The Lubavitcher Rebbes And The Shabbat Congress

Photo Credit: Saul Jay Singer

Rebbe portrait

The author wishes to acknowledge and thank Rabbi Efraim Mintz and Rabbi Shmuel Super for their invaluable assistance regarding the Rebbe’s letter featured in this article. Any errors herein are mine, and only mine.

The ever-increasing laxity and indifference among Jews toward the holy Shabbat were a source of deep concern to Orthodox Jewish leaders, and a special conference of Orthodox rabbis and communal leaders was convened by the Mizrachi organization at the Washington Hotel in New York City on February 8-9, 1942 to consider the worldwide problem of Shabbat observance, with many prominent rabbis and leaders of Jewish Orthodoxy from various parts of the United States and abroad among the delegates. One rav at the Congress perhaps summarized it best:

My assignment is to report to the Shabbat Congress on the state of Sabbath observance among the Jews the world over. Before the war began, I visited many countries of Europe. More recently I have been in South America and in Africa and Mexico, and the reports for the most part are very depressing…. In Mexico I inquired about Jews who observed Shabbat, and they looked at me as though I were out of my mind… The same story is true of Africa – the Sabbath condition is tragic.

The last Lubavitcher Rabbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt”l, famously initiated numerous campaigns to encourage Jews to observe Shabbat more fully and meaningfully, with his efforts generally being part of his broader mission to strengthen Jewish identity and practice.

In 1974, the Rebbe launched the Ten Mitzvah Campaigns, known as Mivtzo’im, to encourage the observance of key Jewish practices, with Shabbat observance one of these ten mitzvot. The Rebbe emphasized the importance of Shabbat as a cornerstone of Jewish life, urging Jews to observe it in its entirety, from lighting Shabbat candles to refraining from prohibited work. One of the key components of his Shabbat observance campaign was encouraging Jewish women and girls to light Shabbat candles, and he placed particular emphasis on this mitzvah as a way to bring light and spirituality into Jewish homes. This campaign included distributing candlesticks and brochures, and providing guidance on the proper blessings and customs.

The Rebbe also promoted educational programs to teach the laws and customs of Shabbat, including classes, publications, and outreach programs designed to help Jews of all backgrounds learn about Shabbat and its significance. Chabad emissaries around the world organized Shabbat dinners, classes, and seminars to provide hands-on experience and education. Moreover, the Rebbe would often address the importance of Shabbat observance in his talks and letters, including encouraging Jews to take on Shabbat observance incrementally if they were not yet fully observant, emphasizing that even small steps towards greater observance were valuable. He also emphasized the spiritual and practical benefits of observing Shabbat, highlighting its role in strengthening family bonds and providing a time for rest and reflection. Even to this day, Chabad centers worldwide often host communal Shabbat meals to give Jews the opportunity to experience Shabbat in a warm and welcoming environment, and the Rebbe often spoke about the unifying power of Shabbat, viewing it as a time when all Jews, regardless of their level of observance, could come together in peace and harmony.

Original delegate label to the 1942 Shabbat Congress.

The Rebbe’s campaign for Shabbat observance was characterized by warmth, respect, and an emphasis on the spiritual and communal benefits of keeping the Shabbat. He approached the campaign with a deep understanding of the diverse Jewish community and sought to make Shabbat accessible and meaningful to all Jews, regardless of their background.

The last Lubavitcher Rebbe’s efforts were preceded by his father-in-law, Rav Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, who was rebbe immediately before him. In a 7 Cheshvan (October 10) 1941 correspondence written four months before the above-mentioned “Shabbat Congress,” the Rebbe Rayyatz, as he was called, wrote to Aryeh Leib Gelman regarding his willingness to participate in the latter’s plan for the Shabbat Congress:

We have very different opinions, and I can only work together with you on matters where there is no compromise on halacha and no affiliation with any political party. I would very much like to participate in the Congress for the Shabbat, but am unable to because it is affiliated with a political party.

