The Counter Revolution

“The Iron Curtain” was crumbling in 1991, but one fine September day, the Soviet Premier was taken hostage and tanks rumbled into Red Square. It looked like the curtain was descending once more… The world was petrified, but the Prophet of the Generation didn’t understand why…

Igor and Asya of Moscow and Yura and Paulina Kramer of Kishinev did not know that their weddings would fall out on such a fateful day and time. They had set their wedding date for Monday, the night of 10 Elul 5751. That day, all of a sudden, life in Moscow, capital of Russia, “sun of the nations,” ground to a halt as thousands of armed soldiers, many of them on tanks and half-tracks, entered the city in long columns. With ear-splitting noise they reached the heart of Russia, Red Square, at the base of the Kremlin. Nobody knew what was going on until later when the news spread: Revolution!

The word “revolution” is not foreign to Russia. Russia was familiar with various revolutions in its history. Most of them did not work out well for its citizens. “The female workers in the hotel I was staying in stood and cried, literally trembling in fear,” said Rabbi Zushe Abelsky, then a young bachur who was helping his father in his shlichus in Moldavia, but was in Moscow. “We woke up in the morning and there was a coup. All around us were terrified.”

“IN ACCORDANCE WITH PARAGRAPH 127 OF THE LAWS OF THE SOVIET UNION …”

Actually, since the death of Stalin, a slow change had taken place in the Soviet Union toward freedom from the absolute rule of the communist party that continued until the dismantling of the Soviet Union. In this process, which took nearly four decades, there were quite a few ups and downs. The peak of freedom came during the reign of Mikhail Gorbachev, starting in 5745. At a meeting of the communist party, which took place in 5746, Gorbachev announced a new course based on two new concepts: glastnost (openness, more personal freedom) and perestroika (rebuilding, more economic freedom).

In 5748, he announced the nullification of the “Brezhnev Doctrine” that insisted that the Soviet Union would not allow Eastern European nations to veer from communism, which led to a wave of freedom movements and democratization of Eastern European countries (aside from Romania which was ruled by the dictator Ceaușescu).

After the dismantling of the eastern bloc came the turn of the Soviet Union itself to dismantle. Gorbachev tried to reach a new federalist arrangement which would transform the Soviet Union into a confederation of independent states, which would retain a shared president, army and foreign policy. The agreement was supposed to be signed on 10 Elul 5751 but the day before, on 9 Elul, the conservative, doctrinaire communists, those who were against reforms, tried to overthrow Gorbachev’s government. They were led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev.

At 6:00 Monday morning, 9 Elul, the radio and television made the dramatic statement that Mikhail Gorbachev was no longer able to assume his duties as president due to health reasons and that he was being replaced, according to clause 7 of paragraph 127 in the laws of the Soviet Union, by Vice President Gennady Yanayev.

This was being done to prevent the ever deepening and widening breakdown that was overtaking the country, along with the political struggles, chaos and anarchy, that threaten the lives and security of the residents of the Soviet Union, as well as the sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of the motherland. 

The announcement included the institution of a six-month state of emergency as of 4 pm Moscow time of August 19, 1991.

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Thus, the rebels, using formal legal language, announced that they were taking over the reins of leadership “in response to the demands of large segments of the population.” They did not suffice with Russia alone but included all countries of the former Soviet Union.

The day before, Sunday, 8 Elul, a delegation of four of the insurgents went to Gorbachev’s dacha in Crimea where he was vacationing for two weeks, intending on returning to Moscow on Tuesday, 10 Elul, to sign the treaty turning the Soviet Union into a confederation. All communications were cut at the dacha which was guarded by KGB agents. Reinforcements of guards were sent there who were ordered not to allow anyone to leave the house. Gorbachev was under house arrest. He was asked to announce a state of emergency or resign and appoint Yanayev as president in his place.

