Jewish activity in the USSR should be a secret: how false messiah Schneerson maintained secret communication between New York and Moscow Jewry
December 11, 2022
A few days ago, my relative told me about an event that happened here in Moscow about forty years ago. I was surprised: "trust, but check" - and I checked. And the story turned out to be even more amazing than I thought.
Rabbi Zusha Silberstein, director of Beit Chabad "Chavanel" in Montreal, was sent to Moscow more than 35 years ago, back in Soviet times - to bring Jewish books, to teach the Torah with young Jews. He came as a "tourist", and did his Jewish affairs in secret. Before going to the USSR, he received an instruction from the Lyubavitsky Rebbe: to come to a certain Jew in Moscow and ask to immediately stop what he was doing.
Reb Zusha got an address from the Hasidim in Moscow and left. The addressee agreed to open the door to a Jew from Canada only after long persuasion. So, Zusha's rib came in and said in Yiddish: "I have a message for you from Lubavitch Rebe. He learned about the exhibition and the press conference you are preparing on Sunday. The Rebbe asks to cancel all this." The venerable Jew was shocked. How did Rebe, who lives in the United States, find out that he had been cooking for many years?! Do not forget that there was no Internet and e-mail yet, and because of the "iron curtain" almost no information came out.
Our venerable Jew worked on his project for a long time. His goal was to prove to the world that there is no freedom of religion in the Soviet Union, and the few synagogues that work officially are only a cover. He was an avid traveler, traveled all over the country and photographed various buildings that used to be synagogues and yeshivas, and then were closed and nationalized, turned into factories, houses of culture or just warehouses. He collected a shocking picture of the death of Judaism. He will tell the whole world how communism trampled on Jewish life in the Soviet Union. He was going to show all this to foreign journalists...
When I heard this story, I turned to Rabanite Rivka Weiss, the director of the Beit Yehudit Educational Center, which she founded together with her late husband, Rabbi David Weiss, many years ago. Now Rivka Weiss lives in Israel and continues to be involved in Jewish education. She asked her brother, he asked one of the residents of Maale Adumim, the grandson of the hero of our story:
- Yes, that's how it was.
- And what happened?
- Grandpa said: "If Rebe says no, then no."
The Jew we are talking about was not a Khabadnik, moreover, he stayed away from the Moscow Khabadniks. But he respected the Lubavitch Rebbe and followed his instructions. Why did the Rebe indicate to cancel such a seemingly correct project? Rebbe has been adhering to the rule all his life: Jewish activity in the USSR should be a secret, without the slightest hype, which will only cause excessive attention of the authorities and harm. And time showed that Rebe was right.
I wanted to talk to that grandson myself. He told me: "We repatriated to Israel in 1987. I served in the Israeli army and, like many, went for a walk in India. There I was "caught" by the messenger of Chabad, I returned to faith, came to Israel, got married... And now I am a Rebe's messenger for the Russian-speaking residents of Maale Adumim!" "Maybe this is a reward to that venerable Jew for unquestioningly fulfilling Rebbe's request?" I thought.
If you are interested in what happened to the photos - nothing is missing. During the years of perestroika, our Jewish traveler published them in the form of a book. But that's another story.
Source: https://mjcc.ru/news/rebe-prosil-nemedlenno-prekratit/