Hundreds of packages of Jewish ritual items, matzos and clothing, were smuggled to Russian Jews during the darkest times under the Soviet regime thanks to the cleverness of the Chassid, R’ Yisroel (Mulle) Pruss a”h, with the discreet collaboration of the Mossad and the Israeli Foreign Ministry. * The shocking sequel to the story occurred when the Soviet Union returned a captured spy to Eretz Yisroel who was mercilessly beaten and psychologically scarred, and the Foreign Ministry asked for the Rebbe’s help.
One wintry and cold night in the month of Shevat 5720/1960, the Pruss family descended the ramp from a Britannia Airways plane at Ben Gurion airport. There were the father, R’ Shmuel (known by all as Mulle), his wife, and two of his four children. Thus ended a lengthy and difficult period of their lives in Soviet Russia.
In the months that followed they slowly acclimated to their new existence. It wasn’t easy. Along with moving from one apartment to the next, R’ Mulle kept thinking about his fellow Lubavitcher Chassidim who were left behind in Russia. Many of them were starving and had no source of income because they kept Shabbos, and were struggling for their very existence, materially and spiritually. They fought to eat kosher matza on Pesach and for any drop of information from the Rebbe. He felt their plight and their pain.
It would soon be Pesach and he began thinking about how to send matzos to the Chassidim and religious Jews who lived in Moscow, Leningrad, Riga and other Soviet cities. He knew it would be hard but he did not realize how hard.
The red tape that had to be gotten through to accomplish this was particularly complicated. First, he had to raise money to pay for matza and for shipping costs. He formed a committee comprised of R’ Refael Kahn, R’ Moshe Zalman Kaminetzky, R’ Zalman Feldman, R’ Elozor Garelik, and himself. The committee raised money in Kfar Chabad, Tel Aviv, B’nei Brak and Yerushalayim. People contributed generously and the matzos were bought. If the work hadn’t been easy up until that point, the really hard part was yet to come, i.e., sending the matzos to Russia with the hopes that they would reach their intended destination.
As a new immigrant, he did not know how to handle the bureaucracy. After much effort, a meeting was arranged for him with Shazar. He told Shazar how he greatly desired sending matzos to the Jews who remained behind, and for whom it was so hard to obtain matzos. He also told Shazar about the many difficulties he had experienced to accomplish this.
Shazar listened closely and expressed his satisfaction at this initiative. He gave Mulle a letter for Shaul Avigur, one of the founding heads of the Mossad who worked out of the “Kirya” in Tel Aviv, with a request that he help Mulle.
Mulle went to Avigur who read the letter and in response to the request told one of his deputies, Yosef Miller, to help in every way in getting the matzos to Russia. From that point on the project began to gain steam. Mulle gave Miller an exact list of the costs of the matzos and the cost of the deliveries, and was told that the Mossad would cover half of the costs. This left a portion of the money that the committee had raised to be used for other purposes, and they decided to buy clothes for the needy Chassidim behind the Iron Curtain.
R’ Mulle’s home began to fill with packages; hundreds of packages of matzos and seventy packages of clothes were packed. A number of Russian speaking Chassidim were drafted to write out the addresses of Chassidim in Riga, Leningrad, Moscow and many other cities. These were copied from updated lists that R’ Mulle had gathered. At the appointed time, a bit before Chanukah, the parcels were shipped out with the hope that they would actually reach their destinations.
For quite a few weeks, the suspense was tremendous. Would the matzos reach their destinations? Did the hands of the wicked ones search through these parcels? And if so, were the recipients doing fine or would the KGB trump up charges against them?
Finally, the good news arrived. The packages, certainly the overwhelming majority of them, had arrived. Many Chassidim in Russia, over one hundred families, were given the opportunity to celebrate the holiday of freedom properly.
The next year and the following years, the packages continued to be shipped regularly, and the campaign grew. The families of many Chassidim living in Eretz Yisroel requested that packages be sent to their relatives behind the Iron Curtain, and provided their current addresses.
Over the years, a lot of emotional and moving feedback came in from Jews who had received the matzos. Many Chassidim, among them R’ Simcha Gorodetzky, the brothers Lebenhartz, R’ Dovid Chein later of Yerushalayim, R’ Berke Chein and many others, who immigrated to Eretz Yisroel over the years, testified how much they were helped by the packages and how beyond the religious and humanitarian aspect it was also a source of great encouragement. It was a sign and commitment from their brothers who had managed to leave that they would not forget those left behind and would do everything to help.
