The Rebbe’s Yizkor Speech

The unity of all Jews derives from the fact that every Jewish soul is “an actual part of G-d Above.” Therefore, “Jewish unity” is not limited to Jews who are alive, but includes those who have passed on, as well.

Once a year, this unity is most manifest. On Yom Kippur, even a Jew who doesn’t attend synagogue all year, comes to recite Yizkor. So powerfully bound is the soul above to the soul below that this Jew parts with his hard-earned money, in order to “buy a seat” in a synagogue — a House of prayer and Torah study.

What stirs him so to openly display that, regardless of his behavior the rest of the year, he is a Jew like all others? What compels him to join with fellow Jews in prayer and charity?

The answer: It is his bond to the souls Above. All Jews are uniquely stirred during Yizkor when they recite the names of their loved ones in the World of Truth, realizing that at that very moment their souls are present here below.