The test of whether the intentions of the Congress is truly for the sake of Shabbat or for the sake of the party will be if you remove all party affiliation from the event and invite members of other parties and non-political people to participate in its planning. If you do so, I will participate and do everything in my power for the sake of its success.

Gelman (1887-1971), who was born in Ukraine, emigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he devoted himself to studies of literature, history, and philosophy. In 1936, he was elected president of Mizrachi in America, and he later became president of Mizrachi World Central and “Hapoel Hamizrachi” (Mizrachi labor), and he was also a member of the American Jewish Congress, of the Jewish World Congress, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and other leading Jewish organizations. He made aliyah in 1949. He wrote for the Yiddish Press in St. Louis; wrote current events articles for The Morning Journal in New York; and from 1936-1949, he edited The Mizrachi Way.

Presumably with Gelman’s assurance that the Shabbat Congress would be apolitical, the Rebbe did send a lengthy 22 Shevat (February 9), 1942 letter to the Congress, in which he emphasized the dangerous state in which the Jewish people find themselves and passionately argued that observing Shabbat and other mitzvot is the key to saving the Jewish people and that the failure to do so is akin to placing a sword in the hand of the enemies of the Jewish people.

In the 2 Adar (February 19), 1942 historic letter to Gelman exhibited here, the Rebbe expresses fury at Gelman and his Mizrachi party for holding the Congress under the banner of the Mizrachi. He mentions that in his earlier letter, he had specifically warned against associating the Shabbat Congress with any political party and that he had hoped that they would respect his request. He adds that when he realized that the event would be party-affiliated, he was unsure what to do, because on the one hand he wanted to take part in advocating for Shabbat observance but, on the other hand, the political affiliation prevents him from doing so. When Rabbis Gold and Epstein, whom he mentions in our letter below, visited him, he had advised them that the success of the Congress will depend on whether the speakers communicate truth: that the only way to ease the current Jewish suffering is repentance and Shabbat observance.

Moreover, on the second day of the Congress, the Rebbe had decided that he simply could not pass up this opportunity to share his thoughts and, as such, he wrote a public proclamation (the aforementioned 7 Cheshvan letter to Gelman) which he transmitted with Rav Moshe Dovber Rivkin, a Chabad chassid. The Rebbe was very upset to learn that his letter was not read publicly but, instead, that they had simply announced that the Rebbe was participating in their Congress through sending Rav Rivkin as an emissary. The Rebbe adds that representing him as supporting their Mizrachi-affiliated event while making no mention of his clear demands and proclamation was a terrible offense, and he concludes by demanding that they correct this in the future and disassociate Shabbat activism from politics.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The original Hebrew letter exhibited here is published in Igros Kodesh Harayatz, vol. 6, p. 202 (omitting Gelman’s name as the name of the recipient).

[Page 1]

Shalom and blessings!

Some time ago – it has been about twelve years – I have come to know you [the Rebbe actually uses the third person throughout the letter] with great respect for your mild temper, your desire for honesty, and your affection for those who tread innocently in keeping action-based mitzvot. And even today I remember most of our conversations then on various topics about strengthening Judaism and striving to spread Torah in this country as well.

However, to the sorrow of my heart and the discontent of my spirit, here also he was taken in by the political party, causing him to commit great moral sins and inserting him among those who cause many to sin – something that will not be forgiven of anyone, and in particular of the head of a political party. What came of it is that instead of any benefit from the Shabbat Congress that could have been hoped for, on the contrary – they sowed destruction from it. And all this is only because of the frivolity of partisanship that places my administrators and friends in the pillory.

Loathsome is the political party – whichever it may be – that gives upstanding people reason to defect, that ousts them from their places with no regard for their gifts. In my letter of the 17^th of Marcheshvan, in response to your letter of invitation to work together as one for the sake of Shabbat, I replied that certainly I would take part, with Hashem’s help, in this sacred work, to observe and safeguard it as much as I can, and I wrote that I will not turn away because they will not [succeed in blocking] the way with the party seal to prevent many G-d-fearing [people who are] members of other political parties or who are not affiliated with a party – among whom I include myself – from this holy work.

