Rabbi Shneur Zalman's yartzeit
From: Chabad.AM Editorial Staff 2006-01-24 02:42:58
The 24th of Tevet (coinciding with January 5 this year). It is the yartzeit of Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad Chasidic philosophy.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman's works incorporated the whole spectrum of Jewish thought. The philosophical system he created is a synthesis of the mystical and revealed aspects of Judaism. But Rabbi Shneur Zalman was not "merely" a cold, analytic scholar, as the following story reveals.
Once, Rabbi Dov Ber, Rabbi Shneur Zalman's son, was studying late at night, his infant son in a cradle nearby. Rabbi Dov Ber was so immersed in his studies that when the baby fell out of the cradle he did not hear the child cry. Rabbi Shneur Zalman was also studying in another part of the house. But he heard his grandson's cry and quickly went to pick him up.
"You must always hear the cry of a child," Rabbi Shneur Zalman rebuked his son.
This simple admonition is like the rallying cry of all of Rabbi Shneur Zalman's descendants and followers since then. Rabbi Shneur Zalman devoted his life to hearing the cry of every child-regardless of his chronological age. Indeed, within each one of us there is a child crying out to his Father in Heaven, waiting to be picked up, brought close. Rabbi Shneur Zalman's teachings, especially his main work, the Tanya, were written to help enable one to achieve that very closeness.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman's works incorporated the whole spectrum of Jewish thought. The philosophical system he created is a synthesis of the mystical and revealed aspects of Judaism. But Rabbi Shneur Zalman was not "merely" a cold, analytic scholar, as the following story reveals.
Once, Rabbi Dov Ber, Rabbi Shneur Zalman's son, was studying late at night, his infant son in a cradle nearby. Rabbi Dov Ber was so immersed in his studies that when the baby fell out of the cradle he did not hear the child cry. Rabbi Shneur Zalman was also studying in another part of the house. But he heard his grandson's cry and quickly went to pick him up.
"You must always hear the cry of a child," Rabbi Shneur Zalman rebuked his son.
This simple admonition is like the rallying cry of all of Rabbi Shneur Zalman's descendants and followers since then. Rabbi Shneur Zalman devoted his life to hearing the cry of every child-regardless of his chronological age. Indeed, within each one of us there is a child crying out to his Father in Heaven, waiting to be picked up, brought close. Rabbi Shneur Zalman's teachings, especially his main work, the Tanya, were written to help enable one to achieve that very closeness.
