On a cold winter night in Riga, Latvia, almost one hundred years ago, a group of young women streamed into the Kramnikov home, stomped the snow off their boots, removed their coats, and greeted one another with excitement. Dressed in their finest, their cheeks ruddy from the cold, they surveyed the room where a veritable feast adorned the table.
These young women were no strangers; they were friends, sisters, and schoolmates, gathered that night as the founding members of Achos Tmimim, a newly formed girls’ group dedicated to the study of Chassidism. They were there to celebrate Yud-Tes Kislev, one of the most important days in Chassidic history.
The Mystery
My interest in these young women began with two photos.1 One shows a group of girls in school uniform, complete with ties and pins, holding a sign that reads, “With the help of G‑d, Achos Tmimim, the younger class, 20 Tevet, 5700, Riga” (Monday, January 1, 1940). In the center, sits an older woman, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah Schneersohn (1860-1942), mother of the Sixth and then-current Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950).2 The second photo features girls clustered in rows, festively attired, with two rabbis on the margin.3
Who were these young women? Do we know their names? Why had they gathered on these occasions? My quest for answers would uncover a fascinating and little-known history of Chassidic girls’ education in interwar Latvia and the United States that underscores Chabad’s revolutionary approach to women’s spiritual agency.
Jewish Education
The answer takes us back to the late 19th century, when most Jewish boys learned in cheder and then continued on to trade apprenticeships (or further education if they were particularly gifted). In contrast, most girls learned Judaism mimetically from their mothers and attended compulsory public school for general studies. Wealthier families also hired tutors for their daughters.
The exposure to world cultures coupled with the lack of formal Jewish education left young Jewish women particularly vulnerable to the allures of their surrounding cultures. During the early 20th century, the Jewish press was abuzz with shock as waves of young women fled their families for secular lives.
Although not yet rebbe, around 1910, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak composed a lengthy and scholarly reply to a letter from Miss Sonia Gurary in which he delved into the Chassidic concept of “the intellect guides one’s actions and emotions” to vivify them.4 This may have been the first time Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak provided spiritual guidance to a sincere young woman, but it certainly was not the last.
In 1917, Sarah Schenirer founded Bais Yaakov in Krakow, Poland, the first school to provide formal Jewish education to Orthodox girls.5 Her student-body of 25 nearly doubled in the school’s first month, and by 1919 had grown to 280 students. Bais Yaakov rapidly proliferated into an international movement following its adoption by Agudath Israel’s “Keren HaTorah,” a subsidiary that funded Orthodox schools spanning numerous countries, including Latvia.6
Stormy Waters
Just as Schenirer’s radical innovation set out to change the world, Tsarist Russia experienced its own upheaval: the Bolsheviks seized power in the 1917 October Revolution and Chabad’s Tomchei Tmimim yeshiva—founded two decades earlier, in 1897—was decentralized, scattering students in small semi-secret institutions across Russia and Ukraine. The January 1918 establishment of the Yevsektsiia (The Jewish sections of the Communist Party) threatened to destroy all Jewish parties, organizations and institutions.
In 1920, the Fifth Rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Dovber, passed away in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and his son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, immediately stepped in to captain the ship through very stormy waters.
In the summer of 1927, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak was arrested on charges of “counter-revolutionary” activities and imprisoned in Spalerno Prison, in Leningrad. Due in large part to the interventions of Yekaterina Peshkova, the ex-wife of Russian literary giant Maxim Gorky and the head of Russia’s Political Red Cross, the original death sentence was commuted to banishment and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak was sent to Kostroma, a city about 240 miles north of Moscow. It was around this time that news of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s arrest and imprisonment broke on the world stage, the resulting international pressure leading to the Rebbe’s release 10 days later.
Nevertheless, his life remained in danger.7
Over the next few months, Chabad chassid and Latvian parliament member Mordechai Dubin spearheaded an ultimately successful campaign for the USSR to allow the Rebbe to leave the country.8 The Rebbe, his family and precious library arrived in Riga on Thursday, October 20, 1927, the day after Simchat Torah. From Riga, the Rebbe continued his work on behalf of Soviet Jewry, but also threw himself into improving Jewish spiritual life in his new home. Eventually, he founded a branch of Tomchei Tmimim in Riga, and a few years later became a Latvian citizen.9
After visiting the Holy Land and the United States in 1929-30, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak moved to Warsaw in 1934 but maintained strong bonds with his disciples and friends in Riga. It was against this backdrop of spiritual and religious trauma, forced migration, and political upheaval, that Achos Tmimim took root. Concurrently, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak articulated his stance on women’s Torah study and delineated Chabad’s posture toward engagement with modernity.
