Why should we celebrate the Rebbe's birthday?

March 27, 2018   

דברים רבים, שנתפסים כיום טבעיים ופשוטים, לא היו כאלה בראשיתם. הם תוצר פעולתם של מהפכנים, שהתמודדו עם עולם שפקפק ביוזמותיהם ובסיכויי הצלחתם, ואף נלחם בהם. אבל הם סללו דרך בנחישות ובעקביות, ואחרי שהמהפכה הצליחה, היא סחפה את כולם.

The Jewish world of today bears the mark of the revolution brought about by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

For years, he paved his unique path, which has now become common knowledge, but at the time it aroused doubts, doubts, and even opposition. But this is the strength of his great leadership, which did not shy away from difficulties, ridicule, smallness of faith, and stumbling blocks, and succeeded in paving the way for the existence of a flourishing and prosperous Judaism in the modern world.

Concept of unity

Today we celebrate the 11th of Nisan, the Rebbe's birthday (in 1902). On this day, the Rebbe's holy soul descended into this world, and our generation was blessed with his great light.

The birthday of a righteous person is generally a happy day, and the birthdays of the shepherds of Israel are even happier days.

The Sages say that God chose the first of Nisan for the day of the construction of the Tabernacle, "Since Isaac was born on the first of Nisan, God said: Behold, I am the evening of your joy, joy with joy.".

We are especially happy that God sent into our confused and bewildered world the captain who knew how to chart paths and guide the ship of the people of Israel to a safe harbor. This is a world that went through the terrible Holocaust. In which assimilation and assimilation ate away at the Jewish people with every mouthful. In which the polarization between those who observe the Torah and mitzvot and those who do not adhere to the path of the Torah was at its peak. In which modern technology and advanced science were perceived as a threat to faith.

And amidst this difficult and complex reality, the Rebbe came and brought new news – of unity and wholeness.

Science and technology, at bottom, are not the adversaries of the Torah, but rather the opposite – they are meant to serve the Torah and spread its ideas. Observant and non-observant are not two opposing camps, but rather we are all Jews, connected in heart and soul to each other and to our Father in Heaven.

When the Rebbe began sending his emissaries to the ends of the earth, in an effort to stem the waves of assimilation and to bring Jews closer to their homeland, many saw this as a puzzling, hopeless move that would endanger the spiritual lives of the emissaries and their children.

But the Rebbe also gave his emissaries a clear worldview and spiritual strength with which they overcame the difficulties of loneliness and distance, made Jewish life flourish and raised generations to glory.

Treasures for all of us

Even in Torah study, the Rebbe paved original paths, which are also steeped in the motif of unity. All parts of the Torah – plain, allusive, sermon and secret – are one whole.

He taught how to see the Torah as a code of life, every detail of which serves as a guide for us in contemporary life. Gradually, the Jewish world discovered the treasures of its Torah, and today they have become the property of the entire Jewish people.

The Rebbe's birthday is a day of gratitude to the Creator, the Blessed One, for the wonderful light He has planted in our generation. It is a day of strengthening ourselves in walking in the Rebbe's ways, in increasing the spread of the light of faith, and in intensifying the expectation for the fulfillment of our generation's destiny – the true and complete redemption.