Chief Rabbi Sacks' Highlights Rebbe's
Inspiring Charge
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SHLUCHIM - 2011
LUGAVITCH WORLD HEADQUARTERS. CROWN H HG FITS, N EW YORK
S-,MiNr
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is Thousands of rabbis assembled for their traditional group photo during the 28th annual International Conference
of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.
On Sunday, November 27th, I had the honor of attending the gala dinner of the
28th Annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in New York City.
U
nlike most other organizational
dinners, the event did not have an
honoree nor a fundraising agenda
– instead 5,000 people gathered at the
landmark Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in cel-
ebration of the work of Chabad emissaries
and Rabbis from 77 countries around the
world.
The highlight of the evening was the
keynote speech by British Chief Rabbi
Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief Rabbi of the
United Kingdom, that explained the impact
of the Chabad movement worldwide, and
the impact Chabad had on his own life. I
am proud to share with you a transcript of
his address that inspired so many:
— Alan Zekelman
Introduction
I can sum up my reaction to this evening,
in one word; wow!
In two words, double wow!
If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have
believed it!
I know Rabbi Kotlarsky told me he was
inviting a few friends... (laughter)
But I have to tell you, mikerev 1ev-
from the depths of my heart, I've received
many honors, but none as moving or as
humbling as this.
Because, you, the Shluchim [emissaries]
are among the most important people in
the Jewish world today. You are bring-
ing the shechinah [G-dliness] into places
where, perhaps, it was never seen before.
You are bringing the shechinah into lives
that never knew it before, and you are
transforming the Jewish world.
And why are you doing so? Because
directly or indirectly, you have been
touched, as I was touched, by one of the
greatest Jewish leaders, not just of our
time, but of all time.
Throughout Jewish history there were
great leaders, but I know of no precedent,
for one who transformed, visibly and sub-
stantively every single Jewish community
in the world – including many parts of the
world that never had a Jewish community
before. And let me tell you a little story
that sums it up:
It happened forty one years ago, Elaine
and I were on our honeymoon. We decided
to go to the Swiss Alps – I had never been
to mountains before. We went, we arrived.
It was brilliant sunshine. The view was
magnificent.
The next morning I opened the window
and said, "Who moved the mountains?
They're gone!" Then I looked again and
I saw they were covered in very long
clouds. What to do? We'd come all this
way to climb a mountain, and we couldn't
go back without climbing a mountain. But
we couldn't see more than two or three
feet in any direction. We didn't know
where we were going, we didn't know
how, [if] we got wherever we got, we'd
get back.
So I said to Elaine, "It is very simple. We
will sing Chabad niggunim [songs]."
She said, "Why are we singing Chabad
niggunim?"
I said, "Very simple. Because if a Jew
is lost, anywhere in the world, Chabad
will find them."
And all of this, because of the Rebbe,
[Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson,]
zechusoh yagen aleinu [of righteous
memory]. So it was, and so it is.
You have been touched by greatness
and every one of you has become great.
And therefore I say to all the Shluchim
and to all those wonderful people who
support the work of the Shluchim and
make it possible: yehi ratzon shetishreh
shchinah bemasei yedeichem – may G-d
bless all you do. Amen.
Three Acts That Changed My Life
Friends, Rabbi Kotlarsky asked me to
tell you a little story, a personal one, of
how the Rebbe changed my life. And I've
agreed, not because I think my story is
special, it isn't. But it is by telling such
stories that we remind ourselves of what
Chabad is about and what makes it
special.
Act 1:
It is a story in three acts; the first took
place in 1968, when I was a second year
student, a sophomore, at university. I had
already encountered Chabad, because
Rabbi Shmuel Lew and Rabbi Faivish Vogel
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December 15 « 2011
visited Cambridge. They were among the
very first to go out to university campuses
and I was one of the very first beneficia-
ries. They came that summer, '68 and I
came to America to meet great Rabbis
of the day, and every one of them, every
single rov [rabbinical leader] I met in
America said, "You must see the Rebbe!
You must see the Rebbe."
So I went to Eastern Parkway, 770, I
came in; I said to the first Chassid I met,
"I'd like to speak to the Rebbe, please." He
fell about laughing.
He said, "Do you know how many
thousands of people are waiting to see the
Rebbe? Forget it!"
I said, "Well, I'll be traveling around
America, here is the phone number of my
aunt in Los Angeles, if its possible phone
me."
Weeks later, I was in Los Angeles, came
Saturday night, the phone went, it was
Chabad, "The Rebbe will see you on Thurs-
day."
I had no money in those days, and all I
had was a Greyhound bus ticket, if you've
ever ridden from Los Angeles to New York
on a Greyhound bus... Seventy two hours
nonstop I sat on this bus. I came to 770,
and eventually the moment came when
I was ushered into the Rebbe's study. I
asked him all my intellectual, philosophical
questions; he gave intellectual, philosophi-
cal answers, and then he did what no one
else had done.
He did a role reversal, he started asking
me questions. How many Jewish students
are in Cambridge? How many get involved
in Jewish life? What are you doing to bring
other people in?
Now, I hadn't come to become a Shliach
[Chabad-Lubavitch emissary]. I'd come
to ask a few simple questions, and all of
a sudden he was challenging me. So I did
the English thing. You know, the English
can construct sentences like nobody
else, you know? They can construct more
complex excuses for doing nothing, than
anyone else on earth. (laughter)
So I started the sentence, "In the situ-
ation in which I find myself..." – and the
Rebbe did something which I think was
quite unusual for him, he actually stopped
me in mid-sentence. He says, "Nobody
finds themselves in a situation; you put
yourself in a situation. And if you put
yourself in that situation, you can put
yourself in another situation."
That moment changed my life.
Here I was, a nobody from nowhere,
and here was one of the greatest leaders
in the Jewish world challenging me not
to accept the situation, but to change it.
And that was when I realized what I have