I Was Brought Up Not To Be Silent When There Is A Need To Scream Out,
And Therefore I Do Not Worry About Damage To My Reputation

It is absolutely irrelevant whether the protest will or will not be effective. The reason for crying out is not based on the assumption that it will be effective, but rather because the situation is painful! I assume that everyone is embroiled in this matter — but not because they expect to gain any recognition or honor from it; if a person gains anything, he gains the opposite of honor, but I have already stopped paying attention to that!

Someone asked me, how can it be that I am not affected when someone denounces me and calls me names, another person calls me a different name, and a third calls me something even worse? I told him that for me, this is something that has been ingrained in me from my youth. Not that it doesn’t bother me at all, but it doesn’t bother me enough to make me change my approach. That is, when we’re dealing with matters of life and death we cannot be silent! This is a clear ruling in the Code of Jewish Law, based on the undisputed ruling in the Talmud that it is forbidden to remain silent in matters of life and death!

G-d helped me (not through my free will or choice in the matter) in that I was the firstborn son to my father, who became the Chief Rabbi of Yekatrinislav. The situation in the country at that time was, that someone always had to conduct debates in Russian, or to respond to the antagonistic questions and arguments which people would pose. Since I was the Chief Rabbi’s eldest son, the task fell upon me.

Since those days (60 — 65 years ago), I became accustomed not to expect any honor or recognition. If others wish to sit and remain silent, I do not approve of it, nor am I allowed to approve of it, for that is not the way I was raised and educated. I will continue in the path of that education; when the issue at hand is one of life and death, we are forbidden to be silent. This is true even when we know that as we speak (or tomorrow or in two days) people are going to begin slandering us.

This does not affect me — I am not part of this group of defamers, who are only damaging themselves. What does cause damage, though, is when someone else totally misrepresents the issue. We are not concerned here with the prohibition of ingratiating oneself to the nations — we are dealing here with life and death! In the past, we tried to ensure that there be no misunderstanding, by repeatedly stating, writing, printing, publicizing and requesting that whoever wished, should publicize the fact, that pertaining to this issue, there exists a law in the Code of Jewish Law, in the laws of the Sabbath, Chapter 329, which explicitly determines this issue. Notwithstanding this unequivocal position of Jewish Law, it affects him (the Prime Minister of Israel) like water off a ducks back, because he is “bribed.” As we explained above, this approach of not remaining silent, was the education of my childhood. I am not saying that I enjoy this, or that when I am name-called, I react the same as if I had been praised. Nevertheless when it comes to action, I am not prepared to alter the path that my father and my father-in-law paved. A path that required me never to reckon with the possibility that the voicing of my beliefs may bring me reduced honor. A path that even required me to disregard an evil decree issued by the gentiles.

The Path Which Our Rebbeim Paved For Us:
Not To Fear The Gentiles

There are some who ask: “How are we allowed to anger the gentiles?” Yet we have witnessed the conduct of my father-in-law, the Rebbe: He could have avoided clashing with the gentiles and the “Jewish gentiles” (the Yevsektzia [94]) and sat at home and studied with his family, students, and whoever would have cared to listen, and no one would have bothered him. More than this: He could have escaped the country as others did. Yet he did not abandon his flock, and he stayed there until they forced him out. He waited until they robbed him of any possibility to spread Torah and Judaism — anyone who came into any form of contact with him was taken away to prison, until he was no longer able to spread Torah and Judaism. However, when he crossed the border, he continued to strengthen the connections he had with those he left behind.

We see the fruits of this: G-d-fearing Jews, living and learning Torah and performing mitzvos, who have self-sacrifice for spreading Judaism. They are not afraid of the gentiles or the Jewish gentiles, nor do they fear the gentile which is within us[95] — “the foreign god which is within you.” These Jews were educated not to say, “first I must complete my struggle with my evil inclination,” while allowing other Jews to wander the streets aimlessly. Other people claim “I was busy salvaging my own soul,” or their wife, sons, daughters, etc... This however is not the forum to elaborate on this.

   

Notes:

94. (Back to text) This was the name of the Jewish section of the Communist party who carried out actions on behalf of the broader spectrum of the Communist party in Russia. Ultimately, after hundreds of Lubavitcher Chassidim were executed or sent to Siberia for conducting underground Jewish schools etc., communism fell. This self sacrifice led to the present day miracle in the CIS where Jews practice Judaism openly even in the Red Square!

95. (Back to text) This inclination to stray towards non-Jewish ideals is called “the gentile within us.”