Inspired by this story, we will bring a special explanation from the Rebbe of Sanz, which begins with a story itself:
Rebbe Chaim of Sanz, the founder of the dynasty, had a young and wise son named Leibush. One time, on Shabbat when the Torah portion of Lech Lecha was read, the Rebbe told his six-year-old son to deliver a Torah teaching in front of all the chasidim. Leibush did not hesitate, and immediately began to interpret the first verse of the Torah portion: “Lech Lecha,” he said, means “go to yourself.” Why? Every Jew is a literal part of the Divine above, and as the Baal Shem Tov said, “one who grasps a part of the essence grasps it all.” Therefore, just as there is no place devoid of Him, so too is it with a Jew: he is in everything and everything is in him. Wherever you go, you find that you have always been there, just by virtue of being a Jew.
After presenting Leibush’s interpretation, the Rebbe continued to explain the rest of the verse, “and you shall be a blessing.” From this verse, the sages learn that “with you, we conclude [our blessing]”—with Abraham our forefather, the first blessing of the Silent Prayer ends, “Blessed are You, God, Shield of Abraham.”
The Shefa Chaim explains this—that we conclude the first blessing with Abraham—in light of the difference between Abraham and his descendants. While Isaac and Jacob were holy from the womb, Abraham was born to Terach, an idol worshipper. Whether he recognized his Creator at the age of three or at forty, by all accounts, he was not born into a house of holiness like the one he established himself. Thus, Abraham is a prototype of a ba’al teshuva (a person who has returned to Torah observance). The conclusion of the blessing in the Silent Prayer with Abraham teaches us that at the end of all generations, in the generation when the Mashiach comes, the leaders of the generation will be ba’alei teshuvah like Abraham. It can be said that this is the secret of the revelation of the crown of the circumcision, completing the transformation that Abraham himself performed in his journey to himself.
Kabbalah explains that the revelation of the crown exposes a special spiritual light: this is the same light that shone from Moses, whom the sages say was “born circumcised,” and at his birth, “the house was filled with light.” When a Jew reveals that the entire world is filled with Divine light, he also uncovers the crown in his soul, feeling at home everywhere in the world. A Jew who recognizes God in the world and in himself reveals the sovereignty of God in the world and also his own sovereignty—the spark of Mashiach in his soul. Thus, through the power of the ba’alei teshuvah, the sovereignty of the Mashiach is revealed.