Interregnum Latvia
Latvia became an independent country only after the First World War, having previously been occupied by Sweden, Poland, Russia, and Germany.10 Under Tsarist rule its character had changed profoundly: 40% of all Jews living outside the Pale of Settlement made their homes in Latvia’s Livonia and Courland provinces.11
Following Latvian independence and the establishment of The First Republic of Latvia (1918 – 1940), Jews flowed in from surrounding countries and many obtained citizenship, producing an interwar community of exceptional diversity and cultural richness, with high levels of autonomy and political agency. Though Daugavapils (Dvinsk) had a long-established Jewish community, communities now flourished in many more cities and towns in the country, including Riga, Liepāja (Libau), Jelgava (Mitau), Ventspils (Vindoi), and Jēkabpil (Yekabstadt).12 The Jews of Latvia participated vigorously in the new country’s politics, where they were represented by a range of Jewish parties: largely Agudath Israel, Mizrachi, and “Ceire Cion” (Tze’eirei Tzion), with a smattering of Marxists and Bundists too.13
Jewish Latvia bustled with social, educational and philanthropic activity. Jewish clubs dotted the country, as well as Jewish university fraternities, a Jewish polytechnic society, a hospital and health services, and educational organizations. Documents from The Latvian National Historical Archive record the existence of Jewish societies for women’s culture; a free loan fund; a society to assist rabbis and migrants, a Jewish Union; hostels for travelers and the indigent, among many others.
The community held a striking degree of autonomy under the leadership of the aforementioned Dubin, a Chabad Chassid who served as chairman of the Riga Jewish Community and also headed the local Agudath Israel party.14
Reflecting the community’s diversity were some forty Jewish newspapers and magazines, spanning the political spectrum from the left-wing Zionist Frimorgn to Agudath Israel’s Hajnt,15 edited by Shimon Wittenberg (1903-1945)16 and Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov (1902-1993).17 Wittenberg’s wife, Sima Rasha—who was born in the village of Lubavitch—administered the Agudath Israel girls’ school, while Hodakov was principal of the Torah v’Derech Eretz school system. In 1934 he was appointed director of Jewish education for the Latvian Ministry of Education. He would later head Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s Secretariat, and serve as chief of staff of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, for nearly half a century.18
Jewish Education in Interregnum Latvia
As early as 1929, an impressive 82% of Latvia’s Jewish children attended Jewish schools,19 and by 1933 the community supported 100 Jewish primary schools and 14 secondary schools.20 Riga alone boasted 10 Jewish primary schools, seven Jewish high schools, a Jewish vocational school, Jewish public university, Jewish public conservatory,21 Jewish trade school, and a cantorial school.22 Though Yiddish was widely known, the languages of choice in the upper echelons of Jewish society were German and Russian; by 1940, 80% of local Jews could communicate fluently in Latvian. And between 1920-1937, Jews made up an impressive 12.76% of all graduates from the University of Latvia.23
Despite these markers of cultural enculturation, the majority of Latvia’s Jews were religious, sustaining over 200 congregations in a country the size of West Virginia and boasting internationally renowned rabbinical leaders such as Rabbi Yosef Rosen,24 the famed “Rogatchover Gaon”; Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, author of Ohr Sameach;25 Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook, who served as rabbi of Bausk before relocating to the Land of Israel, where he became chief rabbi;26 and many others. As scholar Dovid Margolin observes, Jewish life in interwar Latvia in some ways resembled Jewish life in contemporary America: religious yet enculturated, educated, prosperous, and established.27 With this background we turn to the emergence of Achos Tmimim.
Pre-Achos Tmimim Initiatives
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak began advocating for greater women’s participation in Jewish life almost immediately after becoming rebbe. During his 1929-30 whistle-stop visit across the United States, he called for the formation of women’s groups. He spurred the 1931 establishment of a “Women’s Society” in Latvia, and his declamations on the subject were published and distributed widely.28
A tantalizing glimpse of what was to come appears in the Iyar 1934 edition of the Bais Yaakov Journal, where an address delivered by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak to a gathering of Bais Yaakov and Bnos members in Riga is recounted.29 The content of the address was also included in the Hebrew adaptation ofLikkutei Dibburim.30
The first eye-opener is that of a Chassidic rebbe speaking directly to a group of girls and women, something extraordinarily revolutionary at the time.
In his lecture, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak noted two instances in the Torah where women are mentioned before men: at the Giving of the Torah and in the donations to the Tabernacle. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak described how each of the donated items provides a moral and spiritual lesson in how a woman should ensure her home is one where all under its roof live a Torah life.
Notably, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak enjoined his listeners not only to adhere to the laws of Family Purity themselves, but to convince their acquaintances to do so as well. The Rebbe did not direct women to discuss these matters with their “friends” but used the more distant term ”acquaintances,” a subtle but profound indication of Chabad’s emerging approach to outreach and to women as spiritual activists.
