Today is 3 Tammuz

Today is Gimmel Tammuz, the Rebbe’s yahrzeit.
I was a young child when the Rebbe passed away. We were living in Bournemouth, England, and I had the good fortune that my parents brought me to visit the Rebbe several times as an infant and young toddler. When the Rebbe fell ill, we included a prayer for his recovery every day. It has been many years since then, but the consciousness the Rebbe gave us is still here.
When I walk into the Rebbe’s synagogue at 770, stand near his office, or pray at the Ohel, there is a deep sense of reverence and awe that calls me to be better, to do more, and to engage more deeply. I do not always live up to the standard the Rebbe set, but I am challenged by it. The Rebbe’s message was comforting, but it was also very very demanding. It urged us to take responsibility for ourselves, for one another, and for the world around us. And perhaps most importantly, to never sleep at the wheel. “Man was created to toil,” the Rebbe would often quote from Job. To do any less would be to fall short of the purpose for which we were created.
The Rebbe gave us a sense of safety and purpose. Like an island in time, he created a place of refuge in a turbulent world. More than anything, he gave us a way of seeing ourselves, our fellow Jews, and our responsibility to the world.
For the widow, the Rebbe was a protector. For the orphan, a father figure. For the scholar and academic, an unbiased mentor. For the statesman and diplomat, a trusted source of counsel. And for the everyday person, the Rebbe was a man of the people. Never out of reach, but always able to see beyond the thirty-thousand-foot view. To each person, he gave love, but also a deep sense of accountability.
By living it himself, the Rebbe showed how G-d, through His Torah, gives each of us the blueprint and purpose of our lives. The Rebbe inspired a broken and perplexed people and taught us how to see the redemptive spark in our fellow man, in ourselves, and in the world around us. In the Rebbe’s world, we were not just tiny specks on earth; we were partners with G-d in bringing His purpose into the world.
In the words of the Midrash that the Rebbe quoted so often, G-d desires a dwelling place here on earth. Every act of goodness, every mitzvah, and every effort to bring holiness into daily life helps fulfill that mission.
Here was a man who, having lived through the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalinism, and the Nazis, witnessed some of the worst that humanity has to offer, but never gave up on a single human being. He believed in us, often more than we believed in ourselves.
Thirty-two years after the Rebbe’s passing, his presence and message are still felt strongly. That sense of accountability did not disappear, and the moral compass the Rebbe provided is very much with us. Today, Mussie and I try to carry the Rebbe’s mission and vision forward and to share it with our children. The road ahead is can sometimes seem uncertain, and the challenges can seem larger than our abilities. But the Rebbe taught us to focus less on our limitations and more on our responsibilities.
Just as Caleb trusted that if Moses directed the Jewish people to do something, they could accomplish it, every mission G-d gives us is within our ability to fulfill. The Rebbe never asked us to do the impossible. He challenged us to become the people G-d created us to be. As our Sages describe Caleb’s confidence in Moses: “Even if he were to tell us, ‘Make ladders and climb to the heavens,’ we would succeed.”
So today, on Gimmel Tammuz, join me in doing a mitzvah in honor of the Rebbe. Thirty-two years later, his voice still calls on us to do more, care more, and become more. May his holy soul continue to inspire us to bring more goodness, kindness, and holiness into our world.