Today is Yud Shevat,marking 70 years of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s leadership after the passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak. The Rebbe was a leader, a nassi, for the entire Jewish nation, and in fact for the entire world. And he still continues to lead us, albeit on a more spiritual level. What is it we need to learn from the Rebbe? What he taught us in the first maamar he said, Basi L’gani: that we are the seventh generation from Avraham Avinu and all sevenths are beloved by virtue of being the seventh from the first. Therefore, what was Avraham’s way of serving G-d? With self sacrifice. He had a mission to accomplish, to publicize G-d in the world, and if that required self sacrifice, that is what he did. And we have to learn from that. Now it is our duty to publicize G-dliness in the world and the idea of Moshiach and we need to do it with self sacrifice as well. This is what the Previous Rebbe demanded and what the Rebbe emphasized. The Previous Rebbe said everything that has to be done is already accomplished; we just need to polish the buttons. What does that mean? It means we need to increase in learning Torah (and especially the chassidus of the Rebbe in order to connect to him); to add in charity, prayer and good deeds in a way of beautification. And when we do that, we are preparing the world for Moshiach.
May we merit to reveal the hidden holiness within the world and to actually do everything we can to bring Moshiach and truly make this world a dwelling place for Hashem.