Between Destruction and Redemption: The American Jewish Moment
Tech Tribe Dispatch #359
đĄ Think:
We find ourselves just a day before the 250th birthday of the United States of America. The first July 4th, in 1776, took place on the 17th of Tammuz, the fast day we observed yesterday and the beginning of the three weeks, a period of mourning that culminates on Tisha BâAv, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.
Yet this month is also one of redemption, the very seeds of which were sown at the moment of destruction.
America is the land where Jews can proudly celebrate their Judaism, without question, compromise or fear.
This tension, between opportunity and destruction, is rife with opportunity we need to create change.
The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, once noted that American Jews were like tinder⌠they blazed brightly but then burnt out. Russian Jews, he noted, were like coals, the fire wasnât as bright - but it burned for longer.
The Rebbe saw the burst of American exuberance, the excitement and can-do brashness of America⌠and channeled it. He understood how to brand Judaism in a way that not just excited people, but empowered them - to own it and live it.
âIf you closed your eyes,â Rabbi Ezra Shochet, who was privileged to attend the Rebbes talks in those early years, âyou could tell the Rebbe was speaking to a much larger audience than those just gathered in the room. He was speaking to the whole world.â
And thatâs why this American-Jewish moment, when we stand in the midst of historic Jewish mourning and destruction, is a moment that catalyzes us and encourages us to grow ever stronger.
Now, the rebbe said, the mission to make this world a better place, to change it inexorably for the better, was given to us. Unlike the classic Talmudic understanding of an emissary (and each and every single one of us can be an emissary) that relegates the mission to be entirely an expression of the one who dispatches them - a call for total self-abnegation, now we must tap into our own abilities, our talents to get the job done.
#ChaiSociety members, enjoy an in depth history of The Rebbeâs First American Decade.
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đĄ The Technology Rabbi. A Yiddish interview with Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone about teaching Torah, arranging Jewish events and answering halachic questions inside major technology companies.
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đşđ¸ The Rebbe on Americaâs Founding Faith and Divine Destiny. Is America different or not?
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