Dear friends,

I spent time this week combing through the newly released diaries of the Rebbe's mother, looking for something that would serve as a window into the life of her heroic husband, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, of righteous memory, whose anniversary of passing we mark this week.

I was struck by the Rebbetzin’s painful depictions of Soviet Jewry’s suffocation under an oppressive regime. But I was uplifted by her descriptions of her late husband’s superhuman defiance and triumph. In the selection featured below we read how Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and his illustrious sons inspired a student named Mitya Gurary to live a fully observant Jewish life, even while active in communist youth groups.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was an erudite scholar and a deep mystic. But above all he was a selfless leader, who loved G‑d and His people with every fiber of his being. He lived (and ultimately died) to ensure that Jews and Judaism survive and triumph. He simply refused to allow the Jewish spirit to be crushed. He taught, guided, shepherded and led by example.

I pray that my children and I take his lesson to heart – and action! – in today’s era of freedom and plenty.

Menachem Posner,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team

P.S. We join our fellow Jews across the globe in mourning the passing of visionary philanthropist Sami Rohr, of blessed memory. May G‑d console his children, and may his memory be a blessing and a shining example to us all.