Arrest and Liberation

After being freed from Russian prison on the 19th of Kislev, 1798, the Alter Rebbe wrote a letter describing the circumstances surrounding his liberation. It is striking to see how much emphasis he places on the impact his liberation had on the non-Jews of S. Petersburg.

Reb Shmuel reputedly said to the Rebbe: “If you are a true Rebbe, you have nothing to fear by being arrested. If you are not, you deserve whatever they will do to you”

“Do you believe that the Torah is eternal?” asked the Rebbe. “Do you believe that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times?”

A Rebbe's choice: three words or 50,000 followers

With the Alter Rebbe's release from prison in 1798, he began to teach Torah's secrets in a way that would brighten every Jewish home, and would permeate the outside world.

On the 19th day of the month of Kislev, the first Chabad Rebbe, R' Shneur Zalman, was released from prison in 1798. It is said that his trial was the result of a parallel case in the heavenly court. What were the charges and how are we to understand the idea of heavenly prosecution altogether? What difference did the ruling make in our lives today?

This day marks the “birth” of Chassidism, when the long-hidden secrets of Judaism emerged from the womb of mysticism to illuminate and transform the totality of Jewish life.