Leonard Posnock spoke at a July 7 event — commemorating the 14th yahrzeit of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson — of an “unforgettable” trip he was encouraged by Schneerson to take in the mid-1970s to support persecuted Soviet Jews.
Photo courtesy Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe
July 22, 2008
Leonard Posnock of Monroe recalled that in the mid 1970s, when he was considering a trip to the former Soviet Union to offer support to persecuted Russian Jews, he sought the blessing and advice of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
“We talked to the rebbe and he said this is something you must go and do,” said Posnock, who spoke July 7 at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe at a commemoration of Schneerson’s 14th yahrzeit.
Posnock showed a video of the meeting when he and his wife, Frieda, and the rebbe were together in his Brooklyn headquarters.
On July 8, Posnock spoke to NJJN about the meeting.
“The rebbe said we must be of any help we can,” he said. “It was very important to go to Russia and see the refuseniks and explain to them we had not forgotten them, that a time would come when they would have religious freedom.”
The Posnocks, who lived in Clark before retiring to Monroe, traveled with Rabbi Charles Kroloff, who was senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Westfield for 36 years until 2002, and his wife, Dr. Terry Kroloff. They were asked to make the trip by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.
And when he heard of the proposed trip, Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky of Bris Avrohom Center Congregation Shomrei Torah in Hillside, a Chabad-affiliated congregation serving the Russian community, contacted the Posnocks and arranged the meeting with the rebbe.
“We asked the rebbe if the trip was dangerous and should we bring taleisim and other religious articles,” said Posnock. “He said, ‘No, they have plenty of those things. What they need is the support of the American-Jewish community. They need to know the world has not forgotten them.’ He even gave Frieda and me two extra dollars to take with us, which was unheard of.”
The rebbe’s practice was to give all visitors a dollar for tzedaka.
Posnock said that at the time, he was also contacted by Rabbi Pinchas Teitz, founder of the Orthodox Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, who was also heavily involved in the Soviet Jewry movement.
At Teitz’s request, they smuggled in kidney medication — they sewed it into the lining of their raincoats — which was desperately needed by a member of the Jewish community.
“We went to the Orthodox synagogue in Moscow and [Teitz] told us who to meet,” recalled Posnock.
Another highlight of that trip was having Shabbat dinner at the Leningrad home of Yitzhak Kogen, now a Chabad rabbi in Moscow, and his dentist wife. At the time the Kogens were considered dissidents “who suffered a great deal” at the hands of the authorities.
“We’ve taken several trips since, but this was our first and it was unforgettable,” said Posnock. “When I think back on it, I still get tears in my eyes. We’ve since met some of these people who are now in Israel, and it blows my mind.”
Sidebar - Rabbi urges outreach to immigrants from FSU
Rabbi Avrohom Berkowitz of Moscow spoke July 7 at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe.
Photo courtesy Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe
Rabbi Avrohom Berkowitz of Moscow, in a July 7 talk at the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe, said American Jews should make a greater effort to include in Jewish life the many thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union living in the United States.
Berkowitz, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Former Soviet Union, said the immigrants are “thirsty” for their Jewish heritage.
“Every Jewish organization and synagogue should try and reach every lost Jew,” said Berkowitz. “Every person…should invite these people to a Shabbos celebration at their home or help them celebrate a bar or bat mitzva.”
The event was a commemoration of the 14th yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
In a phone interview, Berkowitz, a Detroit native, spoke of numerous instances of Jews returning to their religious roots in the now democratic countries of the FSU. In Russia, he said, “we have seen millions of people who we thought had been lost to our people return in the last 10 years.”
About one million Jews remain in Russia, where officials have done a complete about-face in their treatment of Jews since the time of the refuseniks. In years past, Jews who dared to go to a synagogue would be followed by government agents; today, a celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary in Moscow was well attended not only by Jews but by Russian officials as well. Jewish camps, day schools, and cultural organizations are thriving.
Yet there are Russian Jews who came to the United States prior to the downfall of communism who still have minimal involvement in Jewish life.
“The Lubavitcher rebbe never forgot Russian Jewry,” Berkowitz said. “Before the fall of communism he sent in support. When communism collapsed, he sent Chabad rabbis to rebuild Jewish life from the ground up. His vision and work lives on today…. We have over 10,000 boys and girls in day schools and another 10,000 in Chabad camps.” More and more Russian Jews, he said, “feel Jewish.”
As long as there are programs that are attractive and meaningful to the Russian Jews, wherever they are, Berkowitz said, “they will come back to the Jewish people.”
- DEBRA RUBIN
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