Yud Shevat (the Tenth of Shevat) and the Exodus

 The Tenth of Shevat is the day the leadership of the Jewish people passed from one generation to the next. On that day in 1950 Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneerson passed away and his son in law Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson became the new leader. While he did not officially accept the position until the Tenth of Shevat of the following year, it was obvious from the beginning that he was the one for the position. See more about that in this fascinating video.  We will celebrate the anniversary of this auspicious day this Shabbat.

These two leaders literally shaped two worlds and helped the Jewish people survive two major challenges. Rabbi Yosef Schneerson, whom we call the previous Rebbe, faced the murderous Soviet Union, who in the name of equality and fairness attempted to erase any vestiges of Judaism, using vicious methods including hard labor in Siberia and murder. 

He sent emissaries around the country to run schools, yeshivas, synagogues, Mikvahs and more. These emissaries literally risked their lives for the Torah and were often imprisoned or murdered. But more filled their places and continued the work. It is because of them that Judaism survived in Eastern Europe. 

The previous Rebbe himself was arrested and sentenced to death and then miraculously released. 

He came to the US in 1940, physically broken from the torture he endured, and announced that he came to show that “America is not different.”  Contrary to the widespread feeling at the time that “old-fashioned” Torah lifestyles don’t work in the New World, the previous Rebbe proclaimed that the Torah that was given at Sinai applies for all generations and in all places. 

He spent the next ten years with tremendous personal sacrifice building an outreach organization that founded schools, yeshivas, synagogues, youth programs and more. 

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, whom we refer to as our Rebbe, faced a generation that had been devastated by the Holocaust. Many Jews had given up on Jewish life, and at the same time the Jewish population in the US was generally apathetic to Torah. 

The Rebbe set out to change that, and the success of his work is now legendary. The Rebbe refused to succumb to negativity and always found light in the darkness. Quoting the previous Rebbe’s final discourse that he had written just before he passed away, the Rebbe said that the world is Hashem’s garden and despite the apparent darkness there is positivity in everything. He shared that with individuals who came to him for advice on how to handle challenges, and to the world when things looked bleak. 

The Rebbe set a goal for us to finish the work of cleansing the world and bring the final redemption through Moshiach. He ensured us that all the evil and chaos in the world are part of the final “burning of the walls” of the exile. 

Today it may be hard to see that. But the commemoration of the Tenth of Shevat is the perfect time for us to contemplate this message and rededicate ourselves to the mission. We respond to darkness by bringing light. More than that, we recognize that the purpose of the darkness is for us to transform it to light. 

This transformation is the subject of this week’s Parsha, Bo, the Parsha of the Exodus.  In Egypt the Jews broke out of the darkness of exile and receive the light of the Torah, and ultimately to settle in the Holy Land in freedom.  What our Rebbes taught us is how to accomplish a spiritual Exodus in our own lives.  To free our inner soul from all that holds it back in its spiritual expression, and to discover and uncover the goodness and light in the world.

I encourage you to study the immortal words of the previous Rebbe in the above-mentioned maamar (discourse) here. This Shabbat is a good time to join a Farbrengen (Chassidic gathering) and gain inspiration from the lives and teachings of these two great luminaries.

One of the lessons from Yud Shevat that the Rebbe often spoke about was the need for all of us to emulate the previous Rebbe, and to be prepared to make personal sacrifices to help a fellow, materially or spiritually.  The Rebbes both showed how deep within every Jew there is a part of Hashem that desires to express itself in the study and observance of Torah, and with unconditional love each of us has the power to reveal that.  

May we merit to see the transformation of extreme darkness to extreme joy and light with the coming of Moshiach. We need it now more than ever.