Author Presents ‘Undaunted’ and Precious Letter to President Herzog

Rabbi David Eliezrie, senior Chabad Shliach to Yorba Linda, California, presented the groundbreaking new biography of the Friedeke Rebbe, "Undaunted," to Israel's President Isaac Herzog along with a remarkable piece of Jewish history.

Rabbi David Eliezrie, senior Chabad Shliach to Yorba Linda, California, presented the groundbreaking new biography of the Friedeke Rebbe, “Undaunted,” to Israel’s President Isaac Herzog during a meeting at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Monday, along with a remarkable piece of Jewish history that bridged four generations.

During the conversation, Rabbi Eliezrie shared with the President a letter written by the Friedeke Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in 1941 to the President’s grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Halevi Herzog, then Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel.

The letter, dated 24 Adar 5701 and written from Brooklyn, where the Rebbe had settled after arriving in New York in March of 1940 following his escape from war-torn Europe, recalled the warm bond between the Rebbe’s father, the Rebbe Rashab, and the young Rabbi Herzog. The Rebbe Rashab had been deeply impressed by the young scholar, a talmid chacham who was not only great in Torah, but fluent in worldly wisdom and languages. The Rebbe also recalled the Rebbe Rashab’s visit to Paris some 120 years ago, during which fresh challah was lovingly baked for him by President Herzog’s great-grandmother, Rabbi Herzog’s mother.

But the heart of the letter was a charge that could have been written today: the Rebbe wrote to Rabbi Herzog that he was not permitted to belong to one party or another. As a leader of Klal Yisroel, he must stand above all the parties, and with the strength of Torah he must voice da’as Torah, and demand, with all his might, the sanctity of Torah. The Rebbe added that Rabbi Herzog must not limit himself to matters concerning the Jews of Eretz Yisroel, but must concern himself with the life of every Jew, in every country.

Rabbi Eliezrie told President Herzog that the Rebbe’s message to his grandfather was clear: he must stand above all parties and be a voice of Torah. The President listened intently as the letter was read, and smiled at its striking relevance, for nowhere is that charge more resonant than this very week, as the results of the national election are presented to him and the President must decide who will form the next government. It is a moment that calls on him to stand above the individual parties and speak for the entire nation, just as the Rebbe had charged his grandfather to do. President Herzog asked Rabbi Eliezrie if he could keep the letter, together with the book.

“Undaunted: How the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn Saved Russian Jewry, Reimagined American Judaism, and Ignited a Global Jewish Renaissance” (Toby Press, an imprint of Koren Publishers) is the first comprehensive biography of the Friedeke Rebbe. The product of four years of research, it draws on letters, sichos, maamarim, memoirs, and previously inaccessible archival material to chronicle the Rebbe’s courageous stand against Soviet oppression, his dramatic escape from Nazi Europe, and his transformation of Jewish life in America.

Rabbi Eliezrie is also the author of the bestselling “The Secret of Chabad.” Undaunted is available in stores and online.

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