Despite the danger, knowing who the KGB and the members of the council were, Gorbachev refused to concede to the ultimatum. The plotters left the house and Gorbachev remained under arrest.

Just three hours after the media announced the coup, around nine in the morning, columns of tanks and half-tracks began moving into Moscow. Red Square was surrounded with a chain of tanks and paratroopers and nobody was allowed to cross the square past Lenin’s mausoleum. The streets of Moscow filled with rows of soldiers and armored vehicles, and barriers were placed at various points in the city.

Those carrying out the coup wanted to stop the president of the Russian federation (which was actually the country of Russia, one of the nations comprising the Soviet Union), Boris Yeltsin, who was about to return to Moscow from a visit in Kazakhstan two days earlier, or when he got to his villa near Moscow, but they were unable to and Yeltsin reached the “White House” at 9:00 at night. The White House is the primary office of the government of Russia and the office of the prime minister which was Yeltsin’s fortress. It was only the hours that followed which demonstrated that this moment was the determining factor in the failure of the coup.

Yeltsin wasn’t fazed by the coup. Upon arriving at the White House, he, together with the premier of the Russian federation and the acting chairman of the Soviet in the federation, announced that the coup was reactionary and anti-constitutional. The army was asked not to participate in the coup and the public was asked to hold a general strike until Gorbachev would be able to address the nation. The announcement was published and distributed throughout the city.

SHOCKING SIGHTS

It is hard to describe the intensity of the fear and consternation that gripped millions of citizens as well as the tens of thousands of tourists and people from abroad who were in Moscow at the time. The attempted coup was a complete surprise with no warning signs, unlike previous coups that began with upheavals on the street which expanded to the point of a full blown revolution. The rebels made their plans secretly and carried them out overnight.

The political events were just getting started.  The tanks and half-tracks filled the streets and people were thunderstruck and did not know how to react. Remember, that after decades of oppression in which the “thought police” reigned, nobody dared to defy the leaders of the coup who represented the old-time, conservative, communist stance. Nobody knew how things would unfold.

Rabbi Zushe Abelsky, who was in Moscow at the time, slept in a Soviet era hotel in the center of the city. As an eye-witness, he said, “We woke up in the morning and saw that the hotel employees looked stunned. Some of them stood and cried and others were in shock, in great fear. Nobody knew what happened and all feared for the future. A curfew was declared in Moscow; mainly, it was forbidden to go about at night. Soldiers were everywhere in the attempt to enforce the curfew.

“Together with me in the hotel was one of the elder Chassidim who came from New York. This Chassid bore an ‘entire sack’ of ‘crimes’ against the communists from the time he lived in Russia, about forty-three years earlier. Apparently, you can take a Jew out of Russia but you can’t take Russia out of the Jew … This man feared for his life. Since all the years of his youth were lived in fear, this all came back to him and were relived by him.

“He was supposed to fly to the place of my father’s shlichus in Kishinev but he canceled his flight. It all came back to him at once. We took a taxi somewhere and as we passed one of the buildings, he pointed toward it and said to me, ‘I sat through an entire day of interrogations there.’ Then he found it hard to say anything further. You could see the fear on his face.”

Rabbi Sholom Dovber Levin, librarian of the Rebbe’s library, was in Moscow at the time, trying to get the Rebbe Rayatz’s library released. “At seven in the morning, in our apartment in Moscow, the phone rang. It was R’ Yosef Yitzchok Aharonov from Eretz Yisrael. ‘There is a coup,’ he announced. ‘They deposed Gorbachev. Open the window and see what’s going on there,’” he wrote in his diary that was published later in Kfar Chabad.

“ … In the shul there was excitement but a calm atmosphere. We davened shacharis. One of the men knew to report that Yanayev was standing at the head of the ‘State Committee for the State of Emergency’ and that is how we found out about the state of emergency. A moment of silence and then people absorbed the news and reacted. Someone pointed out that Gorbachev was healthy and the announcement of his illness meant a coup.

