Living Torah Archives

The Twelfth and Thirteenth of Tammuz marks the release of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Scheersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, from Soviet imprisonment. His self-sacrifice on behalf of Jews of all stripes serves as a testament to the true nature of leadership.

Like the human body, a nation comprises of a “head” which guides their direction and “feet” to do the lifting and lead them towards it. The Zohar teaches that in every generation there’s an individual, who like Moses, serves as the head of the Jewish nation, injecting life and vitality into all those connected to him.

The word nasi means to lift up, and a nasi, a Jewish leader, needs to elevate every single Jew, both spiritually and physically.

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 he heard from his mother. (1981)