By COLlive reporter
The secret of the Frierdiker Rebbe?
Rabbi David Eliezrie, the Chabad Shliach in California who authored the bestselling book “The Secret of Chabad,” is working on a groundbreaking biography about the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, of blessed memory.
And he’s on a quest to find relevant information.
Recently, Rabbi Eliezrie has uncovered some historical materials, including letters from the Rebbe’s secretaries, interviews with Chassidim who learned in the Yeshiva in Poland, and documents about the Frierdiker Rebbe’s interactions with major Jewish organizations.
“We are throwing out a wide net to uncover as much historical information as possible so we can tell the whole story of the Rebbe’s life,” he told COLlive.com. “We are hoping that others will share memories, interviews with their relatives who may have passed away, historical documents and other material.”
“I’m attempting to look back over 80-90 years and these documents and accounts are crucial,” he says. “Historians call it memorial literature, it’s a first-hand impression on crucial historical moments, providing important historical context and background.”
Rabbi Eliezrie, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Meir HaCohen/Chabad in Yorba Linda, is active in local and national Jewish affairs and is president of the Rabbinical Council of Orange County and Long Beach. The Secret of Chabad was recognized by the National Jewish Book Award.
“The Rebbe’s courage and conviction stood at the apex of the great historical events impacting Jewish life in the twentieth century,” notes Rabbi Eliezrie. “His fearless stand for Soviet Jewry, broad vision, rich teachings of Chassidus, and his efforts in laying the foundation for a global Jewish renaissance is a remarkable story that we hope will inspire people from all walks of life.”
“Sadly his story had never been fully told,” he says. “Hopefully, this new comprehensive biography, titled “Undaunted” will provide both those in the Chabad community and beyond a better understanding of his remarkable life and be a source of inspiration.”
Rabbi Eliezrie says the book will cover the Frierdiker Rebbe’s early years at the side of this father in time of the Czar and the Russian revolution. The sacred trust given to him by the Rebbe Rashab to direct Tomchie Timimim, a mission that he carried first in Russia, then Poland and finally in the US.
The book will be highlighting “his amazing courage in standing up to communism when all other Jewish leaders abandoned Russian Jewry,” and once arriving in America, “instead of accepting the suggestions of Chassidim and slowing down, he launches a Jewish renaissance in the United States and around the world. It’s an astonishing story, not fully appreciated in our community and the broader Jewish world.”
Rabbi Eliezrie says he is being assisted by the “communal treasure of interviews” by JEM’s My Encounter Project and has recently attained a video interview with Rabbi Yitzchak Hendel of Montreal who recalls stories from his time in the Yeshiva in Otovsk and his Yechidus with the Frierdiker Rebbe.
He also discovered a letter from the famed Chassid Reb Itche Der Masmid (Horwitz) who was sent by the Friedeker Rebbe as a Shliach to the United States in September of 1933 and stayed for two years. During that time, he deeply inspired the Chabad community in the US and developed a friendship with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Cunin, one of the early prominent Chabad Chassidim. In this letter from Poland, Reb Itche is sharing news about the Rebbe’s health.
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Rabbi Eliezrie is asking for the public to share information, stories, documents and photos of the Frierdiker Rebbe to rabbi@ocjewish.com, or call 714-612-6253. All sources used will be acknowledged in the book, he says.
