While society struggles with gender inequality in the workforce and the dearth of women CEOs in America, Brooklyn is hosting thousands of Chabad Women Emissaries (Shluchos) from around the world. Equal partners in the historic and legendary Chabad Lubavitch imprint on the global Jewish community. The annual convention is an opportunity for them to network, strategize, share inspiration and enjoy each other’s company.
In their respective communities they serve prominent roles in education, leadership and influence. But if you would approach these remarkable people at the conference and inquire about their main occupation, pride and passion in life they will undoubtedly say raising their families and being a homemaker.
It should come as no surprise since they are full fledged members of the Chassidic community and appropriately fit this specific stereotype projected on Chassidic women. But what sets them apart as revolutionaries and untraditional is the fact that they are creating such homes and nurturing such families outside of the large communities that normally facilitate them, to say the least.
The Rebbe addressed the participants of the first International Convention of Chabad Women Emissaries in the winter of 1991 and provided the context which sets apart their unique form of leadership than that of their husbands.
After the Revelation at Sinai, the Israelites were instructed to build a edifice that will serve as G-d’s home. “They will make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell within them”.
Our sages note that grammatically the verse should have employed the singular term “in it” - to imply the G-d intends to dwell in the edifice the Israelites would build. However the verse specifically concludes with the plural form “in them” to express G-d’s ultimate purpose and desire in Judaism. We are empowered to transform our private lives and homes into a dwelling place for the Divine. G-d wants to dwell “within us.”
As the mainstay of the home, it is the Jewish woman that has the ability to fulfill this divine wish. This concept eclipses all other considerations and history has proven that proper, healthy and happy Jewish households are the reason we are here today.
Although it is vital to develop organized Jewish communities and services throughout the world, the paramount reason the Rebbe dispatched young couples to every corner of the globe was so that they set up traditional Jewish households and serve as a prototype to the local Jews they encounter and engage. It is a mission that is accomplished primarily through the women and their credit alone.
This weekend I and thousands of my colleagues are getting a taste of what our wives do year round. While the administrative and ceremonial elements of our work may slow down for the next few days, the work of Jewish homemaking never stops.