A Microcosm, Of
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
.. , ':" '" ,i ii; >: Thursday, April 16. 1970 , ' r ,q, , 'Page Fourteen THE ,JEWISH POST Thursday, April 16, 1970 THE JEWISH POST Page Fifteen :4, , " - - -- Jewish girl. In Holland, there -isn't such a big' - t" fl > choice. Here, in isr1l;el, it's ~ometh!ng e~se," he d , ," " Microcosm, of Israel said breaking out 111 a WIde gr111, hIS eyes , " , The Ulpan: A " N , , , twinkling. l'} things - to provide for myself and my two chil "There's more: If I had only wanted mde . THE LUBAVITCHER [1,J pendence I could have gone to England or France. dren, Get things going, But I'm sticking it out t here. I'm staying. My future is here, in Israel." I came t~ Israel because I'm a Jew. I'm not reli " Schneerson married -Rebetzin Chaya Moussia, The ISl'8eli 'headquarters of the C h a bad '1 , New: York {·f gious but I'm Jewish. In Holland, or;ce you le~ve the daughter qf Rabbi Joseph Schneersohn. Lubavitch movement are located in Kfar Chabad, ,~, ! Itzhak from Beirut, Lebanon your Jewish friends it's like crosslll&, the hne. " UBAVITCHER CHASSIDIM allover the one of the Lubavitcher cities in the Holy Landt !I OU sit in an Ulpan class, struggling to learn The Rebbe received his secular education at !I Itzhalt, 33, was born in Damascus, Syria, lived There's no outward anti-Semitism but there's L world marked an historic milestone on the the University of Berlin and at-. the Sorbonne.. near Tel Aviv. , iI " Y_the words that may open the gates of Israel q in Beirut, and came to Israel four months ago something you lmo~ is there, under the surf'~ce. " tenth day of the Hebrew calendar month of She In 1941 he arrived in the United States. HIS Another Lubavitcher city in Israel, Nachalat l~ to you. , ;,'l with hiS wife and four children. They live in It comes out in times of trouble. If somethmg ! vat, this year on Saturday, Jan. 17. father-in-law who had arrived in 1940 appointed Hal' Chabat, was founded by the Rebbe in the :1," ,At first, the sounds you make are as funny Kiryat Shalom in an apartment, given them by goes wrong and a Jew is involved? ies worse , . I',; , On this day, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi him chairman of tl}e, executive committee of his Negev region, for the abllorption, of immigl'ant ~j and unreal as the sounds coming from the others because he's' a Jew; If,things go well and Jews, fi the Je,Wish Agency. lVIenachenl M. Schneerson, completed twenty newly founded 'organizations' which included,. families. Yet another Lubavitcher city, near Tel " around you. 'They: - like' the new words - are " Twice in his life, Itzhak broke away from a are wealthy" there's envy because Jews have, years as, world leader of the Chabad~Lubavitch among' others 'Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch,' the Aviv is now under construction. rt hazy; unclear. Then the confusions get structured. " life of wealth and business activity in Arab coun mon'ey and success."" " movement. 'educational arm of the Lubavitcher movement, In the course of his administration the Rebbe ·f. Each student takes on a form and shape. Differ " " tries, breaks that may have saved his life and "In Israel there are no hnes to cross. Under his guidance the movement has devel 'Machne -Israel', the movement's organ dedicated has become endeared to countless thousands of 8, ;: ences become tangible. An accent becomes a marI!: certainly saved his peace of ~ind, . At, 23, he le~t Alex thinl's he's in love ... with an Israeli to the welfare of Jews whever they be, and 'Otzar , , of individuality and character. , oped so that its influence nO\" transcends the Jews who have come to know him. From the tl . his family of eight brothers and a sIster, a bIg girl he met here. She may help J:tim c!ecide about world of Lubavitch and even the Chassidic com Hachassidim', the Lubavitcher publishing house. profound Torah scholar to the secularist, from !, Siowly, the 'students group by other than past wholesale drug business, all his possessions, and his future. He may go to the Ulllversity to study munity at large, and deeply penetrates, ?irec!ly During these years, Rabbi Sehneerson began Chief of State to the mail in the street, to men ",: natIonality. You hear words, and without seeing, walked by foot out of Syria to Lebanon. marketing or business. He'll decide later., Right 'j and indirectly, the 'mainstream' of JeWIsh h~e writing his notations to various Chassidic and and women, young and old, he is the scholar and !) yoU' know who's speaking - Turkey with Italy, now, Alex feels "great". ,1 "I thought Lebanon was the lesser of the two in all parts of the world. The movement has, m Kabhalistic treatises, as well as numerous respon spiritual guide, a source of inspiration, authority r! Morocco with Montevideo, New York with Ru evils. I wanted to come to Israel but it was sa on a wide range' of subject matter which !' 