According to the account of the
Rebbe’s mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, both her husband and son took
Menachem Mendel’s Bar Mitzvah very seriously. The Bar Mitzvah boy delivered a
scholarly dissertation - a drasha -
before the assembled guests, as is customary, and they were duly impressed by
his eloquence and erudition. But more memorably, following the drasha he broke
into heavy sobs. Some of the guests were so affected that they too could not
hold back their tears. Rebbetzin Chana explained that her husband had demanded
that her son make him a specific commitment, a solemn promise. But what the
promise was she did not know. All she knew was that when her son ultimately
made the commitment desired by his father, R. Levi Yitzchak celebrated with
tremendous joy, dancing and singing late into the night.1
Some insight into the solemnity
with which the young Menachem Mendel approached his Bar Mitzvah can be gleaned
from a letter that he wrote on the occasion of his cousin’s Bar Mitzvah in
1929. Addressing the young man, R. Menachem Mendel begins with a rhetorical
question: Why is the day of one’s Bar Mitzvah not marked with festive sanctity
akin to that of the Shabbat or a festival?
R. Menachem Mendel goes on to
explain: “The reason for this phenomenon is because each one of us was not
created for celebrations and festivals but for work and industry, ‘man was born
to toil.’ The world is not a party house, man is not a guest dressed in Shabbat
finery to attend a festive meal, and the days of his life are not Shabbats and
festivals…. When he becomes obligated with the yoke of Torah and the
commandments he should not make it a festival, but a day of activity and actual
work.”2
At the end of this letter, as it
appears in the Rebbe’s personal journal, are a few lines of cryptic citations
and half completed notes. One of the references is to a Talmudic dispute about
whether a boy who becomes Bar Mitzvah after Passover is obligated to bring a
Passover offering one month later, on “the Second Passover.”3
Many years later, the Rebbe expounded on this theme, drawing attention to
Maimonides’ apparently contradictory approach to this question and offering an
explanation that became a cornerstone of his teachings on obligation, education
and action:4
Likkutei sichot
Vol. 26, pages 69-76.
Our obligations to G‑d, society
and ourselves, the Rebbe asserted, do not take effect in a vacuum, but within
the wider context of responsibility and education. The very fact that you are
obligated to follow the Torah’s commandments from the moment you turn thirteen,
he argued, implies that even prior to that date you must take the requisite
steps to ensure that your responsibilities will be discharged. The
responsibility to pave the way for future obligations extends beyond the realm
of education and into the realm of action.
The responsibility to pave the way for future obligations extends beyond the realm of education and into the realm of action.
Accordingly, the Rebbe explained,
even before you turn thirteen you are empowered to offer a sacrifice on the
first Passover and thereby discharge an obligation that will not come into
effect for another month
A responsible individual takes
care to educate themselves about their obligations, so that they can take all
necessary steps to ensure that their responsibilities will be actualized.5
Moreover, if something good can be done, it should be done directly. If
something is truly important it should never be left until later. “Every moment
upon this world,” the Rebbe taught, “is a loss that can never be returned… If
you haven’t used that moment for what it could have been used to achieve, you
have lost it… that moment is empty, and you haven’t lived it as you should
have. Moreover, if you don’t grab the opportunity and directly take action,
there is no guarantee that later there will be time to do it.’”6
Every moment holds the potential for eternal good, and it is our responsibility
to actualize it.
The synagogue in Yekatrinoslav where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe's father, served as Rabbi.
