A few years ago, in an attempt to stay awake at the Passover seder (leaving Egypt takes a really long time), I was browsing the summaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s talks in the Toras Menachem Haggadah. What caught my eye was the Rebbe’s teaching on how to see the oneness in G-d’s creation. In this world of diversity and concealment, the beauty of the Rebbe’s message of unity can not be shared often enough.

The Rebbe explains that the divine purpose of Judaism is monotheism – to demonstrate how the varying aspects of this physical world are unified expressions of one G-d. Since G-d is truly one then “we can reveal how even the tiniest detail of this world is significant because it contains a spark of the Divine, and its inner identity is nothing other than an expression of G-d.  We can embrace people as they are, encouraging them to come to an awareness of the truth by themselves, and support their efforts to become better people.” The Rebbe continues that the way to do this is to nurture the inner sanctity of every being on this planet, not by the degrading it, or conquering it, but by bringing its true, G-dly identity to the surface. (Likutei Sichos vol. 20, p.218).

The Rebbe embodied this approach to the world by demonstrating kindness, concern and respect for anyone who came in contact with him.  For years, the Rebbe personally welcomed thousands of people, from all walks of life, to share their worries and hopes on the “Sunday dollar line.”  Each person came before the Rebbe at 770, the Rebbe’s synagogue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to exchange a few words and receive a personal blessing and dollar to give to charity.  The lines were long – I can personally attest to that, having spent many Sundays waiting six hours and sometimes longer.  The Rebbe was in his 80’s and stood the entire time. When questioned once whether he tired from standing for so long on his feet, the Rebbe smiled and replied “When you are counting diamonds, you don’t get tired.” We see how the Rebbe embraced and valued each person as they are, and encouraged them to serve G-d in their own unique way.

In 1991, after the riots in Crown Heights, the Rebbe was visited by David Dinkins, the mayor of New York City.  The mayor asked for a blessing of peace between the two peoples, the Jews and the Blacks.  The Rebbe responded “Not two peoples, but one people, under one administration and under one G-d.” (Toward A Meaningful Life by Simon Jacobson). Through seeing the unifying divine in each person, we are able to bring people together to create a more peaceful, G-dly world.

As the prophecy of Geula is revealing itself, when “there will be neither envy nor strife, because goodness will flow in abundance etc.”, we are witness to seeing greater unity amongst people.  The Rebbe’s message to CNN that it is “on our part to do something additional in the realm of goodness and kindness”, hastens this time. Websites encouraging compassion and acts of kindness to strangers are abundant — Kickdarkness.com and Lifevestinside.com are just two of many.  

Enjoy this video by the chassidic reggae singer Describe, which reflects this sentiment.  It is from his We R 1 album which was released in honor of World Kindness Day 2012.