The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, stands as a major figure in 20th-century Jewish history, though his legacy has been overshadowed by his successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. A new scholarly biography, "Undaunted" By Rabbi David Eliezrie, examines Schneersohn's life and influence.
Schneersohn's transformation of Chabad from a small Chassidic sect into a major force in modern Jewish life emerged from his efforts to preserve Soviet Jewry and reshape American Judaism. His story encompasses central struggles of 20th-century Jewish history. After displacement from Lubavitch by World War I, Schneersohn led resistance against Communist efforts to eradicate Judaism in the Soviet Union. Despite ill health, threats, imprisonment and a death sentence from Moscow, he maintained Jewish education and practice underground.
Following a narrow escape from Nazi persecution, Schneersohn arrived in the United States. He championed rescue efforts for European Jewry, a position opposed by the American Jewish establishment fearful of antagonizing President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Unlike other Orthodox movements focused on their own communities, he emphasized outreach to all Jews regardless of affiliation or observance level, fundamentally reshaping American Jewish life.
After Israel's establishment in 1948, Schneersohn set aside previous objections to Zionism. Though not formally Zionist and opposed to secular nationalism displacing Judaism, he rejected the Haredi world's separatism from modern Israeli society. According to Eliezrie, "We want to be engaged with that society. The previous rebbe told his followers everybody has to share in the defense of the country, that we have to go to the army." Surveys show the largest percentage of American Jews identifying as Zionists affiliate with Chabad synagogues.