In August 1936, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak wrote from Otwock, Poland, “It is the duty of the wives and daughters of the chassidim … to stand at the forefront of every enterprise that would strengthen religion and Judaism in general, and in particular, family purity.”31 His own mother, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, had played an active role in administering social services and raising financial support for the Tomchei Tmimim yeshivah. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak expanded beyond this supporting role to present women as guardians of mitzvah observance and transmitters of Jewish identity for other women.32
Over time, “Associations of Women and Girls of the Tmimim” sprang up in a variety of locations, founded with the explicit goal of fulfilling Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s impassioned calls for increased mitzvah observance. However, no formal structure yet existed by which women might channel these desires—or do so in a distinctly Chassidic way.
But all that was about to change, through the initiative of a group of young women in Riga who stood at the crossroads of Chassidism, secular Baltic Jewish life, and a German-Jewish educational tradition.
The Torah v’Derech Eretz School
We return now to the Torah v’Derech Eretz schools, founded by Rabbi Yoel Baranchik33 in 1920 under the aegis of Tze’irei Agudath Israel. A year later, a girls’ branch opened under the direction of Malka Meierovitsh. Rabbi Hodakov was appointed headmaster and exerted himself to ensure that the school achieved government recognition, received its fair share of state funding, and most importantly, that its program aligned with an authentically Jewish worldview.34
The network thrived and expanded to Daugavapils, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Karsava and other Latvian cities, with a program familiar to any contemporary day-school graduate: half a day Judaics and half a day general studies.35 In 1925, the network added a high school which was almost certainly the one attended by the girls of Achos Tmimim, as suggested by the photograph of them in uniform. As of 1930, the Riga branch educated 319 students under the tutelage of 27 teachers.36
As an Agudath Israel school under the aegis of Keren HaTorah, the school was very much in alignment with Samson Raphael Hirsch’s model (as was Bais Yaakov at the time) and “encouraged the older students to continue their studies in the university and at the same time to stay connected to Torah, mitzvahs, and yirat Shamayim [fear of Heaven].”37 The curriculum included Jewish philosophy, “literature of the Talmud,” Tanach, Hebrew language, and Jewish History, as well as general studies. It’s fascinating that it was students from Torah v’Derech Eretz who formed the nucleus of Chabad education for girls.38 Their unique synthesis of deep chassidic identity alongside a broad general education mirrors that of several early Chabad organizational leaders in the United States; first among them, Rabbi Hodakov himself. In some ways, it was here that the ground was laid for a brand of activism that meets the cultural moment with a religious fervor that is at once sophisticated and authentic.
Yud-Tes Kislev, the Birthday of Achos Tmimim
The first documented mention of Achos Tmimim appears in connection with.a December 3, 1936, Yud-Tes Kislev gathering.
Following a stroke, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak was unable to hold the traditional Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen that year, creating an obstacle to hiskashrut—the bond between chassid and rebbe.39 In response to this challenge Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak composed Kuntres Chag HaChagim Yud-Tes Kislev40 (hereafter, The Scroll), motivated by the same concern that had inspired the establishment of the scholarly Chabad journal, HaTamim, then in its second year of publication.41
A pastoral letter directed chassidim to read The Scroll publicly during the course of a farbrengen that included telling chassidic stories, reciting a chassidic discourse, and singing chassidic melodies. In addition to recounting the arrest and liberation of Chabad’s founder (the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman), The Scroll presented a concise history of Chassidism and Chabad, an articulation of its worldview, and a glimpse into its history in the Land of Israel.
As one scholar reflects, “The Scroll may thus be seen as an attempt, at one and the same time, to forge a unified Habad consciousness in the face of the reality of its uprootedness and dispersion, to reinforce and preserve Orthodox Judaism in the face of both repression and the processes of secularization, and to provide a basic lesson in Habad history and ethos.”42
Celebrants were directed to discuss The Scroll’s contents, to share a written account of their experience with the editors of HaTamim, and to submit a report to the Rebbe noting the spiritual resolutions they had undertaken.43
Given this context, it becomes clear why a newly formed Chabad girls’ group chose The Scroll as their foundational text: it provided the structure by which they could enter the Chabad conversation and formalize their female chassidic identity. That the layers of protocols surrounding The Scroll served to trigger the establishment of institutionalized chassidic learning for Chabad girls is evidenced by a letter the young women penned to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak:
To His Holiness, the Rebbe Shlit”a,
We, B’nos Chassidei Chabad, celebrated again this year, the festival of redemption—19 Kislev—just as we did last year, possibly with even more joy and happiness. On the evening of the 19th of Kislev,44 we all gathered at the home of Mr. Kramnikov’s daughter, where a large festive meal was arranged. Before the feast, was the declamation of the precious Scroll that was received this year. The reading was divided amongst us, with each person reading one chapter. Following that we sang the niggun of the Alter Rebbe, whose soul is in Paradise. Afterwards, we sang joyful tunes and danced a lot with great joy and happiness.
