* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
“Why do I love the Lubavitcher Rebbe?” This is the title of a short piece published by Rabbi Nir Manusi. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Rebbe. Rabbi Manusi provides the following five answers to the question.
1. His resuscitation of the Jewish people after the Holocaust. In America, where he arrived from Europe in 1941, mitzvah observance had become moribund, increasingly disconnected from the modern world. The Rebbe reversed this trend by demanding more Torah, more Jewish brotherhood, more Jewish education. Just as Hitler had wanted to reach every Jew in order to kill him, the Rebbe wanted to bring every Jew, no matter how distant from his faith, back to life.
2. He conducted his life with non-stop, yet stressless, activity. Throughout his life, he did not take a single day of vacation. He established Jewish institutions all over the globe and sent off guidance and directives in thousands of letters, but always with a calm and smiling demeanor, without any sign of fatigue. Although he worked non-stop, his tranquil spirit permeated every moment. If only we could conduct our lives in a similar manner.
3. He made every Jew a shaliach (emissary). He initiated the movement of worldwide Chabad emissaries but made it clear that they were not alone in their mission since every Jew was an emissary too. If you only knew one Hebrew letter, the letter aleph, you were obligated to teach it to someone who did not know even that. Everyone had something to give and the world was simply waiting for them to give it.
4. He made it clear that women were emissaries too. He saw the rise in women’s status as a cosmic development with highly spiritual repercussions. Women needed to study and to teach. The woman was not just the wife of a shaliach but a shaliach in her own right. Yet the true status of woman, he reminded us, was associated with her holy indispensable role in building the Jewish family, bearing children and serving as the mainstay of the Jewish home.
5. He urged everyone to put their ego aside. In our generation, everyone seeks fulfillment of their personal potential. But only by putting our ego aside and focusing our attention on unlocking the potential of others can we find true fulfillment for ourselves. If we persist in this endeavor, the entire world will be blessed on account of our efforts.
Today is the day to learn from this incredible legacy.
