Accepting the Decree with Simchah

According to an eyewitness account, during the darkest days of the Holocaust a Jew asked the Rebbe, "Rebbe, what do you say now?" He answered: "Listen, my brothers and sisters, exalted people of Hashem and Hashem's nation. It is not up to us to question Hashem and doubt His actions. If it has been decreed that we shall serve as sacrificial offerings, korbanos of the 'birth pangs of Mashiach' to hasten the coming redemption, by climbing the ramp to the fire and being cast to the flames, happy and praiseworthy are we that we merited this. Chazal say, 'May it arrive and may I not see it,' referring to the time just before the final redemption. But for us who live in these times, to reach this level of sacrifice, we must rejoice and be b'simchah that we shall merit to purify all of Am Yisroel. I urge you not to resist and not to cry as you approach the fiery ovens. Rather, rejoice and sing Ani Maamin, and do as Rebbi Akiva did upon his martyrdom, reciting the Shema Yisroel and dying with the word Echad on his lips."