As noted last week, this coming Wednesday, the 10th Shevat, marks two special anniversaries: On that date, 70 years ago, the sixth saintly leader of Chabad, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), passed away. And on that date, a year later, his great son-in-law, the Rebbe of our generation, formally accepted leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch.
When I say the Rebbe accepted the leadership a year later, I don’t mean he didn’t become Chabad’s leader immediately in 1950. In fact, right after shiva, he threw himself into strengthening and expanding all the movement’s institutions and activities, including sending energetic young chassidim to Morocco to start a network of Torah schools.
Ever since he had arrived in New York in 1941, the Rebbe had maintained a widespread correspondence with chassidim and Jewish leaders, but now he exponentially increased the number of letters he wrote, in particular to urge people not to lose heart. He wanted them to continue their activities and, indeed, increase them.
It’s important to understand how Jews, particularly chassidim, felt after the passing of the sixth Rebbe (also known as the Rebbe Rayatz). Less than five years earlier, World War II had ended, which consumed a third of world Jewry, including most Torah-observant Jews. Almost all great Torah centers were destroyed. Holocaust survivors were utterly disheartened by their experiences, and few dared to think of a brighter future. Analysts confidently predicted the imminent end of Orthodox Judaism.
The only bright spot was the Rebbe Rayatz’s escape from Europe and arrival in New York in 1940. He had launched a spirited campaign to build North America into a fortress of Torah to replace the one going up in flames in Europe. He immediately founded a senior yeshiva in Brooklyn, soon followed by another in Montreal, Canada, and started sending his young graduates to various cities to found Jewish day schools, most of which still exist today.
He published Torah-true periodicals and other publications in Yiddish and English, including many for children and youth. Finally, it seemed, a breath of life was starting to enliven Yiddishkeit in America. Many Torah-observant and traditional Jews who were already here joined his efforts, as did European refugees who arrived immediately before, during, and after the war.
Suddenly, though, it all seemed to come to an end. With the passing of the Rebbe Rayatz in 1950, who would continue energizing the upward swing in Yiddishkeit? His son-in-law did not then think of filling his place. He was satisfied to continue and expand his father-in-law’s activities without the title of Rebbe. He insisted that the Rebbe Rayatz remained the “leader of our generation,” and that even after his passing, he empowered his followers’ efforts to strengthen Torah and mitzvos.
Meanwhile, however, Lubavitch chassidim couldn’t imagine continuing without a successor to the Rebbe Rayatz. Although the Rebbe’s self-effacing nature over the years meant that many did not yet have any direct acquaintance with him, those who did had at least some conception of his greatness in Torah scholarship and spiritual achievement. A few had also heard the Rebbe Rayatz detailing his second son-in-law’s unique qualities.
Throughout the year following the Rebbe Rayatz’s passing, chassidim clamored for the Rebbe to accept the leadership, sending him special letters declaring their devotion to him – what chassidim call a k’sav hiskashrus.
Although chassidim were confident he would finally accept the leadership, the matter was still uncertain until the 10th of Shevat a year later. Throughout the year, the Rebbe had led inspiring public farbrengens on every Yom Tov, Chassidic holiday, and special Shabbos. But it was not until the middle of the 10th Shevat farbrengen, when one of the elder chassidim declared that everyone wanted to hear a maamar (a discourse of chassidic philosophy) – which would signify his acceptance of the position of Rebbe – that he finally did so, to the exuberant joy of the chassidim.
The rest is history. The Rebbe spread Yiddishkeit and Chassidus around the globe, changing the face of world Jewry and paving the way for the revelation of Moshiach.