After the festive meal, we read The Scroll once more, with great deliberation and close attention, and danced again until after midnight, and we blessed the Rebbe from the depths of our hearts45 with all good, forever.
And now, we request of our holy Rebbe Shlit”a, as in the previous year, to merit his good blessing.
The letter is signed by the members of B’nos Chassidei Chabad in the typical manner of a formal report to the Rebbe (known as a duch); with one’s name and one’s mother’s name. A photograph of the letter was printed in a pseudonymous memoir written by “H. Chasidov,” later identified as Pessia Pizov. 46
B’nos Chassidei Chabad to Achos Tmimim
In response to their letter, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak appointed three “shepherds”47 to guide the young chassidistes (Yiddish feminine form of chassidim, extending a term often taken to refer to menfolk into the female realm): Rabbi Mordechai Heifetz, who had prior experience teaching chassidism to a young woman,48 and whose own daughters were members of Achos Tmimim; Rabbi Avraham Eliyahu Asherov, rosh yeshiva of Tomchei Tmimim in Warsaw, whose daughter also belonged to the group; and Rabbi Elya Chaim Althaus.49 All three were alumni of the Tomchei Tmimim yeshiva in Lubavitch, described as “giants in Torah, chassidism, avodah [Divine service], and yirat Shamayim [fear of Heaven]”…[who were therefore selected] “to implant within the daughters of chassidim the importance of learning chassidic teachings and the vitality and warmth of chassidut.”50
It was Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak himself who bestowed the name “Achos Tmimim” upon the group and promulgated a program of chassidic study. The name was deliberate and laden with meaning: “The Chabad yeshiva, where young men study and labor in the teachings of Chassidism, bears the name Tomchei Tmimim — it is only fitting, then, that their sisters, who also dedicate themselves to ascending the lofty ladder of Chassidism, should be designated as Achos Tmimim.”51
Dr. Naftali Loewenthal emphasizes the revolutionary scope and spirit behind this ambitious program: “Two decades after Sara Schenirer’s founding of Beit Yaakov in Krakow, which did not include overtly mystical material on its curriculum, Aḥot ha-Temimim was breaking new ground: the girls studied the spiritual talks and discourses of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, and … the Tanya.”52 The group “met on a regular basis to study together under expert male guidance, tackling selections from Shneur Zalman’s Tanya, the rebbe’s own talks, as well as some of his spiritually demanding discourses, which Joseph Isaac urged them to translate into Yiddish in order to make them more widely accessible.”53
In addition to their study of sichot (chassidic talks) and ma’amarim (chassidic discourses), the group was directed to hold farbrengens as “an important educational component of the process of internalisation of the hasidic ethos.” This reflected the pedagogical model of the original Tomchei Tmimim in Lubavitch, where pupils studied Tanya, “mystical philosophy,” and “contemplative prayer” – a curriculum that was radical for its time, even for young men, and all the more so for young women, whose history of formal Jewish education spanned scarcely two decades.54
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak expressed intense personal concern for the development of the young chassidistes, as evidenced by his letter to Rabbi Heifetz dated 23 Sivan, 5697 (Wednesday, June 2, 1937): “Regarding Achos Tmimim … please report in detail all the particulars of their studies – and most importantly, whether any practical outcome is evident; surely you know how deeply I care to be informed of the spiritual conduct of each and every son and daughter of the chassidim. From the brevity of your report, I infer that the learning is being carried out in an obligatory fashion and lacks inner desire.”
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak went on to distinguish between kabbalat ol – the quality of unquestioning obedience to Torah and Torah authorities – and the deeper engagement that authentic Torah study and personal integration and implementation requires. While kabbalat ol has great utility, “when it comes to study in general, and especially with students, service based solely on obligation does not produce the appropriate benefit.” Instead, he urged that Torah study be done in a manner that will “awaken the inner point of the soul, and such awakening is only possible through study done with inner willingness and feeling.”
The letter continues to explore various kinds of motivations and their implications for education and character development. The central messages in this letter of guidance to Heifetz in his work with Achos Tmimim are that true spiritual growth begins with inner desire, not mere compliance; that one’s evil inclination can sometimes masquerade in the guise of religious zeal, distracting us from actual mitzvah observances by proffering religious window-dressing; that genuine service of G‑d can only be truly fulfilled through the performance of physical mitzvahs involving the body, not only the soul; that inner fire is necessary to burn up spiritual opposition; that education – both in word and deed – is the indispensable duty for every Jew and Jewess; and that sincerity and authenticity in our relationship with G‑d are necessary for growth.
