רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן בִּתְחִלַּת נְשִׂיאוּתוֹ אָמַר תּוֹרָה: מֵה' מִצְעֲדֵי גֶבֶר כּוֹנָנוּ, אַז אַ אִיד קוּמט אִין אַ אָרט, אִיז עֶס צוּלִיבּ אַ כַּוָּנָה טאָן אַ מִצְוָה, הֵן אַ מִצְוָה שֶׁבֵּין אָדָם לַמָּקוֹם וְהֵן אַ מִצְוָה שֶׁבֵּין אָדָם לַחֲבֵרוֹ. אַ אִיד אִיז אַ שָׁלִיחַ שֶׁל מַעְלָה, אַ שָׁלִיחַ וואוּ עֶר אִיז, אִיז עֶר דעֶר כֹּחַ הַמְשַׁלֵּחַ, דעֶר יִתְרוֹן הַמַּעֲלָה אִין נְשָׁמוֹת לְגַבֵּי מַלְאָכִים — וואָס בּאַ נְשָׁמוֹת אִיז דאָס עַל פִּי הַתּוֹרָה.

Soon after he undertook the leadership of the chassidic community, the Alter Rebbe delivered the following teaching: [It is written:]1 “A man’s steps are made firm by G‑d.” When a Jew arrives at a particular place, this is for the purpose of doing a mitzvah — be it a mitzvah between man and man, or between man and G‑d.

A Jew is an agent of [G‑d] Above, and wherever an agent is, he derives his power from the Sender. The superiority of souls over angels [in this regard]2 lies in the fact that [G‑d confers His agency to] the souls through the Torah.3

Probing Beneath the Surface

As the Rebbe Rashab observes,4 a person occasionally feels that something is drawing him in a specific direction. He does not know why he wants to go there, but he knows he wants to.

What is the source of this motivation? Since he is destined from Above to fulfill a particular Divine intent in that place, G‑d’s Will is now influencing his will, causing him to desire to go there. The above teaching asks us to acknowledge and accede to this dynamic. Doing so will empower us to carry out our uncharted mission more effectively, finding serendipity that enables us to accomplish far beyond whatever we could possibly have originally conceived.

In the letter from which the above-quoted teaching is taken, the Rebbe Rayatz relates how this teaching initiated a series of events that led one of the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim to redeem a Torah scroll that had been in the possession of gentiles for three years.