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.

On the 12th of Tammuz in 1927, the Rebbe’s predecessor and father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, was released from Soviet imprisonment.

12 Tammuz marks the anniversary of the Previous Rebbe’s release from Soviet prison where he was jailed for the “crime” of promoting Judaism. Far from retreating under pressure from the Communist regime, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak fought the Jews’ oppressors and with a small group of devoted Chassidim, succeeded in keeping Judaism alive in Russia. But his amazing and inspiring story raises a fundamental question: How is it that one solitary individual was able to stand against a tyrannical world power?

Scenes from a farbrengen celebrating the 12th of Tammuz, the anniversary of the Previous Rebbe’s release from Soviet prison where he was jailed for the “crime” of promoting Judaism.

In 1927, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, was arrested for his efforts to save Judaism from being stamped out in the face of Soviet repression.

As Jews, we’re painfully familiar with the term “self sacrifice”. Throughout the course of our history, so many Jews have chosen to give up their lives for Judaism to endure. But serving G-d with self sacrifice need not be limited to such dire circumstances. Each of us are face regularly with tests of character and attitude, and it’s up to us to rise to the challenge and overcome it. So next time you need to choose between helping yourself or those around you, have some self sacrifice and serve the greater good.

In Sefer Hasichos 5702, the Previous Rebbe relates some of the struggle that Chassidim endured in the Soviet Union. Warned against practicing Judaism under threat of danger to their lives, the Previous Rebbe gathered his closest Chassidim and made a pact. They swore not to be deterred from their mission, in spreading and promoting a life of Torah.

Long before his bar mitzvah, the Previous Rebbe was already preoccupied with doing acts of kindness. At age eleven he established a free-loan fund, allowing him to help the needy in a dignified manner.

The twelfth and thirteenth days of Tammuz mark the release of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, from Soviet imprisonment, which was the result of his efforts in strengthening Torah and mitzvah observance among Soviet Jewry.

In a public letter written after his liberation from Soviet imprisonment in 1927, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson wrote that the release was not his alone, but a redemption for every Jew, even one for whom the title “Jew” may seem irrelevant.

After the Rebbe’s liberation from Soviet-imposed exile, he delivered a Chasidic discourse expounding the verse: “You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt; You expelled nations and implanted it.” The Sages explain that just as a vine is uprooted from its place and replanted elsewhere in order to grow more plentifully, likewise, when G-d moves a Jew to a new location, it is only in order to increase his success.

In 1927, the communist authorities sentenced Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch to exile in Kostroma, a small city over 400 miles away from his headquarters in Leningrad. During his time there, he stayed with the family of the local Shochet, Reb Yerachmiel Kugel.

The events of the Previous Rebbe’s liberation on the 12th of Tammuz raise a fundamental question: How is it that one solitary individual was able to stand against a tyrannical world power?

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.