The Significance of a Rebbe's 10th Yahrtzeit

The following is a freely translated excerpt from a letter by the Lubavitcher Rebbe dated February 4, 1960, issued to his chassidim on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the passing of his predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, which occurs on the Hebrew date Shevat 10:

The Rebbe's 10th yahrtzeit carries a special significance, as expressed by the verse (Leviticus 27:32): "The tenth shall be holy." We draw down this holiness into our world with our avodah (life's work and service of G-d), by engaging the ten powers1 of our two souls2 with the ten types of human activities3 in a world created through ten Divine utterances4.

Certainly the Rebbe's yahrtzeit should be utilized to conduct an honest soul-searching and stock-taking of what has been done in the last ten years, compared to what could and should have been accomplished, and to resolve, in a most deep and penetrating way, to achieve it, and to surpass it with an ever-ascending increase in light.

The Rebbe's merit will surely protect us and grant us much success in all of the above: to disseminate, with tranquility, joy and goodness of heart, the Torah, its mitzvot, and their inner soul -- the wellsprings of Chassidic teaching -- to the very "outside," thereby bringing Moshiach5.

Thus will be fulfilled the Divine promise (Genesis 28:14): "And you shall burst forth to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south."