The Rebbe came of age in the
midst of World War I, which broke out less than a year before his Bar Mitzvah
was celebrated. Jews close to the war front were forced by government decree to
flee eastward, and the Rebbe’s hometown, Yekaterinoslav (present day Dnepropetrovsk)
in eastern Ukraine, received a large influx of refugees. The Rebbe later
recalled how his mother, Rebbetzin Chana, was at the forefront of the communal
effort to provide aid and relief to these unfortunate individuals, many of whom
arrived in the city with no means to support themselves:
“Generally I was occupied with my studies, and I was not so involved in what was happening in the house. I did
not ask what was going on etc. But there were extraordinary circumstances that
one could not help but notice… It was a wondrous thing, I never saw such
involvement and vigorous activism, whether day or night…. My mother's work was
so outstanding that it was etched on my mind for the rest of my life.”1
What the Rebbe did not mention was the compassion that he
himself showed to a young refugee whose parents had died of hunger. Having
nowhere else to go, Yona Kesse - who would later serve as a member of the
Israeli Knesset and as the Mapai party secretary - began to frequent the
synagogue where Menachem Mendel Schneerson, just a few years his senior,
habitually studied. After a few days, the older boy interrupted his studies to
approach Yona and enquire about his situation. Hearing his tale of woe and of
his desire to immigrate to the Holy Land, Menachem Mendel took Yona home with
him and explained the situation to his mother.2
See the testimony of Carmella Kesse, viewable
here
Kesse’s wife Carmella described Rebbetzin Chana as “an
excellent women, overflowing with warmth and generosity” who took in her
husband, bathed him, fed him and clothed him, and decreed that Yona would stay
in her house until he found a way to travel to the Holy Land. According to
Carmella, Kesse stayed with the Schneerson family for five or six years, and
would talk about his experience often. The friendship shown to him by the Schneerson
family “restored his faith in humanity,” and throughout his life he kept in
touch with the Rebbe, visiting him every time he traveled to New York.3
His memories of his stay in the Rebbe’s home, vividly recalling the atmosphere
of the post war years, were broadcast on Israeli television in 1973:4
“The house was an authentic chassidic home, his father was a
great Torah scholar, the rabbi of the city, and exerted great influence on a
large group of Jews. Don’t forget that this was already the Bolshevik era, with
the onset of religious persecution etc., and he carried his rabbinic
responsibilities with strength and pride.
“I was witness, to [the Rebbe’s] great diligence in Torah
study. Whenever I found him he never studied sitting down—only standing. I
remember too that already then he was knowledgeable in the areas of physics and
mathematics. I also remember that—although he was an autodidactic—students, and
even professors, would visit him to discuss issues of physics and mathematics.
"Just as there is no doubt that you must seek out the spiritual welfare of another, so you must also seek out their physical welfare."Apparently, already then, he had accumulated a vast reservoir of
knowledge—certainly in Talmud, Halachic codes, and Chassidism—but also in the
domain of the secular sciences. I remember him as a very modest man, very
reticent. His entire being, I remember, was Torah.”5
Sichot Kodesh 5779 Vol. 1, page 307.
Carmella Kesse emphasized that her husband was impressed not
only by R. Menachem Mendel’s youthful erudition, but also by “the sensitivity
and attentiveness that he displayed, inviting him home and extending his hand
to him during such a difficult time.” The Rebbe was never one to sacrifice the
material welfare of another human being for his own spiritual advancement. He
had the moral sensitivity to notice a young boy in need, and the moral
resolution to interrupt his studies and lend a helping hand.
“With regard to oneself,” the Rebbe taught, “one must make
the greatest possible distinction between spiritual and material matters. But
when it comes to another, one must regard
the other’s material needs as equal to spiritual needs. Just as there is
no doubt that you must seek out the spiritual welfare of another, so you must
also seek out their physical welfare.”6
“If you have love of G‑d but no love of Torah or love of your fellow, this
shows that you are also lacking in love of G‑d. But if you have love of your
fellow, you will ultimately come to love of Torah and love of G‑d.”7
https://www.chabad.org/1043409 the mission statement
The early 1920s were years of
turmoil for Russia in general, and for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in
particular. As the country emerged from civil war and widespread famine, the
communist government consolidated its stifling grasp and stepped up its campaign
to eliminate Jewish religious life. It was precisely at this time that Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch assumed the leadership of the movement
following the passing of his father. Whatever the personal cost, he was
determined to keep Judaism alive.1
The first meeting between Rabbi Menachem
Mendel (“the Rebbe”) and Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak occurred in Rostov in 1922.2
During his second visit, a few months later,3
R. Yosef Yitzchak delivered a Chassidic discourse elaborating on the divine
desire for a dwelling in the “lowest realms” (i.e., the material world),
achieved through man’s toil and suprarational commitment to serve his Creator,
to the point of self-sacrifice. The transcendent soul, he explained, endures
and even prospers in the face of adversity.4
It was this very discourse that R. Yosef Yitzchak published on the eve of his
passing, twenty-seven years later,5
and which R. Menachem Mendel expounded on each subsequent year on the
anniversary of R. Yosef Yitzchak’s passing
for the following four decades.6
As this article was being prepared for publication a
handwritten diary entry by the Rebbe’s longtime secretary, Rabbi Hodakov, was
published, which states that the Rebbe told him that he first met Rabbi yosef
Yitzchak on Sukkot 1922 in Rostov.
Noted in the margin to Igrot ha-rayatz Vol. 15, page 31. See also Bronfman, A Lubavitcher Tomim (Chazak Publications
2008), pages 54-55.
Sefer
Hamaamarim 5683, pages 168-182
Later that year, R. Menachem
Mendel journeyed to Kislovodsk, a spa city in the North Caucasus where R. Yosef
Yitzchak was then staying with his family. R. Eliyahu Chaim Althoiz, a close
confidant of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, later recalled the circumstances: “In the
summer of 1923 the Rebbe privately revealed to me the hidden intention of his
heart… to marry his precious and beloved daughter to the man about whom I now
speak… and he (R. Yosef Yitzchak) choose me then to create the opportunity to
bring him (R. Menachem Mendel) from Yekaterinoslav to Kislovodsk.”7
When R. Yosef Yitzchak returned
to Rostov, he was accompanied by his son-in-law, Rabbi Shmaryahu Gourarie, and
by R. Menachem Mendel. Five days later he wrote to the prospective bride, his
daughter Chaya Mushka: “This week I thoroughly studied ‘the ways of Mendel’ (hilchot Mendel)… On Sunday the three of
us spent the entire day together, it was very pleasant… He is left with a good
and pleasant impression from the Caucasus, and would like to go for a stroll on
the mountain again… He is very companionable and affable, which adds a great
deal.”8
The congenial companionship
described in this letter bellies the tremendous pressure that R. Yosef Yitzchak
was under at the time. In a letter penned just ten days later he described the
desperate situation: “Synagogues are being forcefully requisitioned… Jewish
schools are being closed down, and if anywhere students are to be found, they
are studying in secluded secrecy, fearing for their lives due to hidden spies…”9
R. Yosef Yitzchak stood at the center of an underground network, working
tirelessly and at great personal risk to keep the basic infrastructure of
Jewish life intact. Throughout this period he corresponded with supporters in
America and Europe, and shuttled back and forth between Rostov and Moscow to
deliberate with fellow rabbis and sympathetic lawyers. In the spring of 1924 he
was threatened with arrest and forced to move from Rostov to Leningrad.10
During this period R. Menachem
Mendel was based in Yekaterinoslav, where he pursued Torah studies and also
deepened his knowledge of the sciences.11
The fruits of his labors are acknowledged in the certificate of rabbinic
ordination (smicha) issued in 1924 by
his uncle, Rabbi Shmuel Schneersohn of Nikolayev, describing him to be “filled
with [knowledge of] Talmud and legal decisions, earlier and later authorities,
like one of the greats.”12
In Leningrad, where he
frequently visited his prospective father-in-law and bride, R. Menachem Mendel
became acquainted with Rabbi Yosef Rosen, the famed Rogatchover Gaon, whose
unique approach to Torah scholarship would prove influential in the development
of R. Menachem Mendel’s own path. The earliest surviving manuscript in the
Rebbe’s hand is a letter addressed in reply to the Rogatchover, respectfully
taking issue with his position on a point of Talmudic law. The letter dates
from early in 1925 and is filled with tight arguments buttressed by a diverse
range of Talmudic citations, reminiscent of the Rogatchover’s own style.13
This piece of correspondence is
also notable for another reason. Significantly, the Rebbe used the name and
address of an acquaintance, Mordechai Gourarie, rather than his own. Years
later, the Rebbe was asked the reason for this, and explained that given R.
