The publication date of this article is 3 Tammuz, which marks the 29th anniversary since the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ob’m. As such, in preparation for this day and in collecting my thoughts for the purposes of this column, I have been reflecting on the meaning of leadership.
It feels as if many of our conceptions and definitions of certain key terms have become muddled due to millennia in exile. And that is inevitable if we don’t remain vigilant and focused on the subtle changes that are introduced into our mind and psyche just by immersing ourselves within the air of the exile. But on a day like this, on which the life’s work and dedication of the Rebbe over his 92 years in this world takes center stage, if we try hard enough we can catch a glimpse of what true leadership is and perhaps be able to tap into it in navigating the meandering roadways and the vicissitudes of our lives.
I was thinking somewhat in jest, since it is advisable to begin a presentation with a tinge of humor, that the Zohar famously says that a tzaddik is more accessible following his passing from this world than during his life here. The conventional rationale behind this is that during his life a tzaddik is, on some level, bound to his corporeality and after his passing is freed from those confines and can be accessed any time and from any place.
However, perhaps on a simpler level, during a tzaddik’s life in this world, access to the tzaddik is obstructed by a dedicated gabbai, or, in Chabad parlance, a mazkir; however, following the Rebbe’s physical passing from the world, equal access to the tzaddik is now made possible.
I was thinking about this phenomenon of a gabbai or mazkir positioning himself between the tzaddik and the chassidim. Regarding the relationship between Moshe Rabbeinu and Klal Yisrael, the Torah writes “Six-hundred-thousand people on foot are the people in whose midst I am.” It’s interesting, then, that Rebbes who are meant to serve as the extension of Moshe in every generation are obstructed by gabbaim who might take away from the level in which the tzaddik is standing amongst his people.
Although the Lubavitcher Rebbe had secretaries, and very good ones at that, much of the Rebbe’s system of leadership was meant to transcend the separation and distance between the Rebbe and his chassid. In the words of the Rebbe in a sichah that he delivered in his later years, the time has come when every Jew can be addressed by the title of admor, which is the honorific of a Rebbe, and stands for “adonenu morenu v’rabbenu.” The Ba’al Shem Tov himself foretold this when he was once banging his head against a tree trunk and said that there will come a time, prior to the coming of Mashiach, when there will be thousands of Rebbes. There was no other Jewish leader who sought to herald the fulfillment of this vision than the Lubavitcher Rebbe. As the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, ob’m, famously quipped in his keynote address at the Kinus HaShluchim, “Good leaders create many followers, but great leaders create leaders,” and that was the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s way—not to stand above the people but among them, shoulder to shoulder.
In his book Social Vision, the late Dr. Phillip Wexler, in cooperation with Chabad.org researcher and scholar Eli Rubin, wrote that spinning off of the late sociologist Max Weber, the Lubavitcher Rebbe sought to create a mystical sacralized society wherein the people become imbued with sanctity and a sense of meaning and purpose to carry out the objective of creation. They pointed out that in his farbrengens, which the Rebbe would hold on Shabbos, yom tov, and on days of significance on the Chassidic calendar, the Rebbe would sit rather than stand, putting himself among the people rather than above them.
The system of shlichus, which had begun in the tenure of his father-in-law and predecessor and was taken to the next level in his own tenure at the helm of the Chabad Lubavitch organization, was based on the Talmudic concept that a person’s messenger assumes the literal space of the sender. The Rebbe sought to confer his sense of leadership on his messengers who would in turn continue to pass the baton to those whom they teach that which they learned from their shliach. The Gemara in Kiddushin on the verse “v’shalach v’shalcha” deduces that one shliach can appoint another shliach, and so it continues.
This is in great contrast with the celebrity class system where certain individuals distinguish themselves from mainstream society by virtue of their accomplishments and success. Even within Jewish life itself there is a relationship known as rebbe and talmid or mashpia and mekabel wherein there is a hierarchical relationship, with the teacher at the top and the student below, receiving his direction. However, even within this hierarchical system Chazal write regarding the process of procreation: “The droplet doesn’t descend downward before two droplets ascend from the counterpart upward.” What this says is that both parties in a relationship—marriage and otherwise—are on the giving and receiving end simultaneously.
In an entry in his private notebook that was found after his passing in 1994 the Rebbe writes that G-d created the world in such a manner that all creatures are at the same time giving and receiving. However, there is a messianic prophecy that states that the coming of the Messiah will herald a time when, “One man will no longer teach his fellow, for all mankind will possess an intimate awareness of G-d.”
I have decided to write about this aspect of the Rebbe’s life this year in light of the teaching of the Ba’al Shem Tov, which was later echoed by the Rebbe that all Jews can be referred to by the honorific “admor.” Because instead of just being a day when we pay homage to one of the greatest leaders of Jewish history, if we have learned anything from the Rebbe’s life and his mission in this world, it would be that the day of his passing should not be seen as a day that created a vacuum of leadership but rather one that heralded the entrance of thousands more leaders carrying out his vision and objectives with greater urgency.
May the Rebbe’s memory give us the courage to stand up and make a difference in our lives and that of our families, our neighbors, our cities, and ultimately the entire world with the coming of Mashiach.
Yochanan Gordon can be reached at ygordon5t@gmail.com. Read more of Yochanan’s articles at 5TJT.com.