“People ask what Yeltsin will do. Slowly, people begin to get serious and one question hovers over the shul: What will the Rebbe say? The names of shluchim are mentioned, campaigns that are underway. The names of shluchim who left on a visit to Europe or the United States and need to return are brought up. Will the borders remain open? We tell everyone that until we get instructions from the Rebbe, we are making no changes.

“People are tense. There are those who look a bit worried but there is no sign of dread,” wrote R’ Levin. “Everyone wants to go home and sit near the phone. We strolled about a bit in Moscow. Most sections of the city are quiet but worried people rush to the main street. On Ktozoskaya one feels the coup. Russian tank crewmen smile awkwardly at the masses who crowd around the tanks and argue with them, but armor is armor and the cannons are threatening … On Leninsky Prospekt masses of people surround the tanks. We, of course, are the only ones dressed as Chassidim. You suddenly realize that Moscow has been quietly taken over by an armored battalion.”

22 WORDS THAT CHANGED THE ENTIRE PICTURE

Chabad outreach in Moscow as well as other central cities in the CIS had begun to flourish at this time. Although the scope of the work was nothing like what it is today and shluchim were not yet everywhere, there was enough activity for concern about the return of communism with everything that signified: fear, persecution, underground activities, the shutting down of religious life.

Rabbi Berel Lazar served as rav of the Chabad community in Moscow at the time and as an appointed shliach. Alongside him worked the shliach, Rabbi Zev Kurevsky who ran the Chabad school. Ohr Avner did not yet exist and all the programming was run with mesirus nefesh by Ezras Achim which was headquartered in New York. That summer, dozens of camps throughout the Soviet Union had opened, even in cities where shluchim did not yet operate on a permanent basis.

Dozens of bachurim and girls from Eretz Yisrael and the United States ran the camps and instilled Yiddishkeit in thousands of children. There were also seminars for youth and traveling activists spreading Yiddishkeit throughout the country. Some of the camps had ended and counselors had returned to headquarters in Moscow, directly into the boiling pot and the danger.

The questions that arose as far as how to proceed were critical and directly affected the lives of quite a few Jews as well as Chabad Chassidim. The weight of responsibility was heavy.

Monday morning, after the first news was heard out of Moscow, Chabad askanim asked the Rebbe what to do. All knew that only the Nasi HaDor, the Rebbe, could tell them. There were various options such as leaving Russia immediately, changes in plans, cancellation of plans until things quieted down or waiting to see how things developed.

The Rebbe, however, prophet of the generation, had no doubts. That same day an answer was issued: “With the greatest surprise I received the question – obviously, they should continue with all their plans including camps until their conclusion as planned. May Hashem give them success and may they relay good news. I will mention it at the tziyun.”

In addition, in connection with the activists who were about to set out for Russia that week, after the outbreak of events, there was a clear order not to change any plans and to carry out their travel plans as usual as though nothing happened!

22 words! Only 22 words (in the original Hebrew) and no more that decided the fate of the entire episode! Three sentences that delineated a clear path forward, decided in favor of the continuation of life and Jewish resurrection!

Chassidim explained that this was connected to the sicha that was said the previous Shabbos (Shoftim 5751) about the prophecy of Geula since after the Rebbe said these things as a prophecy, clearly all events that the Rebbe pointed to as part of the Geula process were in the category of a prophecy and irrevocable. Therefore, even though it looked as though a military takeover was happening for the purpose of restoring the situation, they were to disregard it. There wasn’t even a need to ask the Rebbe about it for within a short time it would be clear that everything was continuing on the Geula path that the Rebbe set forth.

The Rebbe’s clear words spread quickly in the various cities of the Soviet Union and they infused feelings of encouragement and calm among the many activists. They, in turn, conveyed trust in Hashem to the thousands of children in summer camps, the youth in seminars, and the thousands of families of those coming close to Yiddishkeit throughout the country.

