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Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok (Joseph Isaac)^[1] Schneersohn (1880 - 1950) was an Orthodox rabbi and the sixth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement. He is also known as the Frierdikker Rebbe (Yiddish for "Previous Rebbe") or the Rebbe RaYYaTz (an acronym for Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak). After many years of fighting to keep Judaism alive from within the Soviet Union, he was forced to leave; he continued to conduct the struggle from Latvia, and then Poland, and eventually the United States, where he spent the last 10 years of his life. Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Rabbi, in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root word רַב, rav, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished (in knowledge). Sephardic and Yemenite Jews pronounce this word רִבִּי ribbÄ«; the modern Israeli pronunciation רַבִּי rabbÄ« is derived from a recent (18th... Rebbe which means master, teacher, or mentor is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew word רבי. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement. ... It has been suggested that Hasidic philosophy be merged into this article or section. ... Hasidic Judaism (also Chasidic, etc. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ...

Early life

Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn was born in Lyubavichi, Russia. He was appointed as his father's personal secretary at the age of fifteen. In 1897 at the age of seventeen he married a distant cousin Nehama Dina Schneersohn. With financial support from Yaakov and Eliezer Poliakoff he opened spinning and weaving mills in Dubrovno and Moghilev and established a Yeshiva in Bukhara. ^[2] Lyubavichi or Lubavichi (Russian: , Yiddish: Lubavitch, Lubavich) is a village in Rudnyansky District, Smolensk Oblast, Russia. ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the Jewish educational system. ... Bukhara (Tajik: Бухоро; Persian: ‎, Buxârâ; Uzbek: ; Russian: ), from the Soghdian βuxārak (lucky place), is the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and capital of the Bukhara Province (viloyat). ...

As he matured, he campaigned for the rights of Jews by appearing before the Czarist authorities in St. Petersburg and Moscow. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 he sought relief for Jewish conscripts in the Russian army by sending them kosher food and supplies in the Russian Far East.^[2] With rising anti-Semitism and pogroms against Jews, he travelled with other prominent rabbis to seek help from Western European governments. He was arrested four times between 1902 and 1911 by the Czarist police because of his activism, but was released each time.^[2] Tsar, (Bulgarian цар�, Russian царь; often spelled Czar or Tzar in English), was the title used for the autocratic rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empires since 913, in Serbia in the middle of the 14th century, and in Russia from 1547 to 1917. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... Combatants Russian Empire Empire of Japan Commanders Emperor Nicholas II Aleksey Kuropatkin Stepan Makarov† Emperor Meiji Oyama Iwao Heihachiro Togo Strength 500,000 Soldiers 400,000 Soldiers Casualties 24,844 killed; 146,519 wounded; 59,218 POW; unknown Chinese civilians 47,387 killed; 173,425 woundedï¼› unknown Chinese civilians Greater... 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... The circled U indicates that this can of tuna is certified kosher by the Union of Orthodox Congregations. ... Far Eastern Federal District (highlighted in red) Russian Far East (Russian: Д́альний Вост́ок Росс́ии; English transliteration: Dalny Vostok Rossii) is an informal term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... The Russian word pogrom (погром) refers to a massive violent attack on people with simultaneous destruction of their environment (homes, businesses, religious centers). ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Becomes Rebbe

Upon the death of his father, Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, in 1920, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn became the sixth Rebbe of Lubavitch. It was a time of great social and political upheaval following the Russian Revolution of 1917. The victorious anti-religious Bolsheviks, some of them Jews, were intent on uprooting and suppressing all religious life in the "new" Bolshevist Russia.^{[citation needed]} Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (or Sholom Dovber or Rashab) (1860 - 1920) was an Orthodox rabbi and the fifth Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic Judaism movement. ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Rebbe which means master, teacher, or mentor is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew word רבי. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement. ... Chabad Lubavitch, also known as Lubavitch Chabad, is a large branch of Hasidic Judaism. ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ... Bolshevist Russia is a common term that refers to the Red side in the Russian government between the Bolsheviks October Revolution (November 7, 1917) and the constitution of the Soviet Union (December 30, 1922). ...

