TIDINGS OF REDEMPTION

The news spread and even before the Rebbe returned to his host, the shochet, they already knew the good tidings. When the Rebbe arrived, he saw the Chassid, R’ Michoel Dworkin dancing around the outside of the house, holding a small bottle of vodka and singing, “Nyet, nyet …” The young son of the shochet danced on the fence with feet in the air and his hands down below. * A description of the release of the Rebbe Rayatz from exile, based on diaries and stories of Chassidim. * Presented for 12-13 Tammuz.

PART I

When the Rebbe was exiled to Kostrama by the communists, he was far from the bustling centers of Russian Jewry, which were concentrated in Moscow and Leningrad. Not only had the death sentence been commuted, he had been sent to a relatively “easy” exile which was a miracle.

However, the members of the rescue committee in Leningrad, who worked constantly to save the Rebbe, did not relax. The Rebbe could not remain in galus! They continued working to obtain the Rebbe’s full release.

After many meetings and endless discussions, they decided to appeal to the Prosecutor General of Russia, for him to pardon the Rebbe. The members of the committee decided that working on several fronts simultaneously could prove helpful. There was Mrs. Ekaterina Peshkova who served as the director of the Red Cross in Russia and who had helped so much until now in freeing the Rebbe. At the same time, they would continue exerting pressure through Jewish communities abroad and various political figures. These activities, all together, could help.

They decided that the Rebbe’s son-in-law, R’ Shmaryahu Gurary, would go to Moscow with the various suggestions about how to proceed and discuss them with the committee there who would approve or reject the plan.

The members of the Moscow committee heard the various suggestions and decided that before meeting with Mrs. Peshkova, and before submitting a plea for a pardon to the Prosecutor General they should find out what their chances were. The discussions continued for a long time. Various people who had helped in getting the Rebbe released, advised the members of the committee to ease up the diplomatic pressure for at least six months. They said that if the GPU knew of the attempts to free the Rebbe, they would fight any such attempt. After their embarrassing failure in this episode, they would consider it a major chutzpa on the part of the “clericals.” Just one week had passed since the Rebbe had begun serving his sentence in exile and they were already daring to ask for his full release. The GPU would see this as a big insult.

The members of the committee met again and discussed the matter from all angles and decided not to give in, come what may! Representatives spoke to Mrs. Peshkova once again and she agreed to get to work. This time, she sent one of her assistants to Leningrad to meet with Messing, the head of the GPU in order to try and get him to soften up and not interfere with the Rebbe’s release. 

Messing did not even want to hear of this possibility. “There is no chance whatsoever for a reduction in the sentence,” he declared, and chalked it up to fear of anti-Semitism. He himself was infamous as a fervent anti-Semite!

The emissary expressed his surprise and Messing said, “Yes, because in exile and in prison are Christian priests and many Moslems and they are not going free. If they release a Jewish rabbi, the members of the Black Hundreds will say, ‘Of course, this is a government of Zhids.’”

A photocopy of the release document that the Rebbe Rayatz received on 13 Tammuz in Kostrama Messing banged angrily on the table. “Even if I get an order from the central command in Moscow to set him free, I will cancel it. And if he goes free regardless, immediately upon his return to Leningrad I will seek a pretext to rearrest him.”

The emissary returned to Mrs. Peshkova with this firm, negative reply.

The committee in Moscow was not frightened by Messing’s strong position. They decided to continue working to release the Rebbe. They knew that if the Rebbe was freed, he could not return to Leningrad where Messing ruled the ship and would seek reasons to put him back in jail.

Mrs. Peshkova asked for a meeting with the leaders of the Soviet government. The pressure she exerted, along with hundreds and thousands of letters that came from all over the world, and the meetings with politicians and diplomats from all over the world, bore results.

PART II

One week after the Rebbe’s arrival in Kostrama, he went to the GPU office as he was told to do. Together with him was R’ Eliyahu Chaim Altheus. This was on a Tuesday morning. They went over to the window and asked that their presence be noted and written down, but the clerk said that the office was closed. It was their day off. He told the Rebbe to come back the next day.

“But they told me to present myself each week and now they will accuse me of not doing so,” said the Rebbe. “At least mark down that I came.”

But the clerk said, “I’m not writing it down and I’m not accepting anything. Come back tomorrow.”

The Rebbe continued standing there arguing vigorously.

At that moment, one of the senior clerks passed by on his bicycle. He noticed the two “odd” looking individuals standing near the window of the GPU building and talking heatedly with the clerk.

“What’s going on?” the man paused and asked. 

The Rebbe told him. 

“What is your name?”

“Schneersohn.”

The man’s brow creased as he tried to remember. Then he said, “I think I received release papers for you.”

R’ Altheus intervened. “Are you making fun of us?”

The man gave him a piercing look. “We don’t joke around.”

That was 12 Tammuz, the Rebbe’s 47^th birthday.

In another version, the GPU clerk received the Rebbe graciously and in a friendly tone said, “From now on, you are exempt from any further appearances. The order arrived freeing you completely and I am pleased to be the first one to tell you of your release.”

Upon hearing this unexpected news, R’ Altheus’ face turned colors, with one half turning white and the other half red. The Rebbe had to calm him down.

That day was a holiday in Kostroma, which is why the GPU office was not operating as usual. This is also why the Rebbe was not given his release document until the following day, Wednesday, 13 Tammuz.

