Sixty years ago, on a frigid January night, several hundred people crowded into a small synagogue in Brooklyn to join an event that would change the world forever. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson accepted leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement with his signature understated style. But the vision he articulated that night was anything but small. The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitchak Schneersohn, had accomplished what many deemed impossible: defying communist persecution, he survived to establish centers of Torah in what was then a spiritual wasteland. The seventh generation, said the new Rebbe, must complete the task of drawing the Divine Presence back down to this material world.

The Rebbe, of righteous memory, made it clear that it is within the reach of every person to achieve this goal. Thus, on 10 Shevat we reflect not only on the Rebbe’s extraordinary capability as a leader, but also the enormous capability and responsibility that we each possess. No act of respect is too small, no mitzvah is too simple, no inner struggle is too insignificant to transform the world. We need only make the effort, and we will see miraculous results.