Dear Friend,

In this week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, we read of Abraham’s servant Eliezer setting out on a mission to find a wife for Yitzchak. The Torah describes how he prays for success and how his prayer is immediately answered when Rivkah appears at the well, offering water not only to him, but to his camels as well. The Rebbe once explained that Eliezer’s success was not due to luck or coincidence, but to the fact that he was a true shaliach, a messenger fully devoted to his mission.

A shaliach has no personal agenda, his identity is bound up with the purpose for which he was sent. Eliezer’s clarity, humility, and faith opened channels for G-d’s blessing to flow effortlessly. This, the Rebbe taught, is the secret of the Rebbe’s shluchim around the world, thousands of men and women who dedicate their lives to reaching every Jew, in every corner of the earth, continuing the Rebbe’s mission with selfless love.

At a past Kinnus HaShluchim, a Chabad emissary from a remote island told how one night, after feeling discouraged, he dreamed that the Rebbe looked at him and said simply, “You are not alone.” The next morning, he found the strength to continue, and soon after, a Jewish traveler walked into his Chabad House for the first time in twenty years.

That’s the power of a shaliach, to know that when we live for something higher, we’re never alone. Each of us can be a shaliach of light, kindness, and Torah in our own sphere.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zushe Cunin