Living Torah Archives

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 missing, he arranged for his emissary in Israel to get her a ticket to New York. But once she arrived, the Rebbe had a job for her. (1971)

Thank G-d for saving you from danger by increasing in Torah study and observance. Give this to charity for all the Jews in Russia, and please send them my regards. (Collage)

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)

Chasidim sing a song with words in Russian; “We will not drown in water, and in fire we will not burn,” as the Rebbe distributes L’chaim to Jews who have recently arrived from the Soviet Union.

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)