From the Margins of Chabad History: An article published in an American Yiddish newspaper in 1941 vividly describes the new Lubavitcher Yeshivah in 770. The article’s mention of a previously unknown tomim sparked an investigation that uncovered a fascinating story. Presented in honor of 9 Adar, the anniversary of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s arrival in America.
By Shmuel Super
The Early Days in 770
The June 15 (21 Sivan) 1941 edition of the Forverts (Forward) Yiddish newspaper carried a warm and interesting article about the new Lubavitcher Yeshivah that had just opened in Brooklyn.
The Forverts was a secular socialist Yiddish newspaper, and its editorial stance towards frum Yiddishkeit and Chabad was not friendly. But depending on the journalist, some articles were more positive. The article we are discussing, written under the pen name of H. Vital, is one of these positive articles.
In this article, we will survey the contents of the original Yiddish article, and then focus on the story of Leib Nelkenbaum, a person who features in it prominently.
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The article begins with the statement that America is now taking the place of Europe as the center of religious Jewish life, with the number of yeshivos growing steadily.
Here the writer makes a point about terminology, noting that the word “yeshivah” carries a different meaning in America than it did in the old country. In Europe, “yeshivah” referred to the most advanced institutions of Torah learning, from which graduates went on to become rabbonim. In America, however, the term “yeshivah” refers to institutions providing a Torah education to primary and middle school children. The classical yeshivah, the writer explains, is known in America as a “mesivta.”
The article proceeds to describe the new Lubavitcher Yeshivah in 770 Eastern Parkway, which the writer visited during the previous month. The yeshivah began with 20 students, the writer relates, American citizens who were learning in the Lubavitcher Yeshivah in Otvotzk and were able to return to America when the war broke out. It had since grown to 50 students.
The writer explains the uniqueness of Chabad Chassidus, with its focus on intellectual understanding—a “Litvishe chasidus.” Alongside rigorous study of Gemara and its mefarshim, the yeshivah’s schedule also devotes significant time for the study of Chassidus. The history of Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch is surveyed, as well as the struggles and successes of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The writer’s information is generally accurate, so he must have been given a good briefing, presumably by Rashag, the director of the yeshivah. That said, there are some minor mix-ups and inaccuracies.
After witnessing the bochurim and their passion in learning, the writer asks himself, am I in New York in May 1941, or in the small White Russian town of Lubavitch decades ago? The writer also notes that the bochurim’s physical appearance is like that of the bochurim he was familiar with in Europe long ago. While the bochurim in the recently destroyed Litvishe yeshivos of Telz and Slabodka dressed modern and removed their beards, the bochurim of Lubavitch with their long and broad beards look just like the bochurim of old.
On the Trail of Leib Nelkenbaum
Of particular interest is the section that tells the story of one student, Leib Nelkenbaum.
The writer notes that the Rebbe is working hard to save his talmidim from Europe and bring them to the U.S. He reports that 55 are now in Japan, awaiting their papers to come to the U.S., and another 38 are on their way to Japan. (Note: The writer appears to have switched the numbers here, as documents from the era list 38 Lubavitcher bochurim in Japan. The number of 55 probably refers to bochurim attempting to make their way out of Europe to Japan.)
Then he tells the story of Leib Nelkenbaum:
Sitting here before me is one of the lucky ones. His name is Leib Nelkenbaum. He arrived in New York from Japan a few weeks ago. It goes without saying that he is happy now. He is originally from Chelm, Poland, where he was a student in the local branch of the Lubavitcher Yeshivah. He survived the terrible pogrom the Nazis carried out in Chelm during last Chanukah, killing 900 Jews.
Together with a group of 20 fellow students from the Yeshivah in Chelm, Leib Nelkenbaum fled after the pogrom to wherever his eyes led him. The group fled to Soviet Russia. . . . Finally they reached Vilna. Vilna, Leib Nelkenbaum explains, is a chapter for itself. There we found a large part of the Lubavitcher Yeshivah and started learning energetically. But this didn’t last for long. The Bolsheviks conquered Vilna and we needed to wander again. The route from Vilna to Japan became well-trodden. Leib Nelkenbaum proudly says that he traveled further than Columbus: through Russia, Siberia, Japan, across the Pacific, and then across the US. What Yeshivah bochur would have imagined such a journey?
Now he’s sitting down with his Gemara again, learning with the same old Gemara tune. From Chelm to Otvotzk, Vilna, and a long way to New York, but practically nothing changed along the way: the same Torah, the same approach, and even the same tune.
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Looking for more information about Leib Nelkenbaum, it became apparent that his name has been almost completely forgotten from Chabad history. Only one other mention turned up.
In a report from the conference of Agudas Chasidei Chabad held in 770 during Chol Hamoed Pesach, mention is made that Reb Leib Nelkenbaum, who spent a while in the Lubavitcher yeshivos in Poland and Lithuania and had just arrived in New York before Pesach, brought regards from the bochurim in Europe and related details about the diligent learning that is continuing under the most difficult circumstances (Toldos Chabad Beartzos Habris, p. 323—credit to Shneur Berger for pointing out this source).
Digging further with the generous help of Peretz (ben R. Dovid Aba) Mockin, Leib Nelkenbaum’s name came up in some contemporary documents, but these mentions only raised more questions.