For example, R’ Mulle received a letter from a family in Moscow, who wrote how for the first ten years of their marriage they did not have children, and when their first son was finally born the joy was tremendous. “That was the kind of joy we experienced when the matzos arrived from you.”
Six years passed, in which the project continued to grow and expand. The project that had begun as the work of a few individuals became a huge and impressive undertaking. In the middle of the winter, the packages of matzos would be sent in anticipation of Pesach, together with many packages of respectable clothing. Not all of the clothes were meant to be worn by the recipients. There was another unspoken intention, that they be used for resale as a source of income for the Chassidim, as sending money was prohibited.
The Chassidim in Russia struggled with their livelihoods because they were required to work seven days a week. They chose to forgo formal positions and risk doing secret work from their homes, and sell their products on the black market, which involved tremendous danger. The clothes that were sent to them were relatively expensive, made of fur or leather, as well as warm sweaters and other items. Each package was valued at 600 liras, a huge sum in those days. The Chassidim were able to sell them at high prices and live comfortably off the proceeds. The feedback told of many instances where Chassidim were saved from literal starvation, which drove R’ Mulle and his friends to continue their work despite the difficulties.
WEIGHTY DECISIONS IN THE REBBE’S ROOM
5725: Five years after he arrived in Eretz Yisroel, R’ Mulle traveled to the Rebbe for the first time in his life. During that visit, he had a yechidus with the Rebbe. Stunned into silence, he stood quaking near the doorway of the Rebbe’s room and could not bring himself to approach any closer. Only after the Rebbe smiled at him did he feel comfortable enough to approach the table. The Rebbe spoke to him for thirty-five minutes, during which the Rebbe inquired about every one of the Chassidim left behind in Russia. He felt the Rebbe’s care and concern for each one, and it was clear that the Rebbe already knew exactly what was doing with each one.
Then the Rebbe began to inquire about every detail relating to the shipments of matzos and clothing, and R’ Mulle told the Rebbe everything. He also expressed to the Rebbe the issues that he was uncertain about and the Rebbe instructed him to consult with two Chassidim who knew the situation in Russia well, R’ Mendel Futerfas and R’ Binyomin Gorodetzky, and to work out with them who should get priority for the packages.
“After that,” R’ Mulle recounted, “I asked the Rebbe which type of person should get precedence when it came to food packages. I told the Rebbe that there were varying levels of mitzva observance, and I even specified, there is one person who will not go to work on Shabbos, with mesiras nefesh at all costs, there is another who feels compelled to go into work on Shabbos but he tries to avoid doing any real work and will even tie his handkerchief around his neck so as not to carry on Shabbos. There are those who would not send their sons to school under any circumstances and others who do send but try to keep other mitzvos, so does one take precedence over another?” A momentous question, one of life and death.
The Rebbe seemed lost in his thoughts and then answered in brief, “Ein bodkin b’mezonos” [law in charity that when it comes to basic food needs we don’t check the person out].” The answer seemed to indicate that all are equal and there should be no discrimination between one and the other. However, during the ensuing conversation the Rebbe did set guidelines about the different types of people mentioned, and instructed that those who were particular in mitzva observance had greater need and should be entitled to receive before the others.
R’ Mulle asked about the requests which came in from Chassidim to send formal requests for the reunification of families and an invitation so they could get visas. He asked the Rebbe what to do and mentioned some names. Once again, the Rebbe seemed lost in thought and then he said, unequivocally, that the askanim involved in preserving Judaism in the various cities should not be sent invitations since they needed to remain there and continue their work.
R’ Mulle summed up this yechidus as an “edifying and fascinating yechidus in which the Rebbe showered many brachos for success in the important activist work of the packages.”
R’ Mulle remained in America for a number of months in the course of which he raised money for the care package program. He met with the Rebbe another two times and the Rebbe spoke to him at length about the shipments, fundraising, and the activities in the field. One yechidus took forty minutes and the other one was forty-five minutes.
During these meetings, R’ Mulle was assigned additional secret missions which still cannot be publicized.
A year passed and Mulle went back to the Rebbe and had yechidus. He updated the Rebbