Often, obstacles are piled in our path. We feel that the task is impossible, that the barrier is insurmountable.
Here a dilemma arises: Should we continue to insist and try to break through against all odds, or is it a lost battle and should we bow our heads and wait for the wave to pass?
There is no objective answer to this question. It's all a matter of faith.
Those with little faith will retreat at the slightest difficulty and will quickly conclude that it is impossible to advance toward the goal. In contrast, people of faith and fortitude will not be deterred by even the greatest difficulties. They will continue to walk and advance, even though those around them will say that they are banging their heads against the wall – and eventually they will break through the wall.
Alone against the superpower
That is why it is so important to retell the story of the heroic struggle waged by a single man against the most tyrannical regime that existed in those days – the communist Soviet Union.
It seems like a lost battle from the start. We are faced with a cruel regime that has no inhibitions; a regime that is capable of tearing a person from their home and family and executing them without a word.
Opposing him stands Rabbi Yosef-Yitzhak Schneerson, the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe. Without weapons, without public support, without tools to fight the evil regime.
And is there a fight more hopeless than this?
The Rebbe is the only one who stands up against the schemes of the tyrannical regime. He establishes an underground network of determined and dedicated Hasidim, who are scattered throughout the country and try to preserve the embers of Judaism. They open synagogues, Torah studies, and purification baths. They ensure kosher slaughter, circumcision, and the supply of holy utensils and Jewish literature.
The Rebbe is warned that he is playing with fire. The communist regime does not shy away from anyone. International pressures do not impress it. Rabbis, and non-Jewish religious leaders in particular, are arrested and eliminated en masse.
The regime shouldn't think twice before lifting its heavy hand on the Rebbe.
But the Rebbe did not flinch, and this is how he guides his followers – to actually surrender their souls, without fear or apprehension. The activists are caught one after the other. They are arrested, exiled and executed. But in the place of one arrested activist comes another. A yeshiva is exposed in one city – the next day it pops up and reopens in another city.
The determined Hasidim do not give up.
The breaking point
And indeed, the Rebbe was arrested, and for a moment it seemed that there was no power in the world that could prevent the evil regime from carrying out its plan and, God forbid, from taking his life.
Here the miracle takes place, the power of which is still difficult to estimate today – in the end the Rebbe is released, and the days of his release, the 12th-13th of Tammuz, become the holiday of redemption.
Today it is clear that the breaking point of the kingdom of evil was an event that seemed marginal at the time – the release of the Lubavitcher Rebbe from prison. The regime, which had ruthlessly eliminated ministers and counts, public leaders and religious priests – was defeated and surrendered in the face of a Jewish rabbi, broken in body but huge in spirit.
The holiday of redemption illustrates the power of faith. If only we are determined and fight with dedication and faith – God will be with us and we will prevail.
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