This communique can be read as Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s manifesto in Chabad’s approach toward confronting secularism: a call for educators of integrity; the cultivation of depth, sincerity, and authenticity; the transformative power of community and story; above all, that spiritual vitality is sustained when expressed in concrete and actual mitzvah fulfillment.
Proclamation and Promulgation
Five months later, on 18 Marcheshvan 5697 (Tuesday, November 2, 1937), Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak publicly announced the existence of Achos Tmimim through a letter published in HaTamim:
It's been some time since an organization was founded in the city of Riga (May G‑d watch over them) composed of a group of Chabad girls, which is called Achos Tmimim. The HaTamim editorial board ought to take an interest in this—for any matter having to do with Chassidism or Chabadskers should be of interest to HaTamim.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak then directs curious parties to the Three Shepherds for further information:
They should ask [the Shepherds] their thoughts on the matter, because each will express his opinion individually. In particular… Rabbi E. Ch. Althaus, because he will provide a detailed description of the organization.55
It’s striking that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak viewed the formation of Achos Tmimim as a matter of importance to the entire Chabad community and worthy of inclusion in its central journal, HaTamim, and not merely a peripheral matter of relevance only to women.
By this time three study groups comprising fifty-eight girls were learning chassidut, something hitherto unheard of.56 The inclusion of chassidus in the curriculum of Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim was groundbreaking, but “Girls learning chassidut?! Women are obliged, of course, to study and know accurately whatever pertains to the mitzvot they must observe, and that in itself is a considerable amount of Torah … But women learning chassidut, the deepest facets of Torah, the mysteries of Kabbalah?!"57
Despite initial public shock and astonishment at this unprecedented phenomenon, “it is clear that the Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak viewed women's involvement as a key part of the broader chassidic mission — not just in terms of maintaining religious observance, but also in transmitting the values of Chassidism to the next generation.”58
This view is reflected in the tone of heartfelt urgency in a letter from Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak (14 Kislev, 5698/18 November 1937) to one Rabbi Pinchas Mintz about his daughter’s education: “...the fact that there is still no opportunity for her to fulfill her desire to study the words of chassidut— this is not good.” Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak then continued with a charge famous within Chabad circles: “Every father is obligated to think for half an hour each day about the chassidic upbringing of his children – sons and daughters,” urging “every member of Anash and every student of Tomchei Tmimim … [to] constantly reflect on how and with what to explain and illustrate to them the ways of the chassidim, which are a heritage passed from parents to children.”
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak cites Achos Tmimim as the living example of this approach:
Not long ago, the daughters of chassidim in the holy community of Riga awakened to arrange among themselves the study of chassidic teachings — specifically discourses on Divine service — as well as organizing farbrengens. Blessed be G‑d, they are succeeding in their studies, and good results are evident.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak closed by encouraging Chabad communities everywhere to undertake such initiatives, underscoring an astonishing twist in the chain of transmission: the initiative of these young women had set the new standard for the entire Chabad community, and the older generation must now hasten to follow the lead of the daughters.59
Achos Tmimim and Their Work
The young women of Achos Tmimim keenly felt the honor, responsibility and power of their role “in transmitting the values of chassidut to the next generation.” Among their earliest undertakings was a translation of The Teaching of Chabad-Chassidut and its educational and ethical meaning: An answer from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to a correspondence from Germany. This essay, written by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak in response to Dr. Chava [Eva] Bittner of Germany— who inquired whether it was fitting for German Jews to study Chassidic teachings—outlined the foundations of Chabad Chassidism, its history and canon, and first appeared in HaTamim in 1936.60
The title page of the 1937 publication bears the words: “Translated from the Holy Tongue into Yiddish by B. Godin and Ch. Michailover, members of Achos Tmimim.”61 Some editions state, “Edited by the members of Achos Tmimim, Riga,” and others, “Edited by the member of Achos Tmimim, Pessia, daughter of R. Michael Pizov (may she flourish), Riga.” This was just one of a number of booklets that the group undertook or was entrusted with publishing.
Their second publication, Igeret Kiyum Nefesh m’Yisrael (A Letter on Sustaining a Jewish Soul), bore on its cover the inscription: “Sent on behalf of Achos Tmimim in Riga.”62 The work takes its title from the eponymous teaching as to the preciousness of every Jewish person. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak glosses the famous Mishnah – “whoever sustains a single Jewish soul is considered as if they sustained an entire world” – to encompass even more so, spiritual succor, emphasizing that engaging with Torah and chassidut generates a profound ripple effect across generations. This booklet was reprinted several times over the next few years, attesting to the particular resonance of its themes for the young women of Achos Tmimim.