Battling the Bolsheviks

Following the takeover of Russia by the Communists, they created a special "Jewish affairs section" known as the Yevsektsiya which instigated anti-Jewish activities meant to strip orthodox Jews of their religious way of life. As Rebbe of a Russian-based Jewish movement, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn was vehemently outspoken against the atheistic Communist regime and its goal of forcibly eradicating religion throughout the land. He purposely directed his followers to set up religious schools going against the dictates of the Marxist-Leninist "dictatorship of the proletariat". He was forced to leave Rostov due to local opposition, and lived for a time in Leningrad.^[2] This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... Yevsektsiya (alternative spelling: Yevsektsia), Russian: ЕвСекция, the abbreviation of the phrase Еврейская секция (Yevreyskaya sektsiya) was the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party created to challenge and eventually destroy... Rebbe which means master, teacher, or mentor is a Yiddish word derived from the identical Hebrew word רבי. It mostly refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement. ... The 18th-century French author Baron dHolbach was one of the first self-described atheists. ... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ... The dictatorship of the proletariat is a term employed by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program that refers to a transition period between capitalist and communist society in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. The term refers to a... Rostov (Russian: Росто́в; Old Norse: Rostofa) is one of the oldest towns in Russia and an important tourist centre of the so called Golden ring. ... Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград) may mean: St. ...

He was primarily responsible for the maintenance of the now-clandestine Habad yeshiva system, which had ten branches throughout Russia by this time. He under continual surveillance by agents of the NKVD.^[3] This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Schneersohn argued against his Hasidim leaving Russia, even if they were able do. He explicitly forbade his followers from leaving, describing those who did as "deserters".^[3]

In 1927 he was arrested and imprisoned in the Spalerno prison in Leningrad. He was tried by an armed council of revolutionaries, accused of counter-revolutionary activities and was sentenced to death.^[2] A world-wide storm of outrage and pressure from Western governments and the International Red Cross^[3] forced the communist regime to commute the death sentence and instead banished him to Kostroma on the Urals for three years.^[2] This was also commuted following political pressure from the outside, and he was finally allowed to leave Russia for Riga in Latvia 1928 - 1929. He then went to visit the Holy Land (Israel) and the USA where he was received by US President Herbert Hoover in the White House, who, as Republican presidential candidate had lobbied for his release.^[2] Lubavitch followers in America begged their Rebbe to leave Russia and stay in America, but Schneersohn declined, saying that America was an irreligious place where even rabbis shaved off their beards. From 1934 until the early part of the Second World War he lived in Warsaw Poland. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar). ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and... A counterrevolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part. ... The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the worlds largest group of humanitarian non-governmental organizations, often known simply as the Red Cross, after its original symbol. ... The Ural Mountains, (Russian: Ура́льские го́ры = Ура́л) also known simply as the Urals, are a mountain range that run roughly north and south through western Russia. ... Coordinates: Founded 1201 Government  - Mayor Jānis Birks Area  - City 307. ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The expression The Holy Land (Hebrew ארץ הקודש: Standard Hebrew Éreẓ haQodeÅ¡, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÉreá¹£ haqQāḏēš; Latin Terra Sancta; Arabic الأرض المقدسة, al-Arḍ ul-Muqaddasah) generally refers to the Land of Israel. ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. ... Herbert Clark Hoover, (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964), the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933), was a world-famous mining engineer and humanitarian administrator. ... North façade of the White House, seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Motto: Contemnit procellas (It defies the storms) Semper invicta (Always invincible) Coordinates: Country Poland Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship Powiat (County) Gmina (Commune) Warszawa Districts 18 boroughs City Rights turn of the 13th century Government  - Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz Area  - City 516. ...

Warsaw to USA

Following Nazi Germany's attack against Poland in 1939 Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn refused to leave Warsaw. He remained in the city during the bombardments and its capitulation to Nazi Germany. He gave the full support of his organizations under Chabad Hasidism to assist as many Jews as possible to flee the invading armies. With the intercession of the United States Department of State in Washington, DC and with the lobbying of many Jewish leaders on behalf of the Rebbe (and, reputedly, with the help of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris,^[4] the head of the Abwehr), he was finally granted diplomatic immunity and given safe passage to go via Berlin to Riga, and then on to New York City where he arrived on March 19, 1940. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. ... Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (January 1, 1887 – April 9, 1945) was a German admiral and head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Coordinates: Founded 1201 Government  - Mayor Jānis Birks Area  - City 307. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ...

