Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich's Pesach Seder
Dear Friends,
Last year, I was privileged to meet with the great hero and former refusenik, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich (member of a Young Israel synagogue in Israel). As we stayed in touch afterward, he stunned me with accounts of his experiences at a Pesach Seder during his last year in a Soviet prison. Recently, I asked him if he would agree to relay those moving experiences in a video to be shared with our members. On Sunday, in an interview with Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Mendelevitch provided a vivid description of his Seder experience with a fellow prisoner who was miraculously freed soon thereafter, click here: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211014#.VxPnw_l97IU
In his Bar Mitzvah speech three years ago, my son Benjamin discussed Rabbi Mendelevich’s heroism (I was thrilled to email a video copy of the Motzei Shabbat speech to Rabbi Mendelevich.) Benjamin could not believe we were able to have dinner with Rabbi Mendelevich last year. During the dinner, the Rabbi explained that the Jews’ exodus from the Soviet Union should add to our understanding of the Exodus from Egypt. He elaborated that, as a superpower, the Soviet Union held over a million Jews who they impeded from observing their religion and prevented them from leaving. Rabbi Mendelevich was among a group that attempted to fly a plane with the intention of escaping to freedom. But they were caught and sent to prison. During his 12 years of incarceration, he kept Shabbat in prison although his circumstances were dire. His heroism is relayed in his book “Unbroken Spirit” which tells a story all of us should hear.
In the ten years before the aborted plane attempt, only 4,000 Jews were allowed out of the Soviet Union. In the ten years following the international news reports of that incident, over 300,000 Jews were allowed to leave. The story became page one and remained prominent until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the eventual Exodus of over a million Jews. A good many now reside in Israel and many are Torah-observant.
Rabbi Mendelevich literally helped change the course of Jewish history and, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world became a better place. Rabbi Mendelevich told me this was the only other event in Jewish history in which over a million Jews left oppression to freedom from within a world superpower without a shot being fired. Our appreciation and understanding of the Exodus from Egypt 3,000 years ago can be deepened by the realization that the collapse of the Soviet Union and freedom of Soviet Jews happened during our lifetimes.
Rabbi Mendelevich is available to speak in our synagogues. If you wish to invite him, the National Council of Young Israel would be happy to provide the contact information.
Chag Kasher V’Samayach.
Farley Weiss, President NCYI
Last year, I was privileged to meet with the great hero and former refusenik, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich (member of a Young Israel synagogue in Israel). As we stayed in touch afterward, he stunned me with accounts of his experiences at a Pesach Seder during his last year in a Soviet prison. Recently, I asked him if he would agree to relay those moving experiences in a video to be shared with our members. On Sunday, in an interview with Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Mendelevitch provided a vivid description of his Seder experience with a fellow prisoner who was miraculously freed soon thereafter, click here: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211014#.VxPnw_l97IU
In his Bar Mitzvah speech three years ago, my son Benjamin discussed Rabbi Mendelevich’s heroism (I was thrilled to email a video copy of the Motzei Shabbat speech to Rabbi Mendelevich.) Benjamin could not believe we were able to have dinner with Rabbi Mendelevich last year. During the dinner, the Rabbi explained that the Jews’ exodus from the Soviet Union should add to our understanding of the Exodus from Egypt. He elaborated that, as a superpower, the Soviet Union held over a million Jews who they impeded from observing their religion and prevented them from leaving. Rabbi Mendelevich was among a group that attempted to fly a plane with the intention of escaping to freedom. But they were caught and sent to prison. During his 12 years of incarceration, he kept Shabbat in prison although his circumstances were dire. His heroism is relayed in his book “Unbroken Spirit” which tells a story all of us should hear.
In the ten years before the aborted plane attempt, only 4,000 Jews were allowed out of the Soviet Union. In the ten years following the international news reports of that incident, over 300,000 Jews were allowed to leave. The story became page one and remained prominent until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the eventual Exodus of over a million Jews. A good many now reside in Israel and many are Torah-observant.
Rabbi Mendelevich literally helped change the course of Jewish history and, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world became a better place. Rabbi Mendelevich told me this was the only other event in Jewish history in which over a million Jews left oppression to freedom from within a world superpower without a shot being fired. Our appreciation and understanding of the Exodus from Egypt 3,000 years ago can be deepened by the realization that the collapse of the Soviet Union and freedom of Soviet Jews happened during our lifetimes.
Rabbi Mendelevich is available to speak in our synagogues. If you wish to invite him, the National Council of Young Israel would be happy to provide the contact information.
Chag Kasher V’Samayach.
Farley Weiss, President NCYI
Wed, 4 December 2024 3 Kislev 5785