Institutionalizing the Movement
In June 1938, a sister branch opened in the United States under the name “Achos HaTmimim.”63 Like its Riga counterpart, the group was assigned three mentors as well as directives for study. In August, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak requested, “When the studies are organized, G‑d willing … certainly I will be notified in detail, for it will be a great delight to align myself with the times when the Tmimim … and the Achos Tmimim are learning chassidut.”64 These words reveal the Rebbe’s desire to remain spiritually present with his young chassidim and chassidistes in America, perhaps to meditate on what they are learning, so that the spiritual bond between chassid and rebbe could transcend the physical distance.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak continued to think deeply about the Riga group, guiding them in strengthening and expanding their scope, while emphasizing the importance of their self-governance:
Every class should have a committee that manages […] matters of study, the fixed times for farbrengens, and in selecting the subject ("theme") of the farbrengen […] and in the work of spreading the message. Everything should be recorded.
… the members of the older class already have the ability to establish a well-organized structure…the time has come for the Achos Tmimim institution to define [itself] as an institution with a specific purpose, organized with established regulations, to serve as a model for its sisters in other cities and countries.65
In addition to general guidance to the group and its leaders, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak also corresponded personally with individual members, including Miss Michailover, who sought Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s counsel in how to “fill the emptiness of action” with spiritual inspiration.
On January 11, 1939, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak replied with a detailed and intensive composition outlining two paths to G‑dliness.66 The first emphasizes actual mitzvah observance through simple faith and utter kabbalat ol. The second is the path of meditation and contemplation. In earlier generations, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak notes, chassidic women as well as chassidic men engaged in this practice, by means of which their spiritual essence overcame their physical shells. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak then described a meditation method by which one’s physical actions become linked with and animated by one’s inner soul.
Chaya Sima is encouraged to utilize this method until she has integrated it so completely that “[the] topic is clear […] in all its smallest details, so that one can speak about it as if, with the skill of one’s words, one were painting a scene.” Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s goal for Chaya Sima—in fact, all of Achos Tmimim—was to achieve authentic learning, defined as study that becomes inseparable from one’s inner dialogue and habitual thought, such that the learning infuses one’s daily life and living.
Yechidut with the Rebbe
Following the Nazi invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939 (17 Elul 5699), Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and his family went into hiding in Warsaw. Chabad activists around the world leapt to secure his rescue.67 A December 17 (5 Tevet, 5700) telegram from Rabbi Heifetz in Riga to Rabbi Yisroel Jacobson in the U.S. tersely states, “Rabin and familie (sic) arrived well Riga.”68 Having narrowly escaped the Nazis, and in temporary quarters, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak remained unwavering in his focus on the growth of Achos Tmimim and education for Jewish girls. Just two weeks after the family’s arrival in Riga, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah met with the girls of Achos Tmimim, a momentous encounter memorialized in the aforementioned photo showing the rebbetzin seated amongst the young women, their placard proudly declaring the name of their institution.
It is at this juncture that the most astonishing chapter of this story unfolded. The young women of the Riga branch (via their ‘shepherds’) requested an audience with their Rebbe and he accepted. The meeting took place at 6:00 p.m. on the eve of Purim Katan, and its entirety is detailed in Sefer HaSichos of the Rebbe Rayatz.69
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak told his young chassidistes that he preserved all the reports sent in by their shepherds and followed their progress minutely. He expressed his pride in their development and shared his expectations of them for the future.
Then, in an extraordinary pedagogical exchange of places, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak invited one student from each class to provide a summary of the most recent ma’amar they had studied. Miss Devorah Bliner, representing the older division, gave over a précis of the ma’amar Tzohar ta’aseh lateivah; Miss Rivkah Kramnikova, of the younger division, reviewed the ma’amar Lech Lecha.
In the era of the Rebbe Rashab as well as that of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, chassidim selected for their intellectual powers of understanding and memory (known as chozrim, or “repeaters”) would often review and recite the Rebbe’s maamar for him as well as for gathered chassidim. With this backdrop, what unfolded here is remarkable: newly hatched chassidstes engaged in this same traditional practice, stepping into a role historically held by seasoned chozrim. !
Summarizing such a complex text would require deep understanding of the original discourse, indicating the heights these students had reached. It’s staggering to envision these young girls standing before their rebbe, giving voice to his own lofty words; the pressure they must have felt, perhaps the nervousness in the room lest they make a mistake, their shepherds bearing weighty responsibility on their shoulders, and the awesome honor the Rebbe had placed in them.