I hope that my words will find their path, and that he – as the head of the party – will influence his friends, the creators of the Shabbat Congress, to overcome the false dignity associated with the [high echelon] of the party and to open a wide gateway for all who come to do publicity work for the sake of Shabbat.

In my naivety, I thought that they were doing it in good faith for the sake of Shabbat, but through their actions they have shown clearly to all that they did not use the party for the sake of Shabbat, but rather they used Shabbat for the sake of the party.

When Rabbi Levinson asked me to write a Kol Koreh [written proclamation/public letter] for the sake of Shabbat, I refrained from it, knowing full well that not through that will we be saved.

The time demands actions and work of mesiras nefesh [dedication]. But through proclamations and speeches of choruses and exhortations we will not achieve the goal of strengthening Judaism and maintaining Shabbat.

[Page 2]

First and foremost, we must unite all G-d-fearing rebbes and rabbis – regardless of political party or ambition – and all go out together to the city streets with a loud and bitter cry to tell our brothers and sisters the absolute truth about the bitter situation in which we all – they and their families, and we and our families – stand, on the brink of life and death – absolutely without exaggeration – and to explain to them that our fate and the fate of our sons and daughters is in our hands: If we return to Hashem in repentance for the past and acceptance for the future and keep the action-based mitzvot and the Shabbat, then the faithful G-d will have mercy…

Not with begging and pleas to keep religion and Shabbat should we come to our brothers and sisters, and not with intimidation and threats, but with the warning of the Torah, as stated… And when the sword has already been raised, G-d help us, and we are all between the hammer and the anvil, to demand from everyone who lives among Israel – regardless of status or ambition, whether he works in a factory or is a merchant in a store, writes programs or sits on a podium or runs the treasury – from all of them as one we must demand with all force and might that they return to keep the action-based mitzvot and Shabbat. And if they do not, they are the ones who are sinking the ship of Israel in the rivers of Jewish blood – Heaven forbid. May Hashem protect us all from the dreadful hours that will suddenly manifest themselves in the fearsome and awesome birthpangs of Moshiach.

And the great and bitter outcry, if it had come from the mouths of G-d-fearing rabbis of Israel – as it should, according to the terrible situation and the threat – would certainly have shaken not only the streets of the Jews, but would have caused a firestorm among ]those in high places and of means], and even the heretics and the sinners would have had a spirit of purity and truth enveloping them, and all would repent, every person according to his essence and the nature of his background and education.

When I heard that the instigators of the Congress came out ready to battle in the name of the party, I was very pained, and for days I thought about what I should do. I desire to participate in this sacred work, but on the other hand, I could not bring myself to participate in a Congress whose generators blackened it in partisan tar. And when Rabbis Epstein and Gold, may they live (and be well), visited me, even though I bit my lip with my teeth from the great injustice against Shabbat and against Klal Yisrael, by placing the Congress on the leg of the calf [idol] that created it – with all this, because of the seriousness of the situation involving mortal danger to Klal Yisrael – may Hashem have mercy – I could not refrain from saying what was in my heart because the fate of the Congress’s purpose depends solely on the speeches that will be given. And I emphasized that the time has come for the rabbanim to tell the absolute truth about Israel’s situation as it stands, because the torments and tribulations are the dreadful and terrible birthpangs of Moshiach, which only through repentance, with regret for the past and positive acceptance for the future regarding observing the action-based mitzvot and keeping Shabbat, can these birthpangs of Moshiach be eased. And then all of Israel will know what it is incumbent upon them to do.

