This week was very difficult for our family and we are so grateful to our many friends and family for the outpouring of support as my sister and her family sat Shiva for the passing of their baby daughter Bracha obm. When I arrived at their home in Philadelphia which also serves as the Chabad Center serving Drexel University, I was impressed by the diverse crowds of students, alumni, parents and many others who continued streaming in to share their condolences.
In keeping with the theme of their operations on campus, hospitality played a major role in the weeklong Shiva. Throughout the day, a huge spread was laid out on the island counter of the large kitchen and everyone was encouraged to “make a bracha for Bracha.” My niece’s name Bracha means blessing, and while she was never able to articulate the words during the six months of her life, her parents wanted everyone to use the opportunity of their visit to recite blessings before eating some food as a tribute to the memory of our dearest Bracha.
This Shabbat marks 73 years since the Rebbe delivered his first inaugural Chassidic discourse on the 10th of Shvat 1951. It was a powerful inaugural address that set the tone for the Chabad community reeling from the devastation of the Holocaust and Stalinist persecution, setting it on the path to becoming the largest Jewish movement in the world.
During the 40-minute discourse, the Rebbe elaborated on the idea that the revolutionary divine revelation that occurred at Sinai with the Giving of the Torah was the result of seven generations of devotion and service. Although Moshe served as the prophet to deliver the Torah to us and usher in an era of permanent divine presence in our world through the construction of the Holy Tabernacle, his ability to do so was because he was the seventh generation from our first patriarch Avraham - the first person that made it his business to bring the awareness of G-d to all humanity.
For two thousand years humanity had spiraled into a state of idolatry and abject immorality until one couple named Avraham and Sara had the courage to buck the trend and spread the word about G-d, Creator of heaven and earth. They ingeniously set up a hospitality tent in the middle of the desert at the crossroads of civilization. Every traveler was welcomed in and served a feast fit for royalty. When the satisfied guests sought to express their gratitude to their hosts, Avraham and Sara firmly demanded they thank G-d instead of them. When the heathens refused to acknowledge the existence of an omnipotent and omnipresent G-d, they were threatened with a huge bill until they ultimately agreed to say the required blessings.
The millions of blessings recited in Avraham’s hospitality tent set the stage for the divine revolution that followed at Sinai, in the Tabernacle and in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. A revolution that is still underway until the ultimate redemption through Moshiach when every human being and every creation will be permeated with this knowledge as well. And in this historic discourse, the Rebbe declared our generation would make this a reality, through reaching out to every human being and sharing the message of Torah’s divine morality for all.
So the next time you eat some food, please “make a bracha for Bracha.” Discover the appropriate blessings for different types of foods and beverages and recite them regularly and join the millions preparing the world for the blessed era of Moshiach when all pain, grief and anguish will cease forever.