THE WHITE HOUSE HELPS GET THE REBBE RAYATZ OUT OF SOVIET RUSSIA

It is 90 years since the Rebbe Rayatz left Soviet Russia. * Historian R’ Shneur Zalman Berger uncovers the behind-the-scenes work of the president of the United States and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in helping the Rebbe and his family. * An astonishing historic documentation, based on a variety of sources, along with a fascinating review of the fundraising efforts in the U.S. to help the Rebbe Rayatz leave Russia

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FIFTY … FIFTY-FIVE YEARS

The Ventimiglia stop, France – on the border of Italy. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn (later to be the Rebbe Rayatz) was on a long journey on behalf of his father, the Rebbe Rashab, which involved big projects on behalf of European Jewry. His schedule was packed. The following week he needed to visit Petersburg, Moscow, Smolensk, and Lubavitch in Russia, Kiev in the Ukraine, and meet with his father in the town of Menton in France.

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TZADDIK IN PRISON

The arrest – Twenty minutes after midnight, the secret agents banged on the door of the Rebbe Rayatz. That is how the saga of the arrest began

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THE WILD BOYS AND THE THIRD ARREST OF THE REBBE RAYATZ

It was a Friday, the first of Teves 5666/1905, the seventh day of Chanuka. It was market day in Lubavitch. Farmers and cattlemen from all the surrounding villages gathered in the main market to buy and sell calves and cows, horses and chickens, along with produce and general merchandise.

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THE REBBE’S CHAIR

Rabbi Rabinowitz, a rabbi in the Bronx, would sit in a corner of his shul and learn. Strangely enough, he did not sit at the head of the table. He sat on the right side. That is where R’ Michel Vishedsky found him. R’ Michel was even more surprised when he wanted to sit in the empty seat at the front of the shul and the rav stopped him, politely but firmly. “Nobody sits there,” he said.

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1928: Mivtza Taharas Ha’mishpacha

What do Slobodka, Skver, Kherson & Kopust have in common? * The Frierdiker Rebbe: “The situation of the ritual baths (Mikwoth) in Russia is very bad” * “This issue has been a burning issue” * In this week’s installment we present the Frierdiker Rebbe’s campaign to repair existing Mikvahs and build new Mikvahs across the Soviet Union.

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FIVE CHILDHOOD SNAPSHOTS

A soul descended into Lubavitch on 12 Tammuz 5640. A little boy, Yosef Yitzchok, was raised by his father while still benefiting from his grandfather’s input for his first three years. * Presented for Yud-Beis Tammuz.

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Clandestine Encounters Between The Frierdiker Rebbe and the Joint

In the summer 1929 the Frierdiker Rebbe embarked from Europe to Israel and then to the United States of America for the purpose of fundraising for the Jews in Russia * During the month of Elul 5689 and Tishrei 5690 (1929) the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rashag met twice with representatives of the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) * In a series of documents and letters never published before, we present a short report on the first meeting from the point of view of the Frierdiker Rebbe, and a detailed report on the second meeting, from the point of view of the JDC officers

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YOU ARE MY SPIRITUAL CHILDREN

Among the thousands of families who live in Crown Heights today, only a few dozen were present in the first years of the Rebbe’s nesius, and only very few merited basking in the presence of the sixth nasi, the Rebbe Rayatz, seeing him daven and being blessed by him in yechidus. One of those few is R’ Yehuda Leib (Leibel) Posner, the son of the famous Chassid R’ Sholom Posner a”h, who was one of the T’mimim in Lubavitch, about whom the Rebbe Rayatz said, “Sholom is mine.”

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770 LIFTS UP THE LAND OF THE 70 NATIONS

Uplifting the world in this way is in virtue of “Beis Rabbeinu,” located in the Lower Hemisphere. Beis Rabbeinu is the place from which light shines forth to the rest of the world.

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A SCEPTER WILL ARISE AMONG THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Shvat,” means “shivtei moshlim – the scepters of rulers.” This is especially evident in the rule of the Davidic dynasty, as it is said, “the scepter [of the dynasty] of Yehuda will never be withdrawn from (Dovid and his descendants – the rulers of the Diaspora in Babylon, who assert their dominion b’sheivet, with a scepter) until the advent of Shilo” (a reference to Melech HaMoshiach), regarding whom it is said, “A sheivet (a king, ruler, and dictator) will rise up among the Jewish people” – “this refers to Melech HaMoshiach.”

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THE FINAL GENERATION – AND 3 MORE

Now begins a new stage in the ongoing avoda of Yosef, extending to future generations – “And Yosef saw Efraim’s children of the third generation.”

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MALCHUS: ALL PEOPLE OF OUR GENERATION

In the wake of the Rebbe Rayatz’s histalkus, the capacity has been granted to the seventh generation (corresponding to the s’fira of Malchus), to experience the ultimate revelation of 770. * All the people of our generation – men, women, and children – comprise the s’fira of Malchus. * From Chapter Six of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the compiler’s emphasis.)

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