Message from Behind the Iron Curtain

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin, Moscow’s chief rabbi, was sent by the Soviet government to the United States to assure the West that Soviet Jewry faces no discrimination and is free to practice its religion.

Rabbi Levin was accompanied by minders who listened to his every word. Despite his own convictions, during a speaking engagement in New York, he displayed photographs of Jewish institutions in Moscow as evidence that Soviet Jewry was thriving.

He was challenged by some members of his audience and accorded a hostile reception by some Jewish leaders who saw his presentation as counterproductive to the cause of Soviet Jewry.

The Rebbe, understanding his predicament, saw the matter in a very different light.