The word conjures images of firefighters scaling a ladder to reach a burning building or commandos rappelling into the camp of hostile hostage-takers.
In a profoundly meangful way, it also describes the Rebbe’s arrival to our shores, seventy years ago today. Having escaped the Nazis in Europe, the Rebbe – on this day in 1941 – reached the protective embrace of the USA, the great Land of Liberty. The Rebbe had been rescued.
So, on this special anniversary, I’m thankful to G-d and the USA. Because I’m deeply grateful for my time with the Rebbe.
The Rebbe showed us how to engage life, and not be swamped by its turbulence. The Rebbe showed us how one can live by a moral and religious compass, and choose a response - to any situation - based on Principle, not [just] impulse.
The Rebbe showed us how to see every situation as a call to action. In the Rebbe’s world, every problem beckoned with a challenge: "Will you rise to my occasion?"
In that sense, the Rebbe was a rescuer to the world.
The Rebbe saw a society trapped in the soul-numbing pain of
meaninglessness, where emotional dysfunction and spiritual
vacuity were creating a deep existential crisis.
And the Rebbe taught us that we can do better.
The Rebbe wanted us all to be leaders in our own lives. We needed to take the reins of life and pro-actively lead ourselves toward purpose and spiritual health.
But that wasn’t enough. We also needed to change the world.
The Rebbe championed the Jewish belief that the world around us has a G-dly core.
While we can’t easily perceive the world’s beauty, because of it shallow façade, we can access it through proper living. We needed to perform the ultimate rescue by liberating the world’s ‘soul’ and revealing its Divine glow.
We needed to usher in the world of Moshiach.
Tirelessly, the Rebbe encouraged us and cheered us on, in effect
telling each of us: Rescue your soul from the trap of meaninglessness, and rescue the world from its shell of superficiality.
To this day, every morning, the Rebbe’s words rescue me – at least for a few moments - from life’s stifling status quo of life, to remind me that I can do better.
Thank you G-d. Thank you USA.
Thank you Rebbe.
ב"ה