Anash.org is proud to host the Virtual Resource Fair, spotlighting trusted services and vendors who support the work of shluchim everywhere. To join, email [email protected].

The Mitzvah Club, a premium Jewish educational resource by Rabbi Levi Lipinski to make Bar Mitzvah moments unforgettable, is proud to launch The Rebbe’s Sefer Torah Replica, an exquisite educational miniature Torah scroll accompanied by a richly illustrated 36-page booklet. This latest offering builds on the success of the organization’s flagship educational products—the Bar Mitzvah Torah Trainer (launched in 2019) and the Purim Megillah Trainer (launched in 2021)—empowering families, educators, and young Jews to deepen their connection to sacred texts through innovative, story-driven tools.

Founded by Rabbi Levi Lipinski, The Mitzvah Club has long been a beacon for making mitzvah preparation engaging and meaningful. The Bar Mitzvah Torah Trainer, a personalized curriculum with audio-visual aids, cantillation exercises, and custom Torah fonts, has transformed countless boys’ journeys toward their aliyah laTorah. Similarly, the Purim Megillah Trainer—featuring Rabbi Lipinski’s patented “Layered Tikkun” with transparency films for progressive learning—has equipped hundreds of bochurim, shluchim, and Anash to master Megillas Esther’s unique trop and Chabad minhagim. Now, The Rebbe’s Sefer Torah Replica adds a profound historical dimension, serving as an inspirational heirloom that captures the spirit of the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah without fulfilling it halachically.

“This replica isn’t just a gift—it’s a portal to Jewish heroism,” says Rabbi Lipinski. “Modeled after the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s cherished personal Sefer Torah, it invites the next generation to hold history in their hands, much like the Rebbe cradled this scroll during Kol Nidrei and Simchas Torah hakafos. As an addition to our Torah Trainer lineup, it complements the practical learning of our existing products with a timeless narrative of faith under fire.”

At the heart of this launch is a tale of suffering, splendor, and spiritual defiance that spans nearly two centuries. The original Sefer Torah—known as the “Slavita Brothers’ Prison Torah”—was penned under the most harrowing conditions in Czarist Russia. In 1835, Rabbi Shmuel Abba and Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro, sons of the renowned printer Rabbi Moshe Shapiro and descendants of the holy Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz (a close disciple of the Baal Shem Tov), were falsely accused of murder by an anti-Semitic priest. Their crime? Operating a Hebrew press in Slavita, Ukraine, that disseminated Chassidic seforim and foundational texts like the Shulchan Aruch.

Arrested alongside 12 other Jews, the brothers endured three years of solitary confinement, followed by a draconian verdict in 1838: exile to Siberia, permanent revocation of civil rights, and—decreed by the notorious Jew-hating Governor-General Dmitri Bibikov—1,500 lashes designed to kill. On the 17th of Av, 1839, they marched through a gauntlet of 500 soldiers, stripped and bound, enduring hundreds of blows in silence three times over. Midway, Rabbi Pinchas halted, refusing to proceed without his fallen yarmulke—a moment of unyielding dignity that has inspired Russian Jewry for generations, even echoing in the secular tales of Y.L. Peretz.

Granted a temporary reprieve in a Moscow prison, the brothers refused to desecrate a full Sefer Torah in the unclean cell. Instead, individual parchment sheets (yeri’os)—written by a pious sofer with specially prepared ink in an elegant script (possibly the Alter Rebbe’s)—were smuggled in one by one. They studied these fragments for sustenance, assembling the complete miniature scroll only after their miraculous pardon in 1856 under Czar Alexander II, following 17 years of ordeal.

The scroll’s odyssey continued: confiscated by Soviet authorities in Kiev’s Brodsky Synagogue during anti-religious purges, it was reclaimed post-WWII through diplomatic channels involving Polish Prince Radziwill. In 1954, descendant Rabbi Shmuel Abba Shapiro gifted it to the Lubavitcher Rebbe via Rabbi Moshe Ashkenazi and Rabbi Binyomin Gorodetsky. Arriving on Erev Rosh Hashanah 5715, the Rebbe used it immediately for Maftir, later cradling it like a child during Yom Kippur’s Kol Nidrei, Simchas Torah hakafos, Chanukah, and the Arba Parshiyos.

This non-kosher educational replica honors the original’s 18 cm height, with wooden Atzei Chaim once destined for Rabbi Michel of Zlotchov (blessed by the Maggid of Kozhnitz), a fused antique gold kesser (crafted from two European heirlooms for the Rebbe’s 70th birthday by Rabbi Shlomo Cunin), and a protective mantel dedicated to Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi (Rav of Shanghai). The accompanying booklet weaves the full saga—from the brothers’ legacy to the Rebbe’s embrace.

Priced accessibly and designed for Bar Mitzvah milestones or lifelong inspiration, the replica embodies The Mitzvah Club’s mission: turning mitzvos into joyful, personal bonds. As Rabbi Lipinski notes, “Every Jew carries a scroll within—through how we live, speak, and walk. This replica reminds us of that eternal chain.”

As The Rebbe’s Sefer Torah Replica enters production, sign up for this email waiting list to receive updates.

Once ready, it will be available at TheMitzvahClub.com, alongside the Bar Mitzvah Torah Trainer and Purim Megillah Trainer.

For inquiries, please contact Rabbi Lipinski at [email protected]

Based in Philadelphia, The Mitzvah Club crafts premium Jewish educational resources to make Bar Mitzvah moments unforgettable. Rabbi Levi Lipinski’s vision ensures Torah study is accessible, engaging, and infused with Chassidishkeit.