The Tipping Point Is Here
- Boruch Meir "Meyer" Greenbaum
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
Reflections on Gimmel Tammuz, the Rebbe’s Legacy, and What Comes Next
Yesterday afternoon, I was standing in my brother and sister-in-law’s house in the Valley, gathering my things after a family barbecue. My father-in-law, may he be blessed with many more years of health and joy, was reclining on the couch scrolling through his phone. He looked up and said, “There’s so much propaganda out.”
I paused. “Propaganda?”
“It’s Gimmel Tammuz,” he said, “and the whole internet feels like it’s flooded with videos, pictures, stories from shluchim and regular folks, all about the Rebbe.”
I nodded. “Have you read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point?”
He hadn’t.
So I told him: “We’re at the tipping point.”
He looked up. “Explain.”
And I did.
Ideas, especially world-changing ones, don’t erupt overnight. They begin with a whisper. An invention, a vision, a stubborn belief in something better. In the beginning, it's just a few dreamers pushing uphill, refining prototypes, facing rejection, testing again. For years, they operate in obscurity.
But then, something shifts.
Momentum builds. Adoption grows. And then, almost imperceptibly, everything changes.
Kodak is a go-to example. At its peak in the 1990s, Kodak employed over 140,000 people worldwide and dominated the global photography market. I remember the anticipation of picking up film to see how many of the 24 or 36 exposures had developed well enough to capture the memory I was hoping to keep.
Then, seemingly overnight, Kodak collapsed.
But the first digital photograph? It was taken in 1975 by Kodak engineer Steven Sasson. The prototype was the size of a toaster and recorded a black-and-white image to cassette tape. The company shelved the idea to protect its film business. Over decades, the idea was refined, until smartphones with cameras became ubiquitous and Kodak, clinging to analog, filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
That’s what a tipping point looks like.
In 1951, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, formally accepted the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch. He outlined an audacious vision: to prepare the world for the coming of Moshiach. A time of peace, godliness, and human dignity.
It sounded radical then.
But the Rebbe believed the world would be transformed not through governments or revolutions, but through the quiet power of the individual. One mitzvah at a time. One person influencing their surroundings. He called this making a dwelling place for G-d in the lower realms.
And now, thirty-one years after his passing on Gimel Tammuz 5754 (June 12, 1994), it’s happening.
You can feel it.
Scroll through your feed today and you’ll see Jews and non-Jews, religious and secular, Hasidic and unaffiliated, all reflecting on the Rebbe’s message. Shluchim in Ghana, students in Seoul, businesspeople in Boca Raton. The influence is everywhere.
But this isn’t propaganda. It’s ignition.
It’s the moment where a vision matures into movement, and a movement begins to remake the world.
The Rebbe didn’t just lead. He prototyped a new model for leadership. Not charisma, but commitment. Not control, but empowerment. Not fear, but love.
And he gave us the formula:
You don’t need to fix the world. Just fix your world.
Your dalet amot, your four cubits of personal space.
Clean your space. Refine your character. Live with G-dliness.
That’s how you give others permission to do the same.
We don’t suffer today from a lack of values. We suffer from the urge to impose values.
The Rebbe’s message is simple: Start with yourself.
Live as though G-d resides in the people around you.
Wouldn’t that change how you speak to your child? Your employee? Your spouse?
Wouldn’t that change the tone of society?
If we lived like that, quietly, sincerely, one by one, would the world not feel more whole?
Maybe I’m getting older. I’m turning 50 before next Pesach, and I feel the pressure of time. I remember exactly where I was when the Rebbe passed. I remember the void, the confusion. But now, I feel something else.
I feel a murmuring.
I look around and see 6,500+ shluchim around the globe, millions more inspired followers. A world slowly shifting. A world ready for something real.
When the Rebbe assumed leadership at age 48, he began a mission that continues to expand, decades after his physical passing.
His legacy is not behind us. It’s the future we’re walking into.
There’s a reason everyone’s posting this week.
There’s a reason it’s everywhere.
Because the tipping point has arrived.
🕯️ Glossary of Key Terms
Gimmel Tammuz - The 3rd day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, the anniversary of the Rebbe’s passing in 1994. A time of reflection and recommitment for Chabad and beyond.
Rebbe (Lubavitcher Rebbe) - Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, 7th leader of Chabad-Lubavitch, visionary spiritual leader, and one of the most influential Jewish figures of the 20th century.
Shluchim - Emissaries (male: shaliach, female: shlucha) who are sent by the Rebbe to Jewish communities worldwide to teach, inspire, and bring Jews closer to Judaism.
Dalet Amot - Literally “four cubits.” In Jewish law and thought, it refers to one's immediate personal space, symbolizing the area over which one has control and responsibility.
Moshiach (Messiah) - The Jewish belief in a future anointed leader who will bring about global redemption, peace, and the ultimate realization of G-d’s presence in the world.
Tipping Point - Popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, the moment when a small idea or trend crosses a threshold and begins to spread rapidly and irreversibly.
Kodak moment - Ironically, once meant a treasured photographic memory. Now also symbolizes the failure to adapt to disruption (due to Kodak’s collapse after digital photography).
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