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By Rabbi Sholom Schapiro, Chabad Torah Center – NYC

We are all shocked and appalled by the heinous murder of the Rebbe’s SHliach, Rabbi Zvi HaCohen Kogan, who was murdered while on his post spreading Judaism with acts of goodness and kindness in Dubai.

Over and over again, people have mentioned the smile with which Rabbi Kogan welcomed everyone, and the joy that he always radiated.

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I’ll be spending Shabbat this week together with thousands of Shluchim, the emissaries of the Rebbe from around the world, who have all travelled to Chabad world headquarters for our yearly convention.

There’s a character trait that all these Rabbis share in common: their infectious joy. They are always smiling, and often break into singing and dancing. Why are they so happy? Don’t they have challenges and struggles like everyone else?

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My cousin, a Chabad Rabbi in a city in Russia, was once asked by a visitor how long was he planning on remaining in his current post.

“I’m here until the arrival of Moshiach,” responded my cousin.

“Aha!” said the visitor. “Now I understand why Chabad is obsessed about Moshiach. You’re simply waiting to be relieved of your mission…”

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In this week’s Torah portion we read of the first shliach (emissary) in the Torah, when our forefather Yitzchak sends his son Yaakov to a foreign land. The Torah proceeds to relate the twenty years our forefather Yaakov lived in the land of Charan. He toiled long and hard to establish his family and his fortune. All the while, Yaakov had to contend with his evil father in law Laban, who cheated and connived him every step of the way. Although the struggle was great, Yaakov succeeded in building a beautiful family and amassed great wealth.

The Midrash says that Yaakov spent his time singing the Psalms. At first glance, this seems strange. If he was being cheated and lied to at every turn, would he really be in the mood of singing?

The answer is that Yaakov arrived in Charan with a clear mission, which was to establish a family that would be the forerunner of the Jewish nation, and to work hard in business, in order to be successful financially and spiritually, to uplift the sparks of holiness that were in Charan.

True, Yaakov had difficulties and hardships. However, since he had a clear purpose and goal, those hardships did not affect him. He was able to sing, because he had a clear vision of his destination. As long as he retained that vision he was happy, no matter how much adversity was thrown his way.

When a Chabad Rabbi says that he is staying put until Moshiach comes, he is reminding himself that his mission is to bring the redemption and greet Moshiach. He is not waiting for Moshiach to get him out of here, on the contrary, Moshiach is the very reason that he is here and he’s preparing to greet him.

The same is true regarding the soldiers of the IDF, who put their life on line to protect Am Yisrael, may G-d guard and protect them. Along with the terrible pain for the soldiers who have fallen, they are imbued with high spirits that is expressed in joy and singing and high morale. Because when you stick to the goal, the light shines through the darkness.

This is the lesson for all of us. When we have a clear objective in mind, every single moment spent working towards that goal has meaning. We are all here on a mission, which is to bring our world to the messianic era, when there will be peace and harmony in the world. Keeping our goal in mind makes every day and every action of that particular day a small part of the greater goal.

Every single task is a small reflection of the ultimate purpose. It is not a future goal, it is a current goal that is actually taking more form and substance every single day that we work towards it.

Together with the pain, and our cry to our Father in heaven, “how long can we wait? enough of the suffering and pain of exile!” we must continue to smile and sing, by remembering our goal and purpose.

When your goal is apparent in every step of the journey, how can you not sing?

Shabbat Shalom,

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