Rabbi Shmaryahu Gurary ("Rashag") was born in 1898; his father, a wealthy businessman and erudite scholar, was a leading chassid of the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn (1860-1920). In 1921, Rabbi Shmaryahu married Chanah Schneersohn (1899-1991), the oldest daughter of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950). When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak passed away in 1950, there were those who saw Rabbi Shmaryahu -- an accomplished Chassidic scholar and elder of the Rebbe's two surviving sons-in-law -- as the natural candidate to head the movement; but when the younger son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, was chosen as rebbe, Rabbi Shmaryahu became his devoted chassid. Rabbi Shmaryahu served as the executive director of Tomchei Temimim, the world-wide Lubavitch yeshiva system -- a task entrusted to him by his father-in-law -- until his passing on the 6th of Adar I in 1989.
The Torah tells a story about each one of us, a story in which one day we all eventually return home.
Some read it as an instruction. But it is best read as a promise:
And you will return to G‑d, your G‑d…you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 30:2)
Because, ironic as it may seem, returning home, to your true self, to your people and to your G‑d, and discovering your own essence that was somehow lost along the way is the most independent act a human being can do.
It means taking ownership of your life, shedding the harness of circumstance, overriding the whip of impulse, and saying, “It’s my life. I will be who I am. And I am one with my G‑d and with my people!”
Nobody can tell you to do that, not even G‑d. It’s the one thing that’s entirely up to you.
But He can write in His Torah that you eventually will come back home.
Because how could it be otherwise?