'Esther from Montevideo fact become the most vibrant and dynamic, force and dil:ection, of \varmth and kindness. ~~ mania, and so on. People emerge from "the fog " ) ,1 , impossible. All my life, I wanted Israel. I went 111 the Jewish world today. offered the wide Jewish.. world its first glimpse " of sounds and accents. Esther, a warm, motherly woman of 50, came In :a: world rent with tension and frustration, '.~l to Lebanon because it was better than Syria and of his unique scholastic, ability. i! from Montevideo, Uruguay, three months ~go. aimlessness and disenchantment, the -Rebbe has 'Some 16 countries are represented in this the only place I could go. I worked there 'apd * In '1944 he received the sad news that his "";~ * made Lubavitch the anchor, the pillar of light ~! evening UIpan class of 30. The myth of America built up a' wholesale drug' business like' the one She came to join her children who had settled The same tenth of Shevat also marked the father had passed 'away in Alma Ata, a remote P ani! hope with which the swelling ranks of stray ~-l , being the "worId'smelting pot'! has been shat I had in Damascus." in Israel before the Six nay War. twentieth Yahrieit oJ his predecessor and father city in the Kazal<stan region of Russia, where, he " ,I ing Jewish youth can identify themselves. , , ~;{ tered. ,Israel today is surely that, and the Ulpan "We had. everything we needed in Beirut ... An ardent Zionist all her life, Esther influ in-law, Rabbi Joseph I., Schneersohn (5640-5710/ had been exiled by Russian authorities for teach- H class isa microcosm of Israel. Natibnality sits a home, servants, ',furniture, car, My business enced her daughters and' they decided to leave 18~0~1950). ' . ing Judaism to his people. ' In Lubavitch one can find many Russian .Jews' . i: side by side with other 'nationalities. Sometimes was very good. But I don't like living in Arab, Uruguay and go to Eretz Israel. ,Her arrival made Rabbi Joseph Schneel'sohn's years at the head In 1947 he ,was reunited, with his mother, who have spent as many as fifteen years in hard fi· the family complete. labor camps simply' because they wanted, to live' ~1 they clash. Usually, they get' along - curiosity countries. They don't like Jews so why stay of the movement from 1920 to 1950 was one. of Rebetzin Chana. whom he hadn't seen in more H Although a competent nurse's assistant, as JeWs. They relate much about the heartache r-,j' about each other and the struggle to learn Hebl'ew where you are ,not liked?" , ' the most turbulent periods in recent JewIsh' than twenty years as a result of the European ,1 beirig stronger than conflict. .' " With a lot of effort, he finally received special Esther doesn't work. "My children aon't want upheaval. She lived with him 'in the United and hardship suffered in observing -:- and helping t,1 history. 'others (}bserve - the Torah-true way of life The -class also has its' fearful ones,' people permission to take his things an,g. leave Lebanon. me to ,work. They want me to relax, study He His first seven years of leadership were of States until her passing in 1965. :1 brew, see Israel. They want to take After tHe demise of Rabbi Joseph 1. Schneer behind the iron curtain. They will tell you that "{1 unable to, leave their old wor~ds 'emo courageous effort and legend~ry .strug&,le to pl:e it was only the Rebbe's inspiration that gave i! care of me. One of my girls is married . sohn in 1950, Rabbi Menacberri' M. Schnl'!erson, " tionally and some justifiably afraid. , serve and strengthen Jewish lIie m SOVIet RUSSI~., them and theil' families the strength to endure. iIi,. They refused to t~lk to me when I, to an architect. The other to a doctor. For this he suffered numerous threats, pursUlt assumed - though reluctantly -" the helm of , , asked them about themselves, afraid And ,they work too. They' struggled the blossoming Lubavitcher m\>vement. : You may see one of these Russian Jews danc ,,'"" ; , and death sentences. , [: this article' might be tead by hostile' very much when they first came. They : ing wi,th the Torah while tears of joy 'streak down ";f The next thirteen years saw him, i~ Latvia ~~ had no money and couldn't find jobs. , his'cheeks.