Av and Elul: Light in Kazakhstan and the "Lamplighters"

20 Av — The Feat in Alma-Ata (1944)

On the twentieth of Av 5704 (1944), in distant Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson — father of the Seventh Rebbe — departed from this world. Exiled by the Soviet regime to the remote town of Chi'ili (Kazakhstan) for his rabbinical activities, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak did not surrender for a single moment. When he had no ink, he made it from herbs and berries gathered by Rebbetzin Chana in the steppe, and continued to write the most profound kabbalistic commentaries in the margins of books. Rebbetzin Chana — the Rebbe's mother — was his faithful companion in exile, procuring everything he needed at the cost of incredible effort. The feat of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak became a symbol: Torah knows no exile, and the light of G-dly wisdom can shine even in the darkest corners of the world.

15 Elul — Tomchei Temimim (1897)

On the fifteenth of Elul 5657 (1897), the Rebbe Rashab founded the yeshiva "Tomchei Temimim" — "Supporters of the Wholesome" — in Lubavitch. Its mission was to cultivate a generation of students in whom deep Talmudic knowledge would be inseparably united with the flame of Chassidism. The Rebbe Rashab called his students "Neiros Le'air" — "Lamps that bring light." He said: "Go to the desert and to the sea to light lamps!" — meaning that the students must carry the light of Torah to the most remote and spiritually desolate places. Where "emptiness" reigns, it becomes visible — and that is precisely where one must direct the light. The Tomchei Temimim system laid the foundation for all the future activities of the Chabad movement throughout the world.