Accorrding to Chabad scholar Avrum Erlich Schneersohn didn't have a large power base in the United States:

Launch of Lubavitch in the USA

Rabbi Joseph I. Schneersohn was already physically weak and ill from his suffering at the hands of the Communists and the Nazis, but he had a strong vision of rebuilding Orthodox Judaism in America and he wanted his movement to spearhead it. In order to do so he went on a building campaign to establish religious Jewish day schools and yeshivas for boys and girls, women and men. During the last decade of his life, from 1940 to 1950 he was often too ill to stand. He settled in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in New York City. He established printing houses for the voluminous writings and publications of his movement, and started the process of trying to win over the Jewish masses world-wide to his cause. This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide Jewish children with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full time basis, hence its name of day school meaning a school that the students attend for an entire... This article is about the Jewish educational system. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Crown Heights is a neighborhood in Brooklyn in New York City. ... Brooklyn (named for the Dutch city Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. ... New York, NY redirects here. ...

The community in Crown Heights remained small, and the synagogue records show that at some points during 1950 they struggled to form a regular minyan.^[3] A minyan (Hebrew: plural minyanim) is traditionally a quorum of ten or more adult (over the age of Bar Mitzvah) male Jews for the purpose of communal prayer; a minyan is often held within a synagogue, but may be (and often is) held elsewhere. ...

He began to teach publicly, and many came to seek out his teachings. He began gathering and sending out a small amount of his newly trained rabbis to other cities - a trend which was emulated and amplified by his son-in-law and successor Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902 – June 12, 1994), often referred to as simply The Rebbe by Lubavitcher Hasidim, was a prominent Charedi (traditional Orthodox) Jewish rabbi who was the seventh (and to date, final) Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Chassidic Judaism. ...

In 1948 he established a Lubavitch village in Israel known as Kfar Chabad near Tel Aviv, on the site of a onetime Arab village of Safria.^[2] 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Kfar Chabad is a Chabad-Lubavitch community of about 400 families located near Tel Aviv. ... Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

He died in 1950 and was buried in the Borough of Queens in New York City. He had no sons, and his younger son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson succeeded him as Lubavitcher Rebbe, while the older son-in-law, Rabbi Shemaryahu Gurary was appointed to lead the Chabad Yeshiva network Tomchei Temimim. His gravesite became a central point of focus for his successor who would visit it regularly for many hours of prayer, meditation and supplication. 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Queens Borough in New York City, in yellow Queens is one of the five boroughs of New York City, USA. Geographically the largest borough in the city, Queens is home to many immigrants and two of New Yorks major airports. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (April 18, 1902 – June 12, 1994), often referred to as simply The Rebbe by Lubavitcher Hasidim, was a prominent Charedi (traditional Orthodox) Jewish rabbi who was the seventh (and to date, final) Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Chassidic Judaism. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Tomchei Temimim is the central Yeshiva (Talmudical school) of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic movement. ...

See also

770 Eastern Parkway The original building at 770 Eastern Parkway, as it appears after a heavy snowstorm. ...

Notes

1. ^ Image of Schneersohn's Certificate of Naturalization
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Encyclopedia of Hasidism, entry: Schneersohn, Joseph Issac. Naftali Lowenthal. Aronson, London 1996. ISBN 1568211236
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} The Messiah of Brooklyn: Understanding Lubavitch Hasidim Past and Present, M. Avrum Ehrlich, Chapter 5,
4. ^ Altein, R, Zaklikofsky, E, Jacobson, I: "Out of the Inferno: The Efforts That Led to the Rescue of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch from War Torn Europe in 1939-40", page 160. Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, 2002 ISBN 0826606830

External links

• Biography
• The "Ohel" - Gravesite
• Yud Shvat
• Books in English
• Memoirs
• Video of Schneersohn arriving in America
• Family Tree
• Complete published works in Hebrew
• Rigg, Bryan Mark (2004). Rescued from the Reich : How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10448-0. 

Time-line of Lubavitcher rebbes