Soviet Union, The (Former)

Defying rogue regimes, the Rebbes of Chabad-Lubavitch and their emissaries risked their lives to keep Judaism alive across the Soviet Union. Their efforts enabled the embers of Judaism to spark the transformation of Jewish life thriving there today.

"Thirteen years ago, my parents made two big announcements..." Yakov Danzinger shares what life is like in Rostov, Russia – offering an inside view as the son of the Chabad emissaries there. This video was produced in honor of Yakov’s Bar Mitzvah.

Tracing the postwar history of Yiddish publishing in the Soviet Union, describing the infamous purge of Yiddish writers in the early 50's and the subsequent revival in the late 50's. Looking particularly at the history of the Journal 'סאוועטיש היימלאנד' (...

May God grant you good tidings to report from every place you visit. If Judaism can flourishing under oppression in the USSR, how much more so should it flourish here. Those who are here; who don’t face all these challenges, should hear it from you.

Precious little is known of the tremendous devotion and self-sacrifice of Chabad activists in upholding Judaism against the oppressive Communists’ ruthless stamping out of religion. Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie shares fascinating insights and anecdotes to illustr...

The founder of Chabad was imprisoned by the Tsar in 1798 and 1801, but yet took a patriotic stance in the war of 1812. In Soviet Russia, intense persecution forced Chabad underground and its center eventually moved to the United States. Nevertheless, Chab...

Rabbi Dovid Hollander visits the Rebbe and discusses returning to Soviet Russia to help the Jews being oppressed under the Communist regime.

Rabbi Eliezer Nisilevitch recalls the dangers his family faced in the Soviet Union as members of the Jewish underground, and the strength and direction they received from the Rebbe even after they had succeeded in emigrating to Israel. (1971)

Tzipporah Edelkopf was born in Kharkov, in the Soviet Republic of Ukraine. As a young girl, she managed to immigrate with her family to Israel. Her parents traveled to the Rebbe but couldn’t afford to bring her along. When the Rebbe heard why she was miss...

Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan serves as the director of the Bronnaya Synagogue in Moscow. He is a former refusenik and leading figure in the Soviet Jewish underground. Although he later had numerous encounters with the Rebbe, as a young child, all he knew was what...