#484 (s5767-23) 10 Adar 5767

Purim In Persia Again

In the Teharan synagogue were ancient manuscripts from before the time of Esther and Mordechai.

Purim In Persia Again

In 1978 the Lubavitcher Rebbe requested that Tanya (the basic Chabad philosophical treatise) be printed in every Jewish community.(There have been more than 6000 editions of Tanya printed world wide.) One such printing was accomplished in Teheran, Iran. Two thousand copies were delivered to the local shul for distribution. Shortly thereafter, the Shah was deposed and Ayatollah Khoumeini took power. One of the first orders for the new regime was the purging of all things non-Muslim. The Jews of Teheran were told their archives and store houses would have to be turned over to the authorities for inspection and destruction. They had two weeks to turn over their books.

A meeting was convened by the city's Rabbis. No plan was implemented but each Rabbi was to determine what to do before the two week period lapsed. The Rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Teheran left the meeting quite disturbed.

The next day he went to his office, where he was confronted by a squad of the police. They demanded that the Rabbi turn over his archives. He protested, saying that he had been given two weeks. They just shrugged and said, "We are here now. Give us the materials."

The Rabbi knew if he did not comply, he would be killed. But in the synagogue archives were ancient manuscripts from before the time of Mordechai and Esther. He resolved he would not give these away even though he risked being killed on the spot! Sensing that his last moments on Earth were near, he quietly said the Shma and the vidui confession prayer.

As they were leaving the office to go to the archives, one of the police noticed a large box of newly printed books. They inquired about the nature of these books. The Rabbi proceeded to give them a full overview of Chasidic thought and the themes of the Tanya. In the course of his explanations, he opened the book and taught a chapter of the Tanya to the police! The subject matter dealt with the totality of G-d’s oneness.

The police were very impressed. They said that if this was the nature of the Jews' archives, they conformed to the new standards. And they left.

A short time later, the Rabbi moved to New York City where he served for many years as the Rabbi of a prodigious synagogue in Manhattan. At his first opportunity, the Rabbi went to Brooklyn and thanked the Lubavitcher Rebbe for saving his life.

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Adapted with permission by Yerachmiel Tilles from the rendition of Herschel Finman (Copyrighted 2001- www.RabbiFinman.com)

Biographical note:
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe (11 Nissan 1902 - 3 Tammuz 1994), became the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty after his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away in Brooklyn on 10 Shvat 1950. He is widely acknowledged as the greatest Jewish leader of the second half of the 20th century. Although a dominant scholar in both the revealed and hidden aspects of Torah and fluent in many languages and scientific subjects, the Rebbe is best known for his extraordinary love and concern for every Jew on the planet. His emissaries around the globe dedicated to strengthening Judaism number in the thousands. Hundreds of volumes of his teachings have been printed, as well as dozens of English renditions.

Yrachmiel Tilles is co-founder and associate director of Ascent-of-Safed, and editor of Ascent Quarterly and the AscentOfSafed.com and KabbalaOnline.org websites. He has hundreds of published stories to his credit.