Lishkas Ezras Achim also issued an announcement via the media in which they said that the great work continued according to plan and the activists continued to work diligently on implementing all of the plans for the upcoming school year that would begin as planned. In the announcement, they said, “Just as Chabad Chassidus itself survived and spread Judaism in this country in the truly difficult times, so would Chabad activity in Russia continue and even intensify under all circumstances.”

This was the guidance that R’ Lazar received and that is how he conducted himself as he said in an interview that he had in those tense times. “We just received instructions from the Rebbe shlita to continue with all activities in Russia as planned, without any changes. We all believe with complete faith, following the instruction and blessing of the Rebbe, that there is no reason to fear, G-d forbid, and the main thing being that as far as anything connected with the ‘I Will Show Them Wonders’ of the great Jewish awakening in Russia, there will be no obstacles; on the contrary, an increase with greater measure and greater force.”

ROASTED CHICKENS AND ROADBLOCKS

That Monday night, there were two weddings of two couples, mekuravim. Today, a proper Jewish wedding is commonplace but back then, it was a phenomenon that engendered great excitement.

A Jewish wedding with kosher food was no small feat in Moscow in 1991. Kosher food was imported from Europe or Eretz Yisrael in containers. Fruits and vegetables were bought in the local market and the chickens were shechted by R’ Mottel Lifshitz and R’ Yitzchok Kogan. The entire logistical infrastructure that exists today, did not exist then.

“The wedding of Yura and Paulina Kramer was going to take place in the Cosmos hotel in Moscow,” recalls R’ Zushe Abelsky. “Yura was a baal teshuva from Moldova who became involved in Yiddishkeit through my father. Paulina was from Moscow which is why the wedding took place there.

“R’ Itche Kogan shechted numerous chickens for the wedding and the girls who finished running camps and returned to Moscow, spent hours plucking feathers, salting, washing and rinsing, jobs they never did at home in the U.S. or Eretz Yisrael.

“Soldiers of Gennady Yanayev, announced a curfew in the streets of the city and began to enforce it.  We decided that no matter what, the wedding would not be canceled, especially after receiving the Rebbe’s answer. Soldiers were all over the place. Having no choice, we loaded all the food into the car and began driving toward the hall. Whenever we came to a roadblock, we took a well-roasted chicken and bribed the soldiers with it. To them, it was a treasure.

“Many people had gathered around the White House. Yeltsin was there. The main square of the city was full. There was no bloodshed. The wedding took place as planned with the participation of hundreds of invited guests amid great joy as though a coup wasn’t taking place outside.”

Another Jewish wedding took place in the Bolshoi Brunya shul. R’ Levin wrote in his diary, “The preparations were made. Perhaps, in a little while, R’ Shlomo Cunin, who is on his way to Russia, will be the mesader kiddushin. If not, I will have to do it because R’ Lazar is delayed.”

After the wedding he wrote, “This was the first time that there has been a weekday celebration of a wedding in the shul. In my speech in the middle of the meal, I explained that this was also a chanukas ha’bayis of the new shul and the building of two Jewish homes on the foundation of Torah and mitzvos, without reckoning with the chaos outside the shul. About forty guests came to the wedding and some bachurim came to bring joy.

“The meal was arranged by R’ Y. Kogan and his helpers. My wife went to get the kalla ready. At the last minute, R’ Cunin’s plane arrived and I honored him with siddur kiddushin.

“The two couples came all ready. My wife and I were the shushvinin and organizers. R’ Cunin spoke at the meal and we sang niggunim. It was especially meaningful to sing ‘Nye Ba Yusya’ and ‘Nyet Nyet Nikavo,’ and the mood was truly uplifted.  What is there to say? Before the start of the chuppa, we got notice that the Rebbe instructed not to make any changes in the plans and for everyone to travel to where he was supposed to go. This news raised our morale.” ■

To be continued, G-d willing