By Chabad.org
The fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson (known by the acronym “Rashab”), was born on the 20th of Cheshvan of the year 5621 from creation (1860).
After the passing of his father, Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, in 1882, Rabbi Sholom DovBer assumed the leadership of the movement.
Over the next 38 years, he wrote and delivered some 2,000 maamarim (discourses of Chassidic teaching) including the famed hemshechim (serialized discourses) which contain his profound analytical treatment of Chabad Chassidism.
In 1897, he established the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in Lubavitch, the first institution of Jewish learning to integrate the “body” (Talmudic and legal studies) and “soul” (philosophic and mystical) of Torah into a cohesive, living whole; it was this unique form of education and Torah study that produced the “Temimim” — the army of learned, inspired and devoted torchbearers who, in the decades to come, would literally give their lives to keep Judaism alive under Soviet rule.
In 1915 Rabbi Sholom DovBer was forced to flee Lubavitch from the advancing WWI front and settled in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.
In his final years, he began the heroic battle — carried on under the leadership of his son and successor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson — against the new Communist regime’s efforts to destroy the Jewish faith.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer passed away in Rostov on 2 Nissan in 1920. His final words were: “I’m going to heaven; the writings I leave for you…”, a reference to the thousands of manuscripts that he penned.
To send a Pan letter to his resting place e-mail [email protected] or fax 011-7-863-2624119
