Historic Discovery
Introduction
On the night of Rosh Chodesh Iyar, 5716 (April 11, 1956), three Arab terrorists infiltrated the vocational school in Kfar Chabad and opened fire on students and their teachers during evening prayers. Within moments, four students and an instructor were killed, and several others were seriously wounded, plunging the fledgling Chassidic village in the Holy Land into shock and mourning. A fifth student, gravely injured in the attack, later succumbed to his wounds.
The impact on Kfar Chabad was immediate and devastating. Parents rushed to the village to retrieve their children, and many students did not return to school in the days that followed. A profound fear settled over the community; some questioned whether it was possible—or responsible—to remain in the village under such a threat.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Rebbe sent letters and telegrams of consolation to the residents of Kfar Chabad, reviving the spirits of a traumatized community. In these communications, the Rebbe refrained from attempting to explain how G-d could allow such a tragedy to occur. As the Rebbe later articulated, there can be no humanly comprehensible justification for such an event. What was certain, however, was what the response must be.
The Rebbe urged the grieving village not to succumb to fear, insisting that terror must not deter them from their mission. Instead, he called for renewed determination to expand the village and its institutions, reinforcing their role as a center of Torah and Chassidic life.
The Rebbe’s encouragement revitalized the villagers’ spirits and was swiftly translated into action. The Rebbe urged the rapid expansion of the vocational school, leading to the establishment of a new printing division dedicated in memory of the victims. At the conclusion of shloshim, thousands gathered for the groundbreaking of a new wing—later named Yad HaChamisha—affirming that the answer to destruction would be construction, and that Jewish life in Kfar Chabad would not only endure, but grow stronger (see letters dated 11th of Shevat, 5716).
In the weeks that followed, the Rebbe further reinforced this response by dispatching a group of twelve young shluchim to Eretz Yisrael, tasked with strengthening the shaken community and expanding Lubavitch activities on all fronts.
Five days after the massacre, the Rebbe sent an urgent telegram to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, appealing for immediate action to prevent further atrocities and to safeguard Jewish life in the Holy Land.
The telegram, published here for the first time, was shared with us by Rabbi Yosef Kramer, the Rebbe’s shliach to Little Rock, Arkansas.
BK BROOKLYN NY APR 16 226PME
THE PRESIDENT
THE WHITE HOUSE
THE COLD BLOODED MASSACRE OF JEWISH CHILDREN AT PRAYER IN CHABAD VILLAGE IN HOLY LAND MUST AROUSE EVERY DECENT HUMAN BEING.
IN NAME OF HUMANITY AND ESPECIALLY IN NAME OF AMERICAN AND WORLD CHABAD MOVEMENT AND CHABAD CONGREGATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS OF WHICH I HAVE [THE] HONOR TO BE SPIRITUAL LEADER, INCLUDING CHABAD MOVEMENT AND RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE HOLY LAND, I APPEAL TO YOU FROM DEPTH OF SORROWFUL HEART TO DO ALL YOU CAN AND EXERT YOUR GREAT INFLUENCE THAT EFFECTIVE MEASURES BE TAKEN IMMEDIATELY TO PREVENT REPETITION OF SUCH HORRORS AND SAFEGUARD THE SACRED INSTITUTIONS IN THE HOLY LAND.
GRATEFUL THANKSRABBI MENACHEM SCHNEERSON PRESIDENT AGUDAS CHASIDEI CHABAD 770 EASTERN PARKWAY BROOKLYN NY.
The following day, Philip Kleinfeld, a New York judge, politician, and friend of Lubavitch, wrote to the White House urging that the matter be given proper consideration. On April 21, Murray Snyder, Assistant Press Secretary to the President, responded to his letter:
“This is in reply to yours of April nineteenth. I have checked and learned that the State Department has been asked to look into the matter covered in the telegram. I will see that you are advised as to their report.”
On April 27, at the direction of the President, Staff Secretary A. J. Goodpaster forwarded the telegram—accompanied by Kleinfeld’s letter and a memorandum on the Chabad movement—to the State Department for direct reply.
The State Department’s response can be inferred from an article written at the time by the Rebbe’s secretary, Rabbi Nissan Mindel:
“The terrible tragedy aroused the indignation of all decent people. Many thousands of telegrams protesting the massacre poured into the White House, the State Department, and the United Nations. Angry protests were heard from the floor of Congress in Washington. A delegation of Chabad leaders was received at the State Department by the Under Secretary of State Allen. Everything was done to prevent the repetition of such an outrage and to demand indemnity for the victims of the village, which, in a real sense, is an American institution operated by Agudas Chasidei Chabad of the United States under the presidency of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in Brooklyn, New York.”
The full file of internal White House documents concerning the telegram can be viewed on the Rebbe Responsa app.
