Many Jewish leaders have faced the challenges of their time. The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, did that as well.

But principally, his vision was of the future—a future he believed to be imminent and that would change the world forever.

Here is a collection of thoughts and statements that express the Rebbe’s vision. Some are direct translations. Some are paraphrased. All attempt to remain faithful to the sense of urgency and promise we heard in the Rebbe’s words.




A World Becoming

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


The times in which our generation lives
are not ordinary times.
We dwell on the interface
between two worlds
—a world as it was
and a world as it is meant to be.

Everything is in place,
all the infrastructure
to bind the world together as one,
the technology by which all of humanity
can share deep wisdom,
all that is needed
so that the secret of oneness
can be grasped within the human mind.

The stage is set.
All that’s left
is for us to open our eyes.




Revolution



If you were there
and the forces of destruction
were about to destroy Jerusalem
and you had the power
to do something about it,
would you sit and mourn and cry?

Or would you turn the world
upside-down
to change history?

So what is stopping you?
Turn over the whole world now!




One Last Adjustment

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


Our deeds are the medicine
by which the world heals itself.
It's not size and quantity that matters.
Only one small, good deed
and everything could fall in place.

Which deed will that be?
It could be any one.

Whatever you can do,
do it believing that
this is the one to tip the scales.




UnApocalypse

Photo by Shlomo Vishinsky | Courtesy Zev Markowitz / Chai Art Gallery
Photo by Shlomo Vishinsky | Courtesy Zev Markowitz / Chai Art Gallery


This world was not created
for some apocalyptic finale;
its magnificence was not formed
to dissipate into ionized gas.
Each thing was formed
for the glory of its Maker,
who stands forever.

Only the darkness
must wind itself to its end,
and it must be robbed
of the treasures it holds.
For the most precious things
of this world
are held in darkness.

That is why
we must struggle with the darkness now
and not run from it.

All the torment it gives us,
all our toil to overcome it,
to tame it
and to dig out the diamonds it conceals,
all is with meaning and purpose.

For each obstacle that meets us
on our uphill battle,
each was made for the glory of its Maker.




Unsecret Wisdom

(Courtesy of JEM/The Living Archive)
(Courtesy of JEM/The Living Archive)


In the holy Zohar it is written
that through the study
of the secret wisdom,
the final liberation will come with compassion.
Not with judgment alone.

Now the wisdom is no longer secret.

Sages and masters have found ways
to make it accessible to all.
Those who learn it and spread it,
they are bringing divine compassion
and redemption to the world.




Technology

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


Technology is not here
simply to provide utility.
It is also meant
as a springboard to wonder,
allowing us to conceive our reality
in ways previously unimaginable.

Technology provides
an ever-expanding bank of metaphor
to crystallize the most abstract ideas
into tangible forms.

Don’t think that this is a mere
side benefit of technology.
On the contrary,
for this purpose these ideas
were embedded into the universe
from the six days of creation,
only to unfold in our times.

Likkutei Sichos, vol. 15, pp. 42–48.




Open Eyes

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


After 33 centuries,
all that’s needed has been done.

The table is set,
the feast of Moshiach is being served
with the Ancient Wine,
the Leviathan and the Wild Ox
—and we are sitting at it.

All that’s left
is for us
to open our eyes and see.

Sefer Ha-Sichot 5752, page 165.

(Adapter’s Note: I write these words, but I do not understand.
But then, if I understood them, I suppose I would not need to be told to open my eyes.
)




Power of One

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


One individual had brought the world
to the brink of destruction,
but for the mercies
of the Master of the Universe,
who ordained that
“the earth shall stand firm and not fall.”

Such is the power
of a single human being to do evil.

A thousand times over
is the power of each one of us to do good.

From a letter dated In the Days of Selichoth 5724




Connecting

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


A true master of life
never leaves this world
—he transcends it,
but he is still within it.

He is still there to assist
those who are bonded with him
with blessing and advice,
just as before, and even more so.

Even those who did not know him
in his corporeal lifetime
can still forge with him an essential bond.

The only difference is in us:
Now we must work harder to connect.




In Your Hands Now

JEM/The Living Archive
JEM/The Living Archive


I’m handing it over to you.

Do all you can.

28 Nisan, 5751.