It was 1957 and time for a revolution. Chabad was known for the past two centuries as a path of spiritual union with the divine. The Rebbe was now driving that same spirit and outlook into social activism.

At one point, the Rebbe sobbed profusely as he spoke to his chassidim:

Your soul, the divine breath inside you, cries in complaint, “Give me a break! It’s enough already! How long can you expect me to endure? All I want is just a little respite so I can experience a moment of oneness with the divine!”

But the answer is “No!”

G‑d, in all His essence and being, pounds on the door and says, “No!”

“Because right here behind this door stands a Jewish child that knows nothing about Jewishness. Absolutely nothing!”

“You need to play with this child for half an hour. Then you’ll need to take the child for a walk, give the child some treats. Do whatever you can until you will be able to learn with this child, ‘kametz, alef, ah!’”

This is what Jeremiah told his protege, Baruch, when he made the same complaint: The Holy Temple lies in ruins, the Jewish people are in exile, and in the middle of it all you can only think of your own spiritual status—achieving divine spirit and prophecy?! (Jeremiah 45:4-5.)

The moment of spiritual ecstasy you desire is no more than a faint glimmer of the divine. G‑d Himself, where all light begins, awaits you in the alef-bet of that child.

Shabbat Bereishit 5714 (second farbrengen)