Today is Yud Aleph Nissan, the birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. There is even a Wikipedia entry on it.
Why is it such a special day?
Sometimes there are things that are beyond my comprehension. Try as I may, I just don't get it. I don't know why we are commanded to do certain mitzvos, I don't know why G-d makes things happen a certain way. There are times when you have to go beyond your intellect and feel it with your heart. Because your heart knows. Your heart yearns.
More than that, your neshama has a desire to connect to Hashem, to do the right thing, to be a good person. Put aside the intellect for a second, and just let the feelings in. Let them propel you forward to do the things that really matter in life.
I also liked this article by Rabbi Shmully Boteach. He says about Chabad that "They have faith in their faith." And "When you are fortunate enough to have a leader who exemplified true selflessness, your altruism increases exponentially."
Happy Birthday Rebbe!
Yud-Alef Nissan is the Rebbe’s birthday. A birthday is more than a day for songs and celebrations. Instead, a birthday is a day when mazalo gover, the spiritual source of a person’s soul shines with power. When we say “the spiritual source of a person’s soul,” we mean something more than our conscious thought powers. We have our thoughts and our feelings. And then we possess an inner spiritual core from which those thoughts and feelings spring forth. This spiritual core is the mazal that shines powerfully on a person’s birthday.
Since a person’s mazal shines powerfully on that day, he should use its influence to focus on his individual mission and align all the particular elements of his life with it. As the Previous Rebbe taught, on a birthday a person should spend time in solitude, thinking over the purpose of his life, correcting those matters that need to be amended, and making resolutions with regard to his conduct in the future.
The Rebbe’s birthday is not merely a personal event, affecting him alone. On the contrary, the very name Rebbe is an acronym for the Hebrew words , “head of the Jewish people.” The head contains the nerve center for the entire body, allowing all its diverse organs and limbs to function together as a single whole. Similarly, a Rebbe is a comprehensive soul whose life is lived in consciousness of others and whose efforts are devoted to tightening the connection between them. As such, the Rebbe’s birthday is a day which impacts us all.
What is the Rebbe’s mazal and where is it directed? In one of his letters, he writes: “From the days I began going to cheder (school) and perhaps even before then, I had a vision of the ultimate Redemption.” From his earliest childhood, and in every successive phase of life, the Rebbe devoted his efforts to creating a spiritual climate that will make Mashiach’s coming a reality.
On a day when “the spiritual source of his soul shines powerfully,” each one of us should think of the way he can help shoulder and advance this mission. The breakthroughs in sciences and communication of our era have created the backdrop for the Redemption. Its is our responsibility to create the conceptual foreground and make the values and principles that will characterize the Redemption factors that influence our lives at present. Anticipating the Redemption in this manner will precipitate its unfolding as actual reality.
did you listen to the speech that Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks gave at the chabad conference in NY? It was really beautiful - try get hold of it...
ReplyDeletehe spoke about how the Rebbe affected his life - it was so moving!
DeleteNo, I didn't. Thank you, I will definitely check it out.
ReplyDelete