From the frozen forests of the Soviet Union, under the murderous eyes of the KGB, came a man of miracles, of almost unbelievable mesiras nefesh... The Ribnitzer. He was a tzaddik. A ba’al mofes, a miracle worker. In time, he became a living legend, the address for thousands seeking berachos, first in Russia, then in Eretz Yisrael and, eventually in America. His intense avodah included fasting, hours and hours of profound tefillah. And, of course, immersion in in the holy waters of the mikveh. Despite the Nazis, who occupied his town during World War Two. Despite the KGB, who was determined to snuff out Yiddishkeit. Despite the desperate cold of a Russian winter: Reb Chaim Zanvil, the Ribnitzer Rebbe, would find a way. A way to serve Hashem through immersion. Through traveling for hours and days, in order to secretly give a Jewish baby a bris in Stalinist Russia. Yes, this is a story about miracles. But more: it’s the story of a man who was a miracle himself.
From the frozen forests of the Soviet Union, under the murderous eyes of the KGB, came a man of miracles, of almost unbelievable mesiras nefesh... The Ribnitzer. He was a tzaddik. A ba’al mofes, a miracle worker. In time, he became a living legend, the address for thousands seeking berachos, first in Russia, then in Eretz Yisrael and, eventually in America. His intense avodah included fasting, hours and hours of profound tefillah. And, of course, immersion in in the holy waters of the mikveh. Despite the Nazis, who occupied his town during World War Two. Despite the KGB, who was determined to snuff out Yiddishkeit. Despite the desperate cold of a Russian winter: Reb Chaim Zanvil, the Ribnitzer Rebbe, would find a way. A way to serve Hashem through immersion. Through traveling for hours and days, in order to secretly give a Jewish baby a bris in Stalinist Russia. Yes, this is a story about miracles. But more: it’s the story of a man who was a miracle himself.
