Just over ten years ago, Shayna and myself moved to Sudbury to establish a new Chabad Center for the local Jewish community in order to provide a welcoming and warm space where people could connect with their Judaism and heritage. In doing so, we joined thousands of other centers that have been setup on almost every corner of the globe with the goal of enabling Jews to connect with their heritage and help make the world a better place.
Our inspiration to make the move, was the Lubavitcher Rebbe whose life and teachings were full of deep knowledge, a powerful vision of goodness and hope, and a goal of creating a better world.
Tonight and tomorrow marks the 22nd Hillula (Date of Passing) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schnersohn, and it is a day when we will be reflecting on the Rebbe’s leadership, teachings, and hopes for our society.
The Rebbe touched thousands of individual people through meetings and correspondence and helped people like Elie Wiesel who attributed the Rebbe’s encouragement to his decision to get married and begin life again after the Holocaust. Elie even said that “the greatest bouquet of flowers I ever received was from the Rebbe for my wedding”.
The Rebbe was also involved in his own way with networking and encouraging acts and even legislation that would benefit society at large. One example would be how the Rebbe encouraged Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress to use her position to push for certain welfare programs. Click here for more on that story.
Yet perhaps the Rebbe’s biggest impacts was his unending belief in the potential of humanity at large and his encouragement of each and every Jew to connect with their rich heritage in a non-judgmental way. In doing so, the Rebbe encouraged and inspired hundreds of thousands of Jews and non-Jews to live meaningful lives and help make the world a brighter and better place.
Please feel free to stop by tomorrow’s Kiddush where we will share some key ideas of the Rebbe’s teachings on the topics Torah, Society, and Humanity.
Please consider doing an extra Mitzvah this weekend in honor of the Rebbe’s Legacy & Message and help make the world a brighter place, enabling it to reach its G-d given infinite potential.
Perhaps reflecting on the Rebbe's message of empathy, hope and belief in the G-d given potential for all of society, can be a healthy and healing perspective to keep in mind as the USA recovers from a tragic week of senseless loss of life and racial tensions.
Good Shabbos
Yisroel