12th and 13th of Tammuz - The Festival of Liberation

The following translated letter was sent by the Previous Lubavitcher
Rebbe for the first anniversary of his release from incarceration in
Czarist Russia

Sunday, 15 Sivan, 5688 (1928), Riga.
To our friends, the members of the chassidic
brotherhood, and to all those who love the Torah and
study it - wherever you may be:
May G-d be with you.

Greetings and blessings:

Today marks the first day of my incarceration in the Spalerno Prison in Leningrad, in Section Six, Cell 160, during the night preceding the Wednesday of the week in which one reads the verse, "And now, let the strength of G-d be magnified" - on the fifteenth of the month of Sivan,
5687 [1927]. There I was maltreated until the Sunday preceding the Shabbos on which one reads the verse, "How goodly are your tents, O Yaakov, and your dwelling-places, O Yisrael" - the third of the month of Tammuz. On that day I was forced to leave for a three-year exile in Kostrama.

It is clear to everyone that the imprisonment and exile were brought upon me by the calumnies of our brethren who hate us and despise us, by men who - in defiance of the laws of the land and its government - persecute those who observe the laws of Moses and Israel.

These people could not bear to see how Shoshanas Yaakov - the rose of Jacob - flourished, as the study of the Torah was disseminated throughout the length and breadth of this land. They therefore trumped up false libels in order to bring about my downfall, and thereby (G-d
forbid) to destroy the House of Jacob.

But G-d's acts of kindness are never-ending, and the merit of our holy forefathers has not been exhausted - and will never be exhausted - in protection of those who walk in their paths. Thus it was that freedom was granted to me on the twelfth day of Tammuz, on the Tuesday preceding the Shabbos on which one reads the verse [in the Torah portion of Pinchas], "I hereby grant him My covenant of peace."

It was not myself alone that the Holy One, blessed be He, redeemed on Yud-Beis Tammuz, but also those who love the Torah and observe its commands, and so too all those who merely bear the name "Jew" - for the heart of every man of Israel (irrespective of his particular level in the observance of the commandments) is perfectly bound with G-d and His Torah.

Today, the twelfth of the month of Tammuz, is the Festival of Liberation of all Jews who are involved in the dissemination of Torah knowledge, for on this day it became known and manifest to everyone that the great work in which I labored in the dissemination of the Torah and in the strengthening of the religion is permitted according to the law of the land, which grants freedom of worship to those who observe the Jewish religion as it does to all the citizens of this country.

This is the day on which the light of the merit of public Torah study banished the misty gloom of calumnies and libels. It is fitting that such a day be set aside as a day of gathering - a day on which people arouse each other to fortify Torah study and the practice of Yiddishkeit in every place according to its needs, a day on which to offer blessings to our brethren in Russia (who are suffering from such libelers and informers), that G-d strengthen their hearts and the hearts of their children so that they will remain faithful Jews, and never again be persecuted by the above-mentioned evildoers.

With the auspicious approach of the Festival of Liberation of all those who engage in the dissemination of Torah, I hereby offer my blessings to all our brethren who love the Torah and study it, and to all those who publicly teach the Torah: May G-d open up His goodly storehouse and grant them, together with all of our brethren of the House of Israel, abounding life and endless blessing; may He fortify their hearts so that they will courageously extend their dissemination of Torah knowledge and their buttressing of Judaism; and may we all be spared to see children and grandchildren engaging in Torah and commandments, free of care or want.

At the beginning of the year 5687 (1926) I made a request to the chassidic brotherhood - that every group of worshipers in the synagogues after Shacharis [the morning prayers] should make a regular practice of reading the daily allotment of Psalms as apportioned throughout each month, and that this be followed by Kaddish, according to custom. This request still stands - for the public good. (Indeed, it would be proper to institute this practice in every shul [synagogue], for it is not relevant to chasidim alone.) And by virtue of this reading, may all those concerned be blessed by the Source of Blessings with all manner of bounty both spiritual and material.

...May our eyes witness the ascending glory of the Torah, of Israel, and of our brotherhood, and may we behold the goodly light.

Your unswerving friend, who seeks the welfare and success of yourselves and your children and grandchildren, and who blesses you all both materially and spiritually,