And on the second day of the Congress, I prevailed upon myself not to lose the opportunity to reveal my heart which is broken and depressed by the moral and economic status of Israel – may Hashem have mercy upon us – and I expressed my opinion publicly in my articles through my friend, Rabbi Rivkin, may he live [and be well], that the mitzvah of the hour is to go out with a loud and bitter cry that will terrify the hearts of Israel from youth to aged. And how very frightened I was to hear that my words were not heard in public as I intended, for the benefit of the masses, and in return for which they announced publicly that I, too, had jabbed a sore finger in the dance they performed before the calf [idol] of the party, and I sent my friend Rabbi Rifkin, may he live [and be well], to bless the party’s idol and priests.

[Page 3]

My friends! You have sinned, you and all those who assist you, against innocence and righteousness and justice. In no way in the world did you have the authority to block the opening of the Shabbat Congress with my party’s seal. In no way in the world did you have the authority to push aside the young people, may they live [and be well], who desire to work on behalf of Shabbat, and in no way in the world did you have the authority to place me only on the platforms of the ones who offer blessing without also mentioning the content of the demands I made of the Congress regarding matters that are clear and absolute.

Is it in this angry hour, when it appears plain to see that the wrath has been unleashed –G-d help us – and with a mighty hand with blood and fire and water our G-d demands of us to return from our ways and to restore Israel to Him, at this time are we satisfied with reciprocal courtesies and lyrical and laudatory speeches with regard to the party, and so on?

To the extent that I know your honest nature, I will not turn away, because, like me, you know the sins and transgressions that they have sinned against Shabbat, and the guilt of all of Israel in the path that they have chosen, and only the party gatekeepers will not let you open your mouth to tell the truth, wherever it may be found.

Thus, I hereby turn to you and your fellow members with a heartfelt request, for your spiritual welfare and for the welfare of Klal Yisrael, to find honest ways to correct all the distortions and to open a wide gateway to all the members of other parties and those not affiliated with a party, to work together for Shabbat. And I hereby demand unequivocally that all publicity work for Shabbat be removed from the party’s authority and be within the authority of all of Israel.

In our letter, the Rebbe Rayyatz mentions that he has known Gelman for 12 years. This goes back to 1930, when Gelman was the editor of the Yiddisher Record newspaper in St. Louis and he held an interview with the Rebbe, who was visiting America at the time. (For interested readers, the interview is republished in Kovetz Heoros Ohlei Torah, vol. 530, p. 35.)

In a third letter that the Rebbe sent to Gelman about this subject dated 6 Nissan (March 14), 1942, one can easily conclude that Gelman was taken aback by the sharpness of the Rebbe’s letter and, in his response, he assumed that the sharp tone should be attributed to the Rebbe’s secretary and not to him personally. The Rebbe quickly and definitively disabuses him of that notion and makes clear that the letter is 100% his voice. Gelman defended the honor of his Mizrachi party and its members, but the Rebbe’s response reiterated that religious activism, including activism on behalf of Shabbat, must be non-political.

In a letter dated 5 Iyar (April 22), 1942, the Rebbe wrote to Rav Eliezer Silver, the head of Agudas Harabbanim, who had written to the Rebbe expressing the same criticism of the Shabbat Congress affiliating itself with the Mizrachi party. The Rebbe responds that he raised this issue with the organizers and demanded that they remove the party affiliation but that they failed to do so.

Finally, the Rebbe wrote a fourth letter to Gelman on 23 Iyar (May 10), 1942, which does not discuss the Shabbat Congress directly but, rather, addresses the broader issues between them that the Congress had brought to the fore. Noting that Gelman had written to him expressing affinity for him, the Rebbe writes that while he also respects Gelman for his personal qualities, the problem is his taking a political position on religious issues. The Rebbe adds that he considered not answering the latest letter because the gap between them in worldview and general approach to Torah is so wide that he does not think that they can understand each other. However, he explains that he then he decided that everything is by Divine providence, so he will try and explain to him the foundations of his Chassidic and Chabad approach. The letter continues for over ten pages and is a beautiful essay on the Chabad Chassidism, concluding with its application to current affairs.