Video

I have been asked: “Now that you’ve reached 70 years isn’t it time to slow down and enjoy some rest? The number of one’s years is irrelevant; the real question is: were those years utilized to the fullest? Every honest person knows he could have accomplished more in his youth, so now is the time to work with greater strength to double one’s achievements.

On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, the Rebbe gives spirited advice to those approaching the age of retirement.

At an age when most people retire, the Rebbe initiated an unprecedented expansion of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, and called for seventy new institutions to open their doors. Here the Rebbe shares his thoughts on putting one’s golden years to use.

During a gathering in 1980 marking the passing of his father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the Rebbe announced that it was high time that seniors start using their time more productively. He went on to establish a network of institutions to help them do just that. It was called Kolel Tiferes Zkeinim, Levi Yitzchak.

Revealing a glimpse of the wisdom that moves himself, the Rebbe addresses questions that go to the very core of the human experience: Why am I here? Why do I struggle? And more importantly—what am I capable of becoming?

The United States prides itself on its work ethic. Yet, somehow, it has cultivated the idea that one’s useful work life is over by age fifty or sixty. When one is no longer as strong and energetic, one is given the right to decrease in the activities relevant to his mission in life. The Torah instructs us that as long as we are alive, our mission is alive and we must do no less than previously.

Can we get older and still be lovable? The Rebbe’s perspective on aging, and tips on how to age gracefully, positively and successfully.