Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch (the Rayatz) was born to his father Rebbe Shalom Dov Ber (the Rashab) on the 12th of Tammuz, 5640 (1880). When he was fifteen, his father appointed him as his secretary for public affairs, and at seventeen he married his wife Rebbetzin Nechamah Dinah and became the director of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah, which his father had just founded. In 5680 (1920), the Rebbe Rashab passed away, shortly after the beginning of the Communist Revolution. The Rebbe Rayatz filled his place and worked extensively for Judaism in Russia. As a result, the Rebbe was arrested on the 15th of Sivan 5687 (1927) by the GPU and sentenced to death, but under international pressure, the sentence was commuted to exile in the city of Kostroma, and finally to a full release. On the 2nd of Tevet, 5700 (1939), he was rescued from Nazi-occupied Warsaw and was able to make it to the United States. After a short period of time, he acquired 770 Eastern Parkway, the famous building that was both his home and the world Chabad headquarters. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson passed away on Shabbat Parashat Bo, the 10th of Shevat, 5710 (1950). Exactly one year later, he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn.
In the years 5665-5666 (1905-1906), during the Russian Revolution, Russians rebelled against the Czar and committed acts of folly. Anyone who did not agree with the rebels was sentenced to death.
In Lubavitch too, there was a group of thugs, and they caused much suffering for the Rebbe’s chasidim in Lubavitch. They would ambush the yeshivah students, and set traps to convince or force them to become members of their evildoers gang. Almost all their efforts were in vain and managed to draw only one boy to their group. His name was Berel Tchernigover.
At that time, the Rebbe Rayatz was the director of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah. He called for the yeshivah students who were physically strong and intelligent to lie in wait for Berel as he walked in the street and bring him to him. They ambushed Berel and forcibly brought him to the Rebbe Rayatz, and locked him in the yeshivah office.
When the thugs who had enticed Berel to join them learned that the “fat fish” they had caught had escaped their trap, they came to the Rebbe Rayatz, complaining that the boy belonged to them, and how dare he take him from their company by force? They showed the Rebbe that they had weapons in their possession.
"Regarding weapons, I am not afraid of you,” said the Rebbe. “And as for your claim that the boy belongs to you, I took him from his parents under my responsibility. I am obligated to bring him back to his father, and I am responsible for both his physical and spiritual well-being. I will return him to his parents.” The bullies left with angry and empty faces, and within days Berel’s father came and took him home.
A few days later, the thugs returned, this time with pistols, and the Rebbe Rashab and his son the Rayatz locked the doors and windows of the yeshivah. The thugs fired their pistols, and thank God no one was harmed, although one or more bullets did lodge in the wall.
The yeshivah students took beams of iron that supported their beds and went out to meet the thugs. Fear fell upon the thugs, and they fled.
In their book of memories, the leaders of the group of thugs wrote that between themselves, they had sentenced the Rebbe Rayatz and a yeshivah student by the name of Shmuel Katsman, who was then studying in Lubavitch, to death. It was Shmuel Katsman who was instrumental both in capturing Berel and in chasing the thugs from the courtyard.
The chasid Reb Menachem Mendel Axelrod, may his blood be avenged, was engaged to the daughter of the chasid Reb Yitzchak Rubinstein who lived in Moscow. The engagement ceremony took place in Moscow around 5662 (1902). The Rebbe Rayatz was also in Moscow at that time, and he attended the engagement ceremony.
The day after the engagement, the holy Rebbe said to him: "Mendel, this is your first time in Moscow, come and I'll show you the city." When they reached the large store then in Moscow, called "Muir et Myrales," the Rebbe said to him: "Here you can find anything in the world, let's go in and see." As they walked through the department store, they came to the where pocket knives were on display. The Rebbe showed the seller his pocket knife and said that he wanted to purchase another one just like it. The vendor showed him several different pocket knives, but none was exactly like the Rebbe's knife.
