Self Sacrifice

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.