Goshen’s Legacy
This teaching of “to show him the way to Goshen,” emphasizing the crucial need to establish Jewish infrastructure even in Egypt (i.e., exile), laid the spiritual foundation for a significant development in the 1920s and ‘30s. During this period, the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, began sending his personal emissaries, known as “Shluchim,” to various cities in and around the Soviet Union, including Russia, Poland, Latvia, Georgia, and others. Their mission was to create Jewish infrastructure, often operating underground and at great personal sacrifice, in order to keep the flame of Judaism alive under the Soviets.
Upon his arrival in the United States in 1940, the Sixth Rebbe continued his work, immediately sending emissaries to various American cities in order to establish Jewish infrastructure and combat the assimilation.
When the Rebbe succeeded his father-in-law in 1950, he expanded this effort, sending emissaries all over the world. In 1972, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, the Rebbe announced a birthday wish for 71 new Chabad institutions before his 71st birthday. Despite the seeming impossibility (there were probably only 100 or so Chabad institutions worldwide), the Rebbe received his gift, and 71 new institutions, including Chabad of the Valley—my life’s work—were established.
It is astounding to observe that after the Rebbe’s passing in 1994, Chabad’s global outreach efforts grew exponentially. One need only do a quick internet search and see that in many places I cannot even pronounce there are shluchim of the Rebbe hard at work creating and growing Jewish infrastructure.
All of this stems from the profound lesson of “to show him the way to Goshen.”