The news spread and even before the Rebbe returned to his host, the shochet, they already knew of the good news. When the Rebbe arrived, he saw an unusual sight. The Chassid, R’ Michoel Dworkin was dancing around the outside of the house, holding a small bottle of vodka and singing, “Nyet, nyet …” The young son of the shochet danced on the fence with feet in the air and his hands down below. The Rebbe’s daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, could also not restrain her joy and came out in joyous dance.

Years later, the Rebbetzin said that at that moment, she felt the greatness of the moment with the birth of the new Chag Ha’Geula.

Right afterward, the Rebbetzin called to let those in Leningrad know the news, and from there the joyous tidings were conveyed to the entire Jewish world, and firstly of course, to her chassan, the seventh Rebbe.

These are the golden words that the Rebbe himself chose to describe the good tidings:

“Coming, on Tuesday, 12 Tammuz, my birthday, to present myself before them according to the law, they informed me that an urgent order had come to release me. Within the hour, news of my release was told to the entire community and in the evening they came to bless me. In every city where the news reached, many of those who love us, our friends, gathered together and offered blessings over cups of blessing and joy.”

R’ Altheus also described those special moments:

“ … on Tuesday of Parshas Pinchas, 12 Tammuz, we went to that place again and as soon as we made our appearance, they told us that he was redeemed and was free from all sides … we returned to our home (Leningrad) successfully. We arrived for Shabbos Kodesh, thank G-d, in peace. The Jews had light and joy, the light of Torah illuminated us and the simcha of the mitzva opened our hearts.”

In a letter to R’ Altheus, the Rebbe noted that he had merited “closure” in everything having to do with the arrest and Geula:

“You were the first … who met me when – lo aleinu – they led me from my apartment to prison, on the eve of 15 Sivan, and thank G-d, you were the first to wish me mazal tov about the news of my release which was given to me in my city of refuge, Kostrama, on this day, Tuesday, 12 Tammuz …”

PART III

Many people gathered in the Rebbe’s lodgings on the day that he found out about his release. As was his way, the Rebbe connected everything to Torah and Chassidus and he expressed his great joy by saying a maamer Chassidus which begins with the words, “Hashem Li B’Ozroi.” The next day, 13 Tammuz, after formally receiving his release papers, many people gathered in his place once again and on this day too, the Rebbe said a maamer which began with the words, “Boruch HaGomel l’Chayavim Tovos.”

As for the Rebbe’s state on the day of his release, we can read about it in a letter that he wrote that day:

“Although I have yet to arrive at inner calm and my health is very weak, may Hashem send me a complete healing soon among all the ill of Israel who need healing – but the tremendous deep love that my heart feels for every single individual will overcome my pains and not give me rest until I express my blessing.”

With the annulment of the decree, the Rebbe was supposed to return to his home in Leningrad, but that was not at all simple. While the Rebbe’s house in Kostrama filled with people, they received the sudden news from Leningrad that the head of the GPU, Messing, asked that the Rebbe not delay in returning to Leningrad. The fear was great. All knew Messing’s position and that he planned on rearresting the Rebbe. 

Some Chassidim thought that the Rebbe should not return to Leningrad and should rather go to Charkov or Moscow. The Rebbe listened to the various opinions and declared, “We are going home!”

Thursday morning, 14 Tammuz, the Rebbe boarded a train leaving Kostrama. He left as a free man. The following day, Friday, 15 Tammuz, he returned home to Leningrad where he was accompanied by two special emissaries of the Jewish community in Kostrama as a sign of honor. 

That Shabbos, Parshas Pinchas, the Rebbe had an aliya as he did every Shabbos and said the HaGomel blessing. Years later, the Rebbe MH”M said at one of his farbrengens, that on that Shabbos there had been a scholarly discussion about the need to say the HaGomel blessing.

During the farbrengen that took place after the davening, the Rebbe said a third maamer which began with the words, “Boruch HaGomel,” in which he explained the first “Boruch HaGomel” maamer. At the Shabbos meal, which was a thanksgiving meal, he said the maamer “Se’u Yideichem Kodesh.”

PART IV

Five days passed from the Rebbe’s release until the first news article appeared outside the Soviet Union. In a bold headline under the title of HaTzfira it said: The Release of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. On that same page it said: The Soviet government vacated the judgment against the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Moscow. 19 July (19 Tammuz) (JTA). The Soviet authorities vacated the judgment against the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Schneersohn, who was sent to Kostrama.

Rabbi Schneersohn returned this week to Leningrad. Jewish communities in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Minsk announced that they were guarantors for the absolute loyalty of Rabbi Schneersohn towards the Soviet government.

Two days later, there was another news item which said the Rebbe returned to Leningrad:

Riga, 21 July (JTA). From Leningrad we are told that yesterday, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Schneersohn, returned from incarceration in Kostrama. At the train station waited thousands of Jews, his admirers, who accompanied him from the station to his private dwelling.

***

… At the hour of half to eight in the evening (7:30 PM), I departed on the journey to Kostrama and arrived there the following day, Monday, the 4^th of Tammuz. I remained in exile until Wednesday, the 13^th of Tammuz, half of the first hour of the afternoon (12:30 PM). Nine days and seventeen hours.

That is how the Rebbe Rayatz sums up his days in exile, galus Kostrama.