The liberation of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, from Soviet prison 38 years ago today, was celebrated tonight by the Lubavitcher hassidim here at their world headquarters in Brooklyn, with the incumbent Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, delivering a public address.
The 12th day of the Jewish month of Tamuz, the liberation day of the Rebbe, has become a memorable date on the calendar for the thousands of followers of the Lubavitcher movement throughout the world. Arrested by the Soviet authorities for defying their warnings against teaching Jewish religion, the Rebbe was imprisoned and sentenced to death. However, due to intervention from abroad, his death sentence was commuted. He was freed from the notorious Spalermi prison in Leningrad and exiled to Kostroma, a small town in the Urals, from where he was later released on the 12th of Tamuz under high foreign diplomatic pressure. He settled in the United States in 1940.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
