About the Rebbe Rayatz

Born on June 21, 1880, in Lyubavichi, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn was the only son of Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. From a young age, he was groomed to lead one of the world's most significant Hasidic movements.

In 1920, following his father's passing, he assumed leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement during one of the most challenging periods in Jewish history. Under Soviet rule, he established an underground network of Jewish schools, synagogues, and mikvaot, risking his life to preserve Jewish tradition.

On June 15, 1927, Soviet secret police (NKVD) agents arrested Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak at this very apartment on Mokhovaya Street. He was imprisoned in the notorious Shpalerka Prison and initially sentenced to death for 'counterrevolutionary activities' — his crime being the maintenance of Jewish educational institutions.

A worldwide outcry, combined with diplomatic pressure from the United States and international organizations, forced the Soviet regime to commute his sentence. He was exiled to Kostroma, and further pressure led to his release and departure from the Soviet Union on October 20, 1927.

After leaving Russia, the Rebbe settled in Riga, Latvia, then Warsaw, Poland. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, a remarkable rescue operation — involving American diplomats and, extraordinarily, German military intelligence — brought him safely to New York in March 1940.

In America, the Rebbe declared boldly that 'America is no different' — rejecting the notion that the New World was incompatible with Jewish religious life. He founded three organizations that would transform world Jewry: Machneh Yisrael (outreach), Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch (education), and Kehot Publication Society (publishing). These laid the foundation for what Chabad-Lubavitch would become under his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.