Education and Sharing Day Honors the Rebbe’s Vision

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As the Howard County, Maryland Council convened on Monday, April 15th, a group of local high-schoolers were present. They’d be awarded this day for their recent athletic achievements. But their special day took on a deeper, even more meaningful light once the public hearing began.

That’s because also present at the council hearing were a group of Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins who serve the county, there to accept a proclamation by Howard County Council Chair Deb Jung proclaiming April 19, 2024 — the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 122nd birthday — Education and Sharing Day.

The proclamation emphasizes the importance of moral and ethical education — which the Lubavitcher Rebbe championed. “Rabbi Schneerson stressed that education is the cornerstone of humanity at large and should be one of the nation’s top priorities,” the proclamation read.

To drive the point home, Rabbi Yanky Baron of Chabad of Ellicott City, Maryland brought a prop: a yellow charity box called an ARK. Shaped like Noah’s Ark, the box’s name stands for “Acts of Random Kindness” — with the goal being to transform those into “Acts of Routine Kindness.”

One by one, the high school athletes and their parents lined up and placed some charity into the ARK, taking a step on the path to become more giving, ethical and charitable individuals.

Similar ceremonies and presentations took place on the local and state level, as dozens of states, cities and counties joined President Joe Biden in proclaiming April 19 “Education and Sharing Day,” remembering “the life and legacy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, as the leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement,” as President Biden’s proclamation read.

“As a prolific scholar and teacher, his calls for new schools and community centers inspired people to build them in all 50 States and across the globe, and they moved generations to embrace education not only as a means of self-improvement but as an essential path to a more just society,” the proclamation read. “Here in America, he also offered counsel to some of my predecessors as President, always advocating for our Nation’s role as a beacon of hope in the world.”

In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders walked around the room with a charity box, giving each participant the opportunity to join in the spirit of giving. And in Hoboken, N.J. City Council business was paused mid-meeting to allow Chabad Rabbi Moshe Schapiro to speak about the Rebbe, and for the reading of an Education Day proclamation by the city.

Then, as they did in cities and towns across the U.S., lawmakers rose and presented the proclamation, bringing a moral and ethical emphasis to their legislative duties and to the Nation they represent.