Following these recitations, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak addressed the girls. Among the central themes he emphasized was that the purpose of Achos Tmimim is to ensure the actual fulfillment of the mitzvahs imbued with the emotional vitality generated through the study of chassidut. Chabad chassidut is meant to engage the mind so thoroughly that it captures the heart as well. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak clarified that although the path of mussar also seeks to stir the heart, it does so through breaking one’s desires, penance and asceticism.70 In contrast, Chabad chassidut works toward these aims by cultivating a sense of closeness [to G‑d].71
Interestingly, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak did not dispense with the study of Mussar entirely, noting that it remains necessary for repelling negative traits and bad habits: “The long-standing custom [in Chabad] was that the classics of Mussar were studied with a chassidic flavor.” Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak also emphasized the importance of studying practical halachah, since an ignoramus cannot be a chassid.72
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak then delivered a talk on Eishet Chayil (A Woman of Valor), which he translated as “A woman who has power,” explaining that this power manifests in her leadership of her husband and children. The talk ended by emphasizing the aim of Achos Tmimim: “To awaken within the Jewish daughter the inner Jewish spirit; to destroy the false grace and the false beauty, in striving to achieve the appropriate height upon which the Jewish daughter should stand.”
This stirring encouragement was followed with a pointed caution. “Each body of scholarship confers a certain strength. So too, the study of chassidut gives a certain toughness. This chassidic toughness is the proper and right good.73 But since there’s no good without some bad [this toughness can lead to] a lack of discipline towards the teacher or a feeling of contempt towards parents. This is against the most important principles of chassidut. If something like this happens within the members of Achos Tmimim, it hurts me very much, and I ask that this be rectified with all haste.”
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak closed with blessings for the girls to “be good children to your parents, good students to your teachers74 and worthy members of the fellowship under the holy banner of Achos Tmimim,” and that their parents should merit to raise them “to Torah, chuppah (marriage), and good deeds.”75
The visit concluded with Miss Minna Skobla offering thanks to the Rebbe for founding Achos Tmimim, after which the girls blessed the Rebbe with “complete healing and happy travels” on the upcoming move to the United States. Miss Pessia Pizov recalled that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak responded with a blessing and a request: “May all of you be well materially and spiritually. May G‑d help that I hear good news from you, and you from me. Your relationship to me should be like children to a father, because I consider all those who are attached to me as [my] children…”
This event was also groundbreaking in yet another way. The meeting between Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and the girls of Achos Tmimim established a precedent, as his son-in-law and successor, the seventh Rebbe, would enact such encounters, addressing Chabad women and girls assembled in the main shul of 770 Eastern Parkway, while the male chassidim stood in the women’s balconies around the room. These gatherings, held before Rosh Hashanah and Shavuos during the annual women’s convention, carried forward the message first articulated in Riga: that the education and spiritual strength of Jewish women are central to the vitality of chassidut itself.76
Achos Tmimim Branches Out
Within days of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s meeting with Achos Tmimim, the girls were galvanized into action, organizing activities in other communities and founding branches beyond Riga.
The first of these was established in the historic Jewish city of Dvinsk (Daugavpils), on 17 Adar I, 5700/ 26 February 1940.77 “Today we initiated the founding of Achos Tmimim [of Dvinsk]. Six girls came, may their numbers increase, and I spoke to them in the home of Rabbi S.Y. Pinkowitz (may he flourish).” Mrs. S.Y. Pinkowitz was none other than Esther Asherov, proudly continuing her tradition as a Chabad chassidiste, and working to implement the Rebbe’s vision for Jewish women.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak responded warmly and with encouragement: “I was happy to hear about the Achos Tmimim gathering in your location. To the extent possible, classes should be held twice a week. Certainly, efforts should be made to ensure that during vacation time there is greater involvement. It is necessary to organize outreach efforts among their acquaintances to bring more into Achos Tmimim. May G‑d assist them both materially and spiritually.”78
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak contacted the central branch on 12 Adar II 5700 / Fri, 22 March 1940, to ask for an update on the three-week anniversary of Achos Tmimim of Dvinsk and, having received replies from both Esther Pinkowitz and Miss Beila Heifetz, sent each individual letters of encouragement and direction.79 To both he expressed pleasure with their work and asked each to convey his personal blessings to the members of their study sessions.
