The Redemption of the Repost
Dispatch #312: On Instagram, Chain letters and Messianic Potential
💡 Think:
Instagram just rolled out the Repost, allowing users to share Reels and posts from other accounts directly to their own feeds. In all but name, it is similar to the retweet function on Twitter.
This isn’t a surprise - TikTok has allowed users to repost for the last few years. The Retweet remains a powerful way to amplify a post…
But it’s also considered a feature that brought out some of the worst on the Twitter platform. The mechanic of the repost, especially the quote tweet (something Instagram has mostly avoided with the current feature) gave rise to the dunk tweet - where content is resurfaced to bring outrage and criticism to the original post.
On the other side, Blindly resharing articles, without reading the actual piece, led the platform at one point to implement a ‘read before you retweet’. One study found that retweeting was most common among politically polarized people, and that those who engaged with it often left feeling angrier.
However much the team at Meta has taken steps to minimize the negative aspects of the retweet—and it seems like they have—the Repost will still only increase the rapidity with which information is shared at an ever-increasing scale to so many.
The Rebbe once noted1 a curious letter he received in the mail: A chain letter a woman had nervously sent to him.
“Amongst the letters I recently received was one written by a woman who was frightened by a chain letter that was sent to her. In the letter, she was urged to send it to ten other parties so that she may gain some benefit from this. She understood this to mean that if she did not comply, she might face an unwanted threat.”
Fear, the Rebbe noted, is inherently un-Jewish2. So he recommended that she tear up the letter, as it was utterly insignificant, and completely remove any worry from her mind.
Yet, clearly Divine providence had caused this woman’s anxious decision to send the letter to the Rebbe.
“After responding to her letter,” the Rebbe continued, “I rethought the matter and realized that I do not know this woman just as she does not personally know me, other than her finding comfort in consulting me on this matter. Why did this come my way? I thought. It had to be so that I can learn a lesson that directly pertains to matters of holiness.”
After all, every permissible thing in our universe must be recognized for its Divine core, and elevated through our use. What then could be the lesson from the chain letter?
Someone had recently shared with the Rebbe to obscure sources on the power of yearning for the redemption… how the desire itself to rectify the cosmic holes in the Universe and set this world right, was itself a power impetus to bring about the redemption.
“It’s brought…” Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai wrote3, “that even if all the Jewish people have is hope—just hope alone—that’s enough to deserve redemption…. For even if we have no merit, still let redemption flourish—because we have hope. And for the sake of that hope alone, we are worthy of being redeemed.”"
“If we see the concept of a chain letter in the mundane world, one must utilize this gimmick and marketing approach with the intent of spreading something positive.” The Rebbe concluded.
What could be more positive than to encourage the literal power of our hopes and prayers, that they could be channeled into positive action?
Thus the Rebbe suggested that each person send the two quotes to 10 of their friends. Lest the campaign become an obsession, the Rebbe chided erstwhile zealous chasidim who might want to dedicate countless hours to writing to others, that 10 alone would suffice. The network effect would be enough to reach countless people beyond one’s own circles.
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7 Marcheshvan 5746 - October 22, 1985. For a partial English translation, see here.
He quoted the prophet, ‘Thus says G‑d, “Do not learn the ways of the nations, and do not fear the heavenly signs; for the nations fear them”’ (Yirmeyahu 10:2).
Chida, Midbar Kadmus, entry Kivoi. “The full quote: “It’s brought… that even if all the Jewish people have is hope—just hope alone—that’s enough to deserve redemption. Rabbi Yosef David, of blessed memory, explained this with the words from the blessing ‘May the offspring of David quickly flourish, and may his horn be exalted by Your salvation—for we hope for Your salvation all day.’
He asks: Why mention ‘because we hope for Your salvation’? If we really deserved redemption, we’d get it without hoping; and if we don’t deserve it, what’s the point of hoping? But according to what we said, it makes perfect sense: Even if we have no merit, still let redemption flourish—because we have hope. And for the sake of that hope alone, we are worthy of being redeemed.”
The second quote was from the Radak, at the end of Samuel II
“And G-d responded to the land and the plague over Israel stopped; G-d accepted the prayers of those living in the land.” (Samuel 2 24:25)
The Midrash says: All those thousands who died in the days of David, it was only because they didn’t demand the rebuilding of the Temple. And just think—if people who lived before the Temple was destroyed suffered for not yearning for it, how much more so for us, who lived to see its destruction! That’s why the Sages and prophets established that every Jew should pray three times a day: ‘Restore Your Divine Presence and kingship to Zion, and the service to Jerusalem, speedily in our days—Amen, Selah.’”