ShalomNewYork.com

By sending his yeshiva students into the streets of middle America with beards and hats at a time when even observant Jews tried to hide their ethnic identity, Schneerson exerted the single greatest influence on the revival of Jewish pride in the United States, perhaps even more than the creation of the State of Israel”

“The Rebbe wished to do more than initiate a revolution: He wished to create an irreversible change in the nature of mankind, in the history of humanity. Did he not understand that this was impossible? No. The Rebbe knew human nature and understand people in depth, nonetheless, his message to everyone was: “Run ahead, if you cannot run - walk! If you cannot walk - crawl, but make sure to keep going ahead!”. This excerpt was taken from a famous speech made by Rabbi Adin Even Yisroel (Steinsaltz) at the Kennedy library in Boston on the tenth hilula of the Rebbe.

He was also known to have remarked:
“Within the Jewish world, he took Judaism from being a disappearing religion to something that has a future,” Steinsaltz said. He said the shift toward greater observance and greater interest in Jewish study evident today across the denominational spectrum is due to Schneerson’s influence.

By sending his yeshiva students into the streets of middle America with beards and hats at a time when even observant Jews tried to hide their ethnic identity, Schneerson exerted the single greatest influence on the revival of Jewish pride in the United States, perhaps even more than the creation of the State of Israel” col.org.il