Living Torah Archives

On the 12th of Tammuz in 1927, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson was released from soviet imprisonment after being arrested for his activities in spreading Judaism across the USSR. At a farbrengenmarking this day, chasidimsing a niguncomposed by R’ Aharon Charitonov to mark the release.

When it comes to educating young children, how could yeshivas or Jewish schools shut down for the summer?! Torah is our life-source, how can one stop learning for even one day of the year?!

The Rebbe asks Rabbi Mordechai Dov Teleshevsky to lead the Chassidim in singing the prayer for the Temple to be rebuilt - speedily in our times

Bilam, a non-Jewish prophet, was summoned by the King of Moab to curse the Jewish people. He consented to go, but warned him that he can do nothing and say nothing outside of what G-d instructs him. In the end, Bilam prophesied the future glory of the Jewish people instead.

The Bible relates that King David coronated his son, Solomon, during his own lifetime. King David, however, continued to rule until his own passing. How can two kings rule simultaneously, especially in light of Torah’s teaching: “There is only one leader to a generation, not two”?

“They go from strength to strength; they will appear before G-d in Zion. See our shield, O G-d, and look upon the face of Your anointed one.” (Psalms 84:8,10) This Niggun was composed in honor of the Rebbe’s 83rd birthday.

Chassidim sing the Alter Rebbe's "Niggun of Four Stanzas."

When my father-in-law, the Rebbe, was freed in Leningrad, he stated: “It was not myself alone that G-d redeemed, but every Jew, even those who are Jews in name only.”

The Stalinist regime that imprisoned my father-in-law, the Rebbe, in 1927, was then a superpower. Despite that, he defied his oppressors. He did not budge an inch in anything that jeopardized his principles. Even at the train station, about to be exiled, he declared publicly: “Only our bodies, not our souls, were sent into exile.” And indeed, his defiance led to his release.

See our shield, O G-d, and look upon the face of Your anointed one. (Psalm 84:10) Chassidim sing a Niggun composed in honor of the Rebbe’s 83rd birthday.

The Previous Rebbe worked tirelessly to strengthen all areas of Jewish observance under communist oppression. Still, the primary charge for which he was imprisoned and exiled, was for his underground network of education for Jewish children. Clearly, then, the Rebbe’s liberation, as well, was mainly a victory for Jewish education.

A song in Russian: “G-d is One, His name is One, besides Him there is no one.”

A story with a lesson. The Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, was dispatched to Petersburg by his father Rabbi Sholom Dovber. His mission was to avert a decree against the Jewish people, in his father’s words “at any cost.” When he discovered that the Interior Minister of Russia was the man instigating the decree, the Rebbe contacted the Minister’s mentor for help. The mentor helped him enter the Minister’s office building, a highly restricted area, where the Rebbe stole into the Minister’s office, stamped the decree “void” and returned home safely.