Celebrating the Connection

The Rebbe’s 75th birthday:

Today’s gathering is not about a private individual. It is only that I had the good fortune to be able to help others to grow in Torah and Mitzvos, to assist and encourage them to the best of my ability… And to transmit the wisdom found in the holy books, and that which I heard from my father-in-law, the Rebbe, and also from my father and from elder Chassidim...

Although they are addressed to an individual, the blessings and good wishes for success are really blessings for the work, and all who engage in the work, of disseminating the authentic teachings of Judaism everywhere one can reach, from “the heads of your tribes… to your woodchoppers and water-carriers.”

Just as the “woodchopper and water-carrier” certainly need encouragement and assistance, so do “the heads of your tribes” – no matter how great a scholar one might be, there is always room to increase, for Torah obligates every Jew without exception: “Increase in matters of holiness.” And “Who is wise? He who learns from every person.”