Weekly Dvar Torah: Happy 120th Birthday Rebbe!
Warming up for Passover.
Four days before Pesach, On the 11th of Nissan (April 12, 2022), world Jewry celebrates the Rebbe’s 120th birthday.
It is customary to say chapter 121 in Tehilim for the entire next year.
The chapter opens:
שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי.
A song for ascents. I raise my eyes to the mountains, from where will my help come?
When we think about it, actually in the question is the answer.
In Hebrew the word for ‘from where’ is מֵאַיִן = from where.
מֵאַיִן is an acronym for מֵאַיִ”ן, מי”א (ניסן) = from where? From Yud Alef Nissan (the 11th of Nissan).
When Moses was born, the entire house lit up and shone, when the Moses of our generation was born, the whole house shines brightly.
From the Czar’s pogroms, to the Bolshevik revolution, through Stalin and Hitler, and the graveyard of Judaism in the free world, the Rebbe lit up the world with his brilliance, caring, and loving leadership.
When the Rebbe became Rebbe of Lubavitch, the first thing he did was to care about the forgotten Moroccan Jews, they were not Chabad Chasidim, but the Rebbe cared, he sent Shluchim to Morocco.
In the early 50’s when the refugees arrived from Yemen, the Rebbe setup vocational schools for the youth, so they can earn an honest living, they were not Chabad Chasidim, but the Rebbe cared.
When a Jew in a remote village in Holland was struggling with his Jewishness, the Rebbe sent his Shliach with Matza just in time for Passover, and the Jewish spark came to life, because the Rebbe cared.
When Jews were dreading another Holocaust (G-d forbid) in 1967, the Rebbe declared in defiance of all doomsday-sayers, that the G-d of Israel will protect all of Israel and lead them to victory, the Rebbe reassured the Holocaust survivors, 20 years after Hitler, not to worry, because the Rebbe cared.
For his 70th birthday, the Rebbe asked that 71 new institutions be established to help bring Yiddishkeit to world Jewry, and Lubavitch exploded ever since to 6000 plus Shluchim and institutions the world over, because the Rebbe cared.
After the Yom Kippur war, when Israel was devastated by the losses, the Rebbe initiated the Mitzvah campaigns to infuse life into a broken Jewish people, because the Rebbe cared.
In 1979 after the revolution in Iran, the Rebbe sent his Shluchim on a rescue mission to save thousands of Jewish children from the dangers of the Khomeini’s, the Iranian Jews were not Chabad Chasidim, but the Rebbe cared.
Under the nose of the Soviets, the Rebbe had a network of Shluchim working the entire Soviet-Union keeping underground Judaism alive, and providing Jews with means of survival by sending them ‘pasilkes’ (support packages), just because the Rebbe cared.
After reassuring us for years that the iron-curtain will fall, in 1990 hundreds of Shluchim were there at a moment’s notice, to restart Jewish life in a new free former Soviet Union, because the Rebbe cared.
During the Gulf war, when the world warned with certainty that Israel will be attacked by Saddam with chemical weapons, one strong voice announced to the world that no one will be hurt by such weapons, and the world was reassured, because the Rebbe cared.
For 30 years now, Chabad Shluchim rebuilt Jews and Judaism in the FSU, in Russia and Ukraine, in Uzbekistan and Georgia, in Poland and Hungry, and the entire rest of the FSU, building huge new communities materially and spiritually, because the Rebbe cares.
When chaos broke out in war-torn Ukraine, hundreds of Chabad Shluchim were there organizing rescue missions and food supplies for tens of thousands of Jews, because the Rebbe cares.
Welcoming thousands of refugees in Israel and all over the West, hundreds of Shluchim are there helping and serving on a moment’s notice, with no money but with much love, because the Rebbe cares.
Moses declared on his 120th birthday; today my days are full, all my work came to its fullness.
The Rebbe’s work is at its fullness, thousands of Shluchim and Chasidim are imbued with the Rebbe’s love for another Jew, nothing will ever get in the way, anywhere and everywhere they are all on duty 24/7 literally, nothing gets in the way, not even money, yes, not even money, the Ukrainian Shluchim demonstrated it heroically only in the last few weeks, to the amazement and acknowledgement of CNN, FOX, NYT and all the rest.
The Shluchim are the Rebbe’s hands and feet, they use their brains to study and learn what true love is, as the Rebbe taught us in hundreds of volumes of talks over tens of thousands of hours, and then the hands and feet spring into action.
Like Moses in Egypt during Passover, the Moshe of our generation is alive and well in his mission of love and caring for every Jew, we pray that he succeeds in his life’s mission to bring redemption and salvation to the entire world, with the coming of Moshiach speedily.
Let us all, the Rebbe’s feet, dance away on this great day, thanking Hashem for this great merit to be the feet of such a leader, yes, it’s our 120th birthday, and there is what to celebrate.
And from this celebration we Passover to celebrate the exodus from Golus with Moshiach NOW!
Happy Birthday Rebbe, Happy Birthday Chasidim,
Gut Shabbos, Gut Yomtov
Rabbi Yosef Katzman