[From the writings of Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik]
Inner Pride of Ownership
Why have we combined a simple, everyday story of a shopping trip with the tale of bravery against thugs?
The answer will become clear when we contemplate this story a bit: The Rebbe Rayatz finds special interest in showing the young groom that even in the big store, there is no knife like his. The pride one takes in owning a particular object is a sign that the individual has an inner sense of affinity to that object. Interestingly, in the Rebbe Rayatz’s case, the inner sense he had was for knives, whether in the pocket or outside it. The world of weaponry was not foreign to the Rebbe Rayatz. He was not afraid of the young thugs' pistols, and later in his life, he kept his composure when faced with the pistols of the Communist secret police investigators. Given the grave danger he was in while still in Communist Russia (both from the authorities and from antisemites) it is even reported that he would sometimes carry a pistol himself. However, this story shows that there was also something beyond how he dealt with thugs or weapons.
Ornaments
The subject of weaponry is dealt with in many halachic/legal contexts in the Talmud. Everything from the impurity that weapons carry to the future vision of Isaiah when those same weapons will be “beat into plowshares... and into pruning hooks.”
One such discussion appears in the tractate of Shabbat and deals with the question of whether weapons carried by a soldier may be carried around on Shabbat or not. Rabbi Eliezer is of the opinion that it is permitted. His very interesting reason is that they are considered like ornaments for the soldier and therefore are not a burden that may not be transported around.
However, the other sages of his time rejected his view. They argue that because eventually, in the Messianic era, weapons will be “beat... into plowshares, etc.,” even though a weapon may still be necessary, it should not be praised and therefore cannot be regarded as an ornament. But Rabbi Eliezer argues that because we still need to use weapons in our times, that is enough of a reason to consider it something with which one can adorn oneself. What can we learn from this debate?
Desires
Let us begin with the sole appearance of the word “knife” (סַּכִּין) in the entire Bible: “Thrust a knife into your gullet if you are a person of spirit” (אם־בעל נפש אתה שׁית סכין בּלועך). According to the commentaries, “a person of spirit” here refers to someone who is gluttonous, i.e., a “person of appetite,” since the Hebrew word for “spirit” (also translated as “psyche”) stems from the verb that also means “to desire.” Thus, this verse refers to the need for restraining one’s appetite. Proverbs likens it to cutting off as it were one’s oral cavity which continually craves more and more food. However, the plain meaning is not lost, and the verse can also be referring to a person who has an overpowering need for intellectualism. Either way, this verse follows the Chabad-centric dictum that precisely in that which you desire excessively, it is there that you must exercise control, falling back upon the innate ability of the mind to control the heart’s desires. Armed, so to speak, with this verse, what can we say about the inner meaning behind the debate regarding viewing a weapon as an ornament?
Submission or Transformation, War or Peace
Like life itself, our Divine service splits into two modes. Sometimes in life it is a time for war, and sometimes it is a time for peace (until eventually, with the Coming of Mashiach and the true and complete Redemption, there will be everlasting peace). The state of war in Divine service is the war we wage against our evil inclination. This state is known as itkafya—the service of submission. The Tikkunei Zohar describes it as “the other side is subdued” (אִתְכַּפְיָא סִטְרָא אַחְרָא). The state of peace in Divine service refers to when the evil inclination has been transformed into a positive influence. The Tikkunei Zohar’s description of this state is ithapcha, and it is described as, “Darkness is transformed into light” (אִתְהַפְכָא חֲשׁוֹכָא לִנְהוֹרָא).
In the debate between Rabbi Eliezer and the sages, the latter’s focus is on the long-awaited end of days when we will experience the complete transformation of all that is evil into goodness. But Rabbi Eliezer, and similarly, the Rebbe Rayatz, though they too yearn for the Redemption, they appreciate the beauty and virtue to be found in resolutely confronting and battling the evil that continues to destroy God’s world, whether this evil be our own internal inclination or our external enemies. They hold that it is precisely because holiness is not afraid to struggle to be victorious that God's glory is elevated in the eyes of many.
