not to be content with worrying about our family and those closest to us, but to think of another Jew who needs help, whether physical or spiritual.
True love for Israel, free love, is what will bring true and complete redemption.
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