Yud - Shvat. A leader/shepherd. Rebbe spoke about Love..

Tomorrow is the 10th day of the hebrew month of Shvat, it marks the anniversary of the passing of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. And 60 years of leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe or simply known as "the Rebbe".

What is a leader?

Before he became a leader of Israel, Moses was a shepherd.

The Midrash tells how one day, while Moses was shepherding the flocks a kid goat ran away. Moses chased after it, until they came to a spring and the kid began to drink. Exclaimed Moses: "Oh, I did not know that you were thirsty!" He cradled the runaway kid in his arms and carried it back to the flock. Said the Almighty: "You are merciful in tending sheep-you will tend My flock, the people of Israel."

Besides demonstrating Moses' compassion, the incident contains another important lesson: Moses realized that the kid did not run away from the flock out of malice or wickedness--it was merely thirsty.

When a Jew alienates himself from his people, G-d forbid, it is only because he is thirsty. His soul thirsts for meaning in life, but the waters of Torah have eluded him. So he wanders about in foreign domains, seeking to quench his thirst.

When Moses understood this, he was able to become a leader of Israel. Only a shepherd who hastens not to judge the runaway kid, can mercifully lift it into his arms and bring it back home.

The evening of his acceptance the Rebbe spoke about love -- about the interrelation between love of G-d and love of one's fellow. He stated, that The three loves -- love of G-d, love of Torah and love of one's fellow -- are all one.

A person who loves G-d, will eventually come to love what G-d loves -- all His children. And one who truly loves a fellow Jew will inevitably come to love G-d, since love of one's fellow is, in essence, the love of G-d.