* Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
“Who are you and where are you a shaliach (emissary)?”. That’s how every conversation began here in New York at the now concluded annual gathering of Chabad emissraires from around the world.
“Mendy, in Thailand,” you might have heard, or “Yossi, in Tel Aviv,” or “Shmuel, in Siberia.” After hearing so many responses to that question, I almost asked people who were not shlichim the same question...
But perhaps - this would not have been a mistake. After all, each person would do well to ask a similar question: Who am I, and what is my Shlichut? Where am I meant to be?
A mother in her kitchen making sandwiches for her kids when they go off to school is where she is meant to be. This is her Shlichut. A farmer working in his fields is where he is meant to be. Moreover, in every small act performed throughout the day, it’s possible to experience this sense of purpose. Each of our souls was sent down to earth by God to fulfill its special divine calling, to be expressed in whatever we do.
Many went away from this inspiring gathering amazed by everything the Chabad movement has achieved. But the goal of the Lubavitcher Rebbe was not just to have more and more shlichim — numbering 6,500 today — pose for a group picture. Instead, it was to have everyone who looks at this picture ask: Who am I and where is my shlichut?
