B"H

Friday, Tammuz 2, 5776 / July 8, 2016 - Hakhel year

This Shabbat, the third day in the month of Tammuz, is the 22nd Yartzeit (1902-1994) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, who led the Chabad-Lubavitch movement for over forty years.

The Rebbe changed the way many American Jews, and Jews throughout the world viewed their connection to being Jewish. Rather than impose his views and philosophy on the million of unaffiliated and non-Orthodox Jews in America and in the rest of the world, the Rebbe created a network of Chabad Houses into which they were all invited.

The forty-four years of the Rebbe’s leadership saw Lubavitch grow from a small movement that had barely survived the Soviet Union and the Nazi Holocaust, to a worldwide community of tens of thousands members. The finest among whom the Rebbe employed to establish the Chabad education and outreach centers, offering social-service programs and humanitarian aid to all people, regardless of religious affiliation or background.

His corps of Lubavitch emissaries (shluchim) went out to build Chabad Houses that reached out to local Jews and to passers by with concrete offerings: a place to stay, a place to eat, a place to pray, a place to study. Today there are more than 1,400 Chabad-Lubavitch institutions in thirty-five countries on six continents.

The Rebbe’s teachings have been published in more than two hundred volumes. He had also written tens of thousands of letters in reply to requests for blessings and advice. These detailed and personal letters offer advice and explanation on a wide variety of subjects, including spiritual matters as well as all aspects of life.

Elie Wiesel, of blessed memory, who passed away last Shabbat, had a special connection with the Rebbe.

“My first visit with the Rebbe lasted almost an entire night,” writes Elie Wiesel in his Memoirs how he came to Brooklyn, sometime in the early 60s, in order to make the acquaintance of the Rebbe.

“The Rebbe had read some of my works in French and asked me to explain why I was angry with G-d. ‘Because I loved Him too much,’ I replied. ‘And now?’ he asked. ‘Now too. And because I love Him, I am angry with Him.’ The Rebbe disagreed: ‘To love G-d is to accept that you do not understand Him.’ I asked whether one could love G-d without having faith. He told me faith had to precede all the rest. ‘Rebbe,’ I asked, ‘how can you believe in G-d after Auschwitz?’ He looked at me in silence for a long moment. Then he replied, in a soft voice, ‘How can you not believe in G-d after Auschwitz?’

In honor of this auspicious day, we should take upon ourselves to perform an extra mitzvah and good deed and to learn a little more Torah.  May we merit the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days. Amen

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 8:26 / Shabbat ends: 9:40