The life of renowned chossid Reb Mendel Futerfas, along with his unique farbrengens and stories, will be properly documented in an upcoming biography, which is in the first stages of preparation.
By Anash.org reporter
The life of renowned chossid Reb Mendel Futerfas, along with his unique farbrengens and stories, will be properly documented in an upcoming biography, which is in the first stages of preparation.
The first to attempt a biography of Reb Mendel was himself, after the Rebbe requested that he transcribe his memories and details of his mesiras nefesh in Russia. Reb Mendel indeed began writing his memories, but never completed the task.
Over the coming years, a number of biographies and books about Reb Mendel were published by various individuals. But a proper biography chronicling his life, from his youth in Kharkiv and Yekaterinoslav continuing with his underground work and arrest in the USSR, and through his years in London and Eretz Yisroel, had yet to be published.
To fill the need, the Futerfas family, headed by Reb Mendel’s son R’ Berel Futerfas, have begun working on a comprehensive biography, along with the unique farbrengens, stories and mesholim that Reb Mendel was so famous for.
The biography, rich in stories of mesiras nefesh and dedication to the Rebbeim, will cover his studies in the underground yeshivos, his efforts to build and sustain the yeshivos, and the ‘Great Escape’ of chassidim from Lviv, which he helped coordinate. It will document his arrest and interrogations, his years in Soviet labor camps, the years following and his departure from the USSR.
His first visit to the Rebbe, his years in London and his efforts for Russian Jewry and Yiddishe chinuch, his yearly travels with Reb Shmuel Dovid Raichik, will all take a prominent place in the book.
The book will conclude with the surprising hora’a for him to become a mashpia in Kfar Chabad, and the two decades that followed of educating bochurim and activism in Eretz Yisroel/
“The story of Reb Mendel’s life, about whom the Rebbe wrote that he is מטובי המקושרים לאדמו”רי חב”ד – among the outstanding mekusharim to the Rebbeim, along with his farbrengens, stories and mesholim are a source of inspiration for all chassidim, and indeed all Yidden,” the Futerfas family told Anash.org. “This book will allow future generations of chassidim to tap into that inspiration.”
Leading the project on behalf of the family in R’ Yosef Yitzchok Kratz, and and the editorial team is being coordinated by author R’ Yisrael Alpenbein.
The family requests that anyone who has material related to the life of Reb Mendel should please send it to [email protected].
Please print in English too