Yosef Yitzchak’s prominent position at the head of the Jewish underground,
undue use of their shared surname was deemed unwise.14
The fear of government scrutiny was certainly not unfounded. Things came to a
head in the summer of 1927; R. Yosef Yitzchak was arrested, sentenced to death,
exiled, and then expelled from the Soviet Union.15
R. Menachem Mendel had been in Leningrad at the time of the arrest.16
Five days after R. Yosef Yitzchak left the country, his future son-in-law
crossed the soviet border and joined him in Riga.17
Footnotes
2.
As this article was being prepared for publication a
handwritten diary entry by the Rebbe’s longtime secretary, Rabbi Hodakov, was
published, which states that the Rebbe told him that he first met Rabbi yosef
Yitzchak on Sukkot 1922 in Rostov.
3.
Noted in the margin to Igrot ha-rayatz Vol. 15, page 31. See also Bronfman, A Lubavitcher Tomim (Chazak Publications
2008), pages 54-55.
16.
See the account of R. Eliyahu Chaim Althoiz, as
published in the Hebrew edition of Likkutei
Dibburim Vol. 5, page 1396. See also R, Yosef Yitzchak’s own account, Likkutei Dibburim Vol. 4, page 1246.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak emerged
from the Soviet Union as an internationally recognized symbol of Jewish
resilience in the face of communist oppression.1
Though exhausted and ailing from his ordeals, he worked more urgently than ever
to galvanize moral and material support for the continuing struggle for Judaism
in an increasingly oppressive Stalinist Russia. In the first weeks following R.
Yosef Yitzchak’s arrival in Riga, Rabbi Menachem Mendel (“the Rebbe”) aided him
in a secretarial capacity, penning letters on his behalf, keeping track of
correspondence and attending relevant meetings.2
By this time, R. Yosef Yitzchak
routinely referred to R. Menachem Mendel as “my designated son-in-law.” For
Chabad-Lubavitch, his marriage to Chaya Mushka would be a step towards a new
future, extending beyond the Russian context and into the wider community of
Eastern European Jewry. But extant correspondence reveals two concerns that led
their marriage to be postponed for another year. “A month earlier or a month later, the wedding must take place. But with what?”R. Menachem Mendel’s parents,
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and Chana Schneersohn were still trapped in Russia, and it
was yet hoped that permission could be obtained for them to leave. There was
also a dire lack of funds. “A month earlier or a month later,” one of R. Yosef
Yitzchak’s confidantes wrote, “the wedding must take place. But with what?”3
Over the course of the next year
R. Menachem Mendel made several trips to Berlin, some of them extending over a
period of months. During his first stay in the city he enrolled in the
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary and gained ordination (smichah) from its head, Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg.4
While in Berlin R. Menachem Mendel represented his future father-in-law on
various communal matters,5
continued his correspondence with the Rogatchover Gaon,6
and penned letters to his future mother-in-law describing some of his
encounters and impressions of the city.7
On the last trip to Berlin before his wedding, R. Menachem Mendel was
officially registered as a student at the city’s prestigious Frederick William
(Humboldt) University.8
On Sunday, October 28, 1928, R.
Yosef Yitzchak wrote from Riga to his uncle and aunt, Rabbi Moshe and Chaya
Mushka Horenshtein in Warsaw, informing them that he had decided to hold the
wedding ceremony in their city, “in the building and courtyard of the Yeshiva
Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch.” This venue, he explained, would be a cause of
special gratification, recalling the atmosphere of the original Yeshiva, which
had been the center of his father’s court in Lubavitch. The groom’s parents, he
wrote, had not been able to obtain papers allowing them to attend, and he asked
the Horenshteins to “escort” the groom to the wedding canopy in their stead.9
R. Menachem Mendel’s parents held a parallel celebration in far off
Yekaterinoslav.10
“Before me stands Mendel son of Leivik... he is complete in his self, spirit and soul... I clearly see a young man of precious worth..."
Held on the 14th of Kislev,
November 27, 1928, the wedding was a truly memorable event. Many of Poland’s
great rabbinic luminaries were in attendance, and thousands of chassidim
traveled from far and near to participate. In honor of the occasion, R.
Yosef Yitzchak wore his father’s fur shtreimel for the very first time.11
“Before me stands Mendel son of
Leivik... he is complete in his self, spirit and soul... In the truest truth, I
clearly see a young man of precious worth; a great scholar, girt with a silk
sash, fasting, studying Reishit Chochmah
throughout the day, immersing and praying with true intention for the sake of
heaven. By his nature you surely know that his great stubbornness distances him
from doing anything for external show… Though he also knows that which is
external to him in the mundane realm, with acumen he certainly knows to
differentiate between the sacred and the secular; in him the sacred is not
profaned even the slightest hairsbreadth… In these thoughts I ascended higher
than him generation after generation... and I did not find better than he.”12
A wedding is a cosmic
occasion... to be approached with seriousness as much as it is to be celebrated with joy.
In Chabad a wedding is a cosmic
occasion, a mystical union of souls, and it is to be approached with
seriousness as much as it is to be celebrated with joy. In a discourse
delivered before the ceremony, R. Yosef Yitzchak described the relationship
between the bride and groom as a process in which each is completed by the
other. It is only through the intimate integration of another into your
personal life that the full spectrum of selfhood can be realized.13
While a man’s role in marriage is traditionally seen to be that of provider, R.
Menachem Mendel would later emphasize that ultimate blessing is uniquely the
purview of a woman; it is the husband’s privilege to facilitate the
achievements of his wife.14
Footnotes
1.
In October 1928, for example, JTA
reported that Anatol Lunatcharsky, Soviet Commissar of Education had delivered a speech
attacking “Schneersohnovschina… referring to the religious activities of
Lubawitsche (sic) Rebbe Schneersohn, who is now in exile in Latvia.”
2.
See Levine, Igrot
Vol. 1, Introduction pages 5-7, and Degel
Israel Monthly Magazine Vol. II, no. 3, page 10.
4.
See the Rebbe’s critical notations to a halachic
treatise by Rabbi Weinberg, Reshimot,
Issues #127 and 128. Zushe Wolf, Rabboteinu
Nesi’ainu Umedinat Germania, pages 103-106. Testimony of Chaim Nachman Kovalsky , and sources cited by Marc B. Shapiro, Responses to Comments and Elaborations of Previous Posts III, note 4.
5.
See for example his report to R. Yosef Yitzchak on a
meeting of Agudat Yisrael in Rabboteinu
nesi’ainu umedinat germania, pages 232-235.
6.
See Igrot Vol. 1, pages 1-2. Although the Rebbe’s
record of this letter is marked with the word “Riga,” his passport indicates
that he was actually in Berlin on the date it was written.
10.
In her memoirs
Rebbetzin Chana discribed this celebration in
detail, recalling how her husband danced together with his brother and her
father for a long time, while all present stood around them crying tears of
bitter-sweet joy.
11.
Letter of R. Eliyahu Chaim Althoiz, as printed in Kovetz Lechizuk Ha-hitkashrut
#9(23), pages 21, 29 and 31
14.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Lecha Dodi - Yud Daled, in Sefer Hamaamarim Melukot (new edition)
Vol. 4, page 238.
