World War II Erupts

Chassidc discourse of Rabbi Joseph Isaac published in a special edition in New York in the year 1929.

In the year 5689 (1929) the Rebbe visited the land of Israel and afterwards proceeded to the United States. In New York he received a civic welcome and was granted the freedom of the city. Hundreds of Rabbis and lay leaders welcomed the Rebbe and sought personal interviews with him. During this visit, he was received by President Hoover at the White House.

Returning to Europe, he continued his various activities, but in order to have better facilities for his work he took up residence in Warsaw in 5694 (1934). The activities of the Lubavitch seminaries in Poland had by now gained considerable momentum. The central seminary in Warsaw and nearby Otwosk attracted many hundreds of scholars from all parts of Poland and other countries, including the United States. Two years later the Rebbe took up residence in Otwosk and directed all his activities from there.

At the outbreak of the Second World War in September, 1939 (5699), the Rebbe refused every opportunity to leave the inferno of Warsaw until he had taken care of his seminaries and done everything possible for his suffering brethren in the Polish capital. He remained there throughout the terrible siege and bombardment of Warsaw and its final capitulation to the Nazi invaders.

Even during this time he managed to evacuate a great many of his students to safer zones, and all the American boys who had been studying at the Lubavitch seminary at Otwosk were safely transported back to their homes in the United States.

His courage and fearlessness (he had a Sukkah built and observed the mitzvah of “dwelling in the Sukkah” at the height of the bombardment) were a source of inspiration to the suffering Jewish community of Warsaw.

With the cooperation of the Department of State in Washington, the Rebbe’s friends and followers worked incessantly to arrange his journey from Warsaw to New York. Finally, the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his family were offered safe conduct to Berlin and thence to Riga-Latvia was still neutral at that time. Once there, the Rebbe continued to help the numerous refugees who had succeeded in escaping from Poland to Lithuania and Latvia.

On Adar Sheni 9, 5700 (March 19, 1940) the Rebbe arrived in New York on the S.S. Drottningholm. He was enthusiastically welcomed by thousands of followers and many representatives of various organizations, as well as civic authorities.