Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Yisroel Noach Teitelbaum on the occasion of his engagement. Mazel Tov to Levi Gurarie on the occasion of his engagement. May they use out the special period of Yokor Mikol yokor to its’ utmost! Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Levi Gotlieb on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Yossi Labkowski on the birth of their son. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Isser Lubecki on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Yehoshua Lavner and the entire Lavner family on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Zalmy Kass on the birth of their daughter. Mazel Tov to Rabbi & Mrs. Ephraim Oster on the birth of their daughter. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be true chayolim/os! (If anyone is aware of any mazel tov’s that I omitted please let me know).
Thank you as always for the feedback, it is much appreciated.
Beginning in the 1960’s, the youth of the world were experiencing a massive revolution. Known as the hippi e movement, young people were strongly rejecting the cultures and ideologies in which they had been raised, and were challenging the accepted norms of mainstream society. In an explosion that attracted hundreds of thousands of followers – with disproportionately high numbers of Jews – and spread throughout the civilized world, these young people were disgusted and disillusioned with the materialistic and selfish focus of the generation of their parents. Developing their own ideology along with its subculture, they preached love and peace, tolerance and spirituality. They rejected worldly comforts, and were instead into togetherness, holding massive farbrengens in the great outdoors while being entertained by rock music.
While the momentum gradually waned, it had a tremendous impact on society, which continues to be felt to this very day.
While many of their objections to the norms were actually arguably very valid – including their rejection of society’s obsessive pursuit of money and materialism and endless wars and fighting – the movement degenerated into many negative behaviors, including excessive drug use in order to experience altered states of consciousness and extreme permissiveness and liberalism with regard to immodest and immoral lifestyles.
The Rebbe explained that what was taking place, at its root, was the result of the תקיעה בשופר גדול, or the call of the shofar. Blowing shofar on Rosh Hashono represents calling out from the depth of our being to Hashem; a call so pure and absolute that it transcends words and is expressed as a plain cry. So too, the call of the shofar of Hashem to us is a revelation and expression of the very depth and essence of G-dliness; that aspect of Hashem that transcends description and explanation. This is why the era of Moshiach is associated with the “blowing of the great shofar”, for this represents the tremendous revelations of G-dliness that will occur then. And chassidus explains that this process has already begun.
The call of the Shofar, then, refers to a revelation of Elokus that is a forerunner to the ultimate revelation that will occur through Moshiach. It was this manifestation of G-dliness, this intense revelation from Above, the Rebbe explained, that was experienced by those Yiddishe neshomos in the 60’s, which resulted in them being stirred and aroused from their slumber. This in turn resulted with a feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction with the lives they were living and an intense search for something better and more real.
The Rebbe charged chassidim (and klal Yisroel in general) to take advantage of this revival, by channelling the soul-awakening that was taking place into what their neshomos were actually seeking; - a life of Torah and mitzvos.
Indeed, many many baalei Teshuva emerged from this movement, having been helped to identify what it was that their soul was actually craving. In the maamar 'והיה ביום ההוא יתקע בשופר גדול that was said on Rosh Hashono 5728, and that the Rebbe was magiha in honor of Rosh Hashono 5752 (the last maamar to date that the Rebbe was magiha for Rosh Hashono) there is discussion (at the
