3 Tammuz: A Turning Point of History

1927: The Sentence Commuted

The 3rd of Tammuz 5687 (1927) was the day that decided the fate of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn. Arrested by the Soviet authorities for "counter-revolutionary activity" — in reality for organizing underground Jewish education and maintaining religious life in the USSR — the Rebbe had been sentenced to death. However, thanks to international pressure and the clear intervention of Divine Providence, the death sentence was commuted to three years of exile in the city of Kostroma. This day became the first step toward the Rebbe's complete liberation.

1994: Passing of the Seventh Rebbe

The 3rd of Tammuz 5754 (1994) was the day the earthly journey of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, came to an end. His passing shook the Jewish world and far beyond. Over more than forty years of leadership, the Rebbe transformed Chabad from a relatively small Chassidic movement into a global network encompassing thousands of communities in more than one hundred countries.

The Legacy Continues

The coincidence of these two dates — the commutation of the sentence in 1927 and the passing in 1994 — falling on the same date of the Jewish calendar cannot be accidental. Both events became turning points after which Chabad's mission did not cease but intensified. The legacy of the seventh Rebbe lives and acts: his emissaries work throughout the world, his teachings are studied by millions, and his call to prepare the world for the coming of Mashiach sounds stronger today than ever before.