In honor of Gimmel Tammuz- The Rebbe’s 32nd Yartzeit
Dear Friends,
A friend involved in developing a program to combat antisemitism recently shared a fascinating exchange with a potential donor. After hearing the vision and strategy, the donor paused and asked: “Can you sell hope?” At first glance, it sounds like a cynical question. But perhaps it is actually the defining question of our time. Because hope today has become a rare commodity. We live in an age saturated with anxiety. The headlines are relentless. Israel is once again being pressured into concessions and withdrawals while the world conveniently ignores the forces sworn to its destruction. Iran signs agreements while openly threatening annihilation. Jewish students walk onto college campuses wondering whether they will be harassed for simply existing. This week, a woman came to speak with me in tears about her college-aged son who is considering “converting out” of Judaism simply to avoid antisemitism. Think about that. A Jewish child in America wondering whether it is safer not to be Jewish. And yet, perhaps this is precisely why “selling hope” may be one of the most important businesses in the world. That, in many ways, was the Rebbe’s business. Gimmel Tammuz is not merely a Yahrtzeit - date marking the passing of the Rebbe - it is a reminder of the astonishing power of one person to inject hope into an exhausted world. The Rebbe inherited a post-Holocaust Jewish people shattered by trauma and threatened by unprecedented assimilation. Most experts and sociologists predicted Jewish decline in America. Judaism, they argued, could not survive the freedoms and distractions of the modern world. But the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, declared defiantly: “America is not different.” Torah could flourish here no less than in Europe. And the Rebbe took that hope and transformed it into a movement. He looked at Jews who had little background, little observance, and sometimes little interest, and saw infinite potential. He sent Shluchim/emissaries across the globe not merely to teach Judaism, but to restore dignity, purpose, joy and confidence to the Jewish soul. The Rebbe also refused to give up on humanity itself. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, perhaps the greatest hope for this country lies not in technological progress or political victories, but in rediscovering the moral foundations upon which it was built: that human beings are created by a Creator and endowed with inherent dignity because they carry the Divine image. I recently watched a law enforcement official being interviewed about the phenomenon of “teenage takeovers” erupting in cities across the country. He blamed social media. But social media is not the root cause. It merely accelerates imitation. The deeper problem is the spiritual vacuum created when society removes G-d from the public conversation. The Rebbe repeatedly warned that when children are taught they are cosmic accidents, biological beings rather than sacred beings, the inevitable result is a collapse of boundaries, dignity, and self-worth. Without G-d, morality becomes negotiable. Without a soul, identity becomes fragile. Without purpose, chaos rushes in to fill the void. This idea is deeply connected to this week’s Parsha, Korach. Korach did not deny holiness. On the contrary, his rallying cry was: “Ki kol ha’eidah kulam kedoshim” — the entire congregation is holy. But therein lay the danger. Korach believed that if everyone is holy, then no one should lead, no one should rise higher, and no one should carry unique responsibility. In the name of equality, he undermined the very concept of visionary leadership. Yet Judaism teaches the opposite. Precisely because every Jew is holy, because every human life is sacred, leadership matters even more. True leaders do not diminish the people; they reveal the greatness within the people. Moshe did not stand above the nation — he stood for the nation. That was the Rebbe’s model of leadership. The Rebbe saw holiness in every Jew, and greatness in every human being and understood that people need leaders who can awaken hope when others surrender to fear, who can see possibility when others see decline, and who can remind a confused generation of its Divine mission. In moments when the Jewish people feel exhausted, isolated, or overwhelmed, the Rebbe reminds us to refuse to surrender to despair. He reminds us that G-d believes in us even when stopped we stop believing in ourselves. He taught us all to be purveyors of hope. In the long arch of history, we are no strangers to struggles and setbacks. But no setback can prevent the needle of redemption from moving forward on Mitzvah at a time. Good Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Ruvi New