By Ben Harris for the JTA
Here the Rebbe is enjoining his flock:
Don’t convince yourself that you can live off the fat of the land and reside in these few blocks. Here you have radio and television, fresh milk every day, you can shower twice a day; there is no shortage of kosher milk and kosher bread, and you can serve God here and remain here. Listen! There is a ‘desolate land,’ which is thus far undeveloped spiritually. There are Jews there who don’t even know that they lack anything. You had the unearned privilege to be brought up with Torah and mitzvahs: ‘How lucky we are, how good is our lot.’ Be there for a day, a week, a month, a year, ten years. You won’t have nice clothes and a comfortable home? The Jews in the places you are going also manage without them. Why should you be better? Perhaps they’re better than you. If you have not used your treasures for this, it must bother you. And if you are not pained, then you are lacking in your love of God.
The quote appears in a lengthy piece in New York magazine that, aside from being a pretty astonishing piece of writing, offers the fullest portrait of Gabi and Rivki Holtzberg, the Chabad emissaries killed in Mumbai in November, ever committed to print.
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