Three decades after the founding of Bais Yaakov, we have a burgeoning network of women’s groups studying mystical texts like Tanya and direct two-way communication between a rebbe and his chassidistes. Even more striking was Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s request that these young women transcribe and share the content of their Torah speeches with him, an extraordinary development in how women’s Torah learning was viewed and affirmed within the Chabad worldview.80
Chassidim Never Say farewell
Ten days after the meeting with Achos Tmimim, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and family departed Latvia for the United States. Accounts of his farewell speech and first-hand accounts of the community’s send-off splashed across three issues of Hajnt.81 The family’s flight to Sweden and subsequent sea-voyage were reported on, up to and including their arrival in New York on 9 Adar Sheini/19 March 1940.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak continued a vigorous correspondence with the central branch of Achos and they appear frequently in his letters to others, such as in this communication to Rabbi Heifetz:
Before my departure, I met with several Achos members and some asked and spoke with me about various matters. I ask that those who visited then be informed that I am interested to know the results and current state of the matters we discussed at that time, and I request that they write to me directly.82
And:
Please write in detail about each one of the Achos Tmimim, may they flourish, and their circumstances in body and spirit—what they are engaged in. Give them my personal regards and a special and individualized blessing to each and every one…83
Following the report of a joint farbrengen held by Achos of Daugavpils and Riga, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak replied (20 Iyar 5700/May 7, 1940) with great positivity and appreciation:
I was delighted to learn the content of the addresses delivered by the members of the Daugavpils branch, Miss Keider (may she flourish), Miss Zelikman (may she flourish) and Miss Kaufman (may she flourish). It was especially gratifying to hear that members of the central Achos Tmimim committee—Miss Heifetz, Miss Skobla, and Miss Kramnikova, may they flourish—were in attendance.84
Send forth your bread upon the surface of the water, for after many days you will find it (Ecclesiastes 11:1.)
In June 1940, the Soviets invaded Latvia and established totalitarian rule. Religious schools were shuttered, Jewish cultural and community organizations were dissolved, and open expressions of Jewish life were suppressed. Riga’s Jewish community, with its long and rich history, was dismantled within a few short months. Achos Tmimim was forced to cease its public activities, but continued them clandestinely under grave peril.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak continued to write to community members but used codes to refer to them and other chassidim.85 The last communication we have about Achos Tmimim of Riga is from Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak to Rabbi Heifetz, dated April 10, 1941. “Personal greetings and blessings to all the relatives and sisters.”
Bolstered by the knowledge of their rebbe’s love and guidance, “despite the difficult situation, Jewish life continued, and so did the chassidic life of the members of the Achos Tmimim organization.”86
Tragically, the sword of destruction eventually reached Riga. With Germany’s invasion of Latvia in the summer of 1941—Operation Barbarossa—most of Riga’s Jews, including the students of Achos Tmimim and their shepherds, were murdered in mass killings carried out by the Nazis and their eager Latvian collaborators, primarily in the Rumbula Massacre.87
Riga’s vibrant and flourishing Jewish life was cut down, and buried with its holy martyrs was the history of the pioneering young women of Achos Tmimim and their life-stories.88
But the legacy of Achos Tmimim endures. The seeds planted in Riga — the conviction that Jewish girls should not only receive a Torah education but also internalize the teachings and spirit of chassidut — took root across generations. Today’s network of Chabad girls’ schools and institutions spanning the globe are the fruit and living monuments to the vision and leadership of the Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, and the faith, courage, and power of the teachers and students of Achos Tmimim of Riga.
When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak reached the United States in 1940, the spirit of Riga crossed the ocean with him. In the years after the war, Achos HaTmimim of New York was succeeded—by Bais Rivkah and other Chabad schools for girls. Additionally, after-school study circles of Achos HaTmimim have since scaled up into a global movement of women’s learning, outreach, and communal leadership. The voices of those young women echo in the joy and courage of today’s chassidistes, who carry the light of chassidut to every corner of the world.
As I look back at these photographs, now having traced every name I could recover, I hear the call of Zelda Mishkovsky-Schneersohn’s poem, “Every Person has a Name.” To recover the identities of these young women, I compared faces from the two surviving photographs with the names in the duch, their mothers’ names often providing the decisive key. I consulted records of Lubavitcher families in Latvia to confirm these matches and situate each girl within the context of her family.89 I triangulated these findings with materials from the University of Latvia’s Center for Judaic Studies and Yad Vashem. This layered work allowed me to rebuild the basic contours of nearly every girl’s life story.
This work was not merely archival in nature, but an act of respectful and grateful reconstruction: to restore to each young woman her name and her life story; to ensure that the tragedy of her death does not eclipse the achievements of her truncated life; and to let our remembrance return her to the world. In this way, we fulfill the words of Yishayahu 56:5, וְנָֽתַתִּ֨י לָהֶ֜ם בְּבֵיתִ֚י וּבְחֽוֹמֹתַי֙ יָ֣ד וָשֵׁ֔ם …שֵׁ֚ם עוֹלָם֙ אֶתֶּן־ל֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֥א יִכָּרֵֽת - I will give them in My house and in My walls a place and a name…an everlasting name I will give him, which will not be cut-off.
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