"These are the generations of Yaakov, Yoseph" - The name Yoseph, which means "increase," alludes to the increase of the revelation and dissemination of the teachings of Chabad Chassidus by our Rebbes and leaders, successors of the Alter Rebbe, until my sainted father-in-law [Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak], the leader of our generation, the "Yoseph" of our generation. His primary focus was the realization of the deeper sense of the name "Yoseph": "may G-d increase another son," that is, to take the "other," the "outsider," and transform him into an insider, a "son."
This goal of transforming the "outsider" into an "insider" became even more pronounced when he arrived in this lower hemisphere (analogous to the descent of Joseph into Egypt). His arrival here facilitated the revelation of Chassidus (along with the dissemination of Torah and Judaism) to the entire world, even to the lowliest - the most spiritually remote - regions of the world.
In the forty years since his passing, we have experienced an increase in these efforts, an increase which finds expression in the verse, "paratzta alecha paretz," "you have broken through a breach."
- Vayeishev 37:2.
- Vayeitzei 30:24.
- [Because of the construction of the Hebrew sentence and the double meaning of the word "Acher" (both "another," in the sense of extra, and "other," in the sense of stranger), the phrase may be read in two ways: 1) "May G-d add (increase) for me another son," meaning, give me another son; 2) "May G-d add (increase) for me a son - an other (stranger)," meaning, make the stranger my son. Translator's note.]
- Or HaTorah loc cit.
- [A reference to the Western Hemisphere which in relation to the Eastern Hemisphere, where the revelation at Mount Sinai occurred, is considered lower. Translator's note.]
