By COLlive reporter
A surprising archival discovery is shedding new light on how the famed Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Yeshiva in the town of Lubavitch (Lyubavichi) functioned under restrictive Russian rule.
Rabbi Gavriel Gordon, who has spent years researching historical materials related to Lubavitch, recently uncovered rare documents in the Smolensk regional archives’ military draft files that reveal an unexpected aspect of the yeshiva’s operations.
The documents turned out to be official letterhead sheets originally used by the Lubavitch yeshiva administration. These papers bore the name of the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in Russian, identifying him as the acting director of the institution.
Researchers believe the papers were confiscated during the upheaval that followed the Bolshevik Revolution, when the yeshiva was forced to leave Lubavitch around 1918. The same sheets were later repurposed by draft offices, which used their reverse sides to record names of conscripts into the Russian army.
Beyond the historical irony, the documents reveal a fascinating strategy the yeshiva used to operate discreetly under government restrictions. The official letterhead was designed to resemble a commercial enterprise, advertising the sale of tefillin, mezuzos, Chassidic seforim, and even kosher wine for Pesach.
This apparent “business front” likely served as a cover for the yeshiva’s activities, which were not legally authorized under Russian law at the time.
One of the surviving papers includes a printed notice offering wine for Pesach made under the yeshiva’s supervision, alongside its official address in Lubavitch, Mogilev province.
The discovery provides a glimpse into the ingenuity and resilience of Chabad institutions during a period of intense pressure, highlighting how Torah learning continued despite surveillance, legal limitations, and political upheaval.
Rabbi Gordon, who is involved in preserving historic sites in Lubavitch, described the find as both unexpected and deeply meaningful—another piece of the broader story of self-sacrifice that defined Jewish life in that era.
Would be nice to have online access
The article speaks of “Czarist Russia”, but the Czar was overthrown in 1917. The documents are dated 1918 – after the end of the Monarchy. Chances are, that this was a method to evade COMMUNIST restrictions. The communists were compelling everyone to enter the labor force (and not learn in yeshiva). Probably this is why they were disguising their yeshiva as a manufacturing facility.
The letterheads are undated (as letterheads usually are), and they were indeed used in the 1900s and 1910s. There are facsimiles of such letters, over the Frierdiker Rebbe’s signature, in his Igros Kodesh.
What are those
The products are in Loshon HaKodosh. It could be, like sefarim that were always translated to the government, these were translated too by authorities and that this was to go around laws against Torah. There could be another explanation – that this was really a way of doing hafotza and raising money for the yeshiva and supplying local Jews with basic needs. Why is that possibility being discounted (maybe there’s a reason – I’m asking seriously).
… good to see this important work being done