The first mention is in a list bearing the date stamp of March 2, 1941, with the names and details of bochurim from various Yeshivos that had arrived in Japan. Listed among the Lubavitcher bochurim is “Nelkenbaum, Lejba.”
But surprisingly, this document also tells us that Nelkenbaum had a wife living in Brooklyn. Nelkenbaum’s immigration documents to the U.S. record his arrival to Seattle on March 29, 1941, and provide his year of birth as 1907. A married 34-year-old doesn’t fit the typical profile of a tomim in a Lubavitcher yeshivah, so what is his story?
For answers, we looked for family members, and found that Leib Nelkenbaum had a son who went on to become the current Rosh Yeshivah of Mir in Brooklyn, Harav Avraham Yaakov Nelkenbaum shlita.
R’ Nochum S. Zajac contacted the Nelkenbaum family, and with their help, particularly the gracious assistance of Rebbetzin Nelkenbaum, we are able to reconstruct the basic facts of the story.
The family doesn’t know too many details about R. Leib’s life because he didn’t speak much about himself and his wartime experiences. They know that he was from Chelm in Poland, but are unaware of his reported pre-war studies in Tomchei Temimim. His wife Feiga was a native of Chelm who had moved to the U.S., but she would send back money to Chelm for charitable causes, like the ner tomid in the shul. R. Leib was impressed by her charitable actions and started a correspondence with her, and she eventually came back to Chelm and married him.
After their marriage, Feiga traveled back to the U.S. while R. Leib waited for his immigration documents. In the meantime, the war broke out and he was stranded in Poland. Over the course of his flight from Poland to Japan, the family knows that he was part of the Lubavitcher group of bochurim, and soon after arriving in Japan, he was able to get his documents to travel to New York to reunite with his wife.
To the best of the family’s knowledge, Reb Leib began working to provide for his family after he arrived in New York. It would therefore seem that he wasn’t a full-fledged talmid in 770, but apparently he would spend some time there learning, and that’s how the journalist met him. Over the years he appears to have fallen out of touch with Lubavitch, and he passed away in 5730 (1970).
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The journalist H. Vital prefaces his description of the yeshivah in 770 with some pointed questions: “What will be with Lubavitch in New York? Is there room for chochmah, binah, and daas in the bustling city of New York? Can the traditions of Lubavitch be reestablished here?” 84 years later, it’s safe to say that the answers to these questions are evident to all.
To view all installments of From the Margins of Chabad History, click here.
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Addendum
Since the publication of the previous installment of this column about the Tshashniker Iluy R. Shmuel Volf Wolfson, additional information has been uncovered with the help of an anonymous reader and Peretz (ben R. Dovid Aba) Mochkin. This new information sheds further light on the scientific side of the iluy’s mysterious life.
In 1858, Mr. Samuel Wolfson of Tshashnik was working on a patent for a wagon with a suspension system. He was granted an extension of the deadline to complete his work, but it appears he failed to do so, as no record of the patent can be found. Perhaps this is the historical background for the story about the Tzemach Tzedek’s comment that “he will anyway lose…”.
We next find record of R. Volf in the 1883-1884 records of the Provisional Committee for the Formation of the Society of Crafts and Agricultural Work Among the Jews in Russia. This committee was run by Russian Jewish maskilim in Petersburg, and over the course of these two years “Mechanic Samuel Wolfson” asked the committee nine times for financial support to assist him in the development of a railroad steam engine. The committee approved all of Wolfson’s requests. Here is the report of one such request, translated from Russian by ChatGPT:
Reported: Mechanic Samuel Wolfson in St. Petersburg, expressing his gratitude to the Committee for the assistance provided to him, thanks to which he was able to test his newly invented steam engine on a small scale, asks for the Committee’s assistance in implementing his invention in practice.
Determined: To issue mechanic Wolfson 50 rubles over the next three months.
Over the course of the years 1887-1891, we see a flurry of activity on the part of R. Volf, filing eight separate patents for various elements of steam engines, wind turbines, and more. Some of the patents were also filed in the UK, France, and the U.S., and some have been quoted in subsequent scientific research into this field.
The last filing from 1891 records R. Volf as living in Tshashnik. Thus, we learn that for most of his life R. Volf remained in Tshashnik, traveling to Petersburg periodically to advance his work. At some point between 1891 and his passing in 1899 he immigrated to New York.
One filing for a U.S. patent for “means for utilizing exhaust” contains a drawing and a letter of explanation in English from Samul Wolfson of Zaschnick, Russia.
I believe that the conflicting numbers of people going to Japan 38 or 55 reflects on an important detail.
There was a number of people that went with the bochurim to Japan and received visas to go to America shortly after they arrived. My great uncle R Moishe Leib Rodshtein and his wife went to Japan and shortly after arriving there went on to America. I believe that they weren’t the only ones, as per your article.
Of course This is besides the nine bochurim that went to Canada
Bh
The nine bochurim are part of the 38 Bochurim
My Zaidy, Reuven Rapoport a”h, is second from the left in the middle row wearing the gray hat.
The names of these students in this photo from march nineteen forty two is printed in my book toldoth htmimim in the United States p one seventy four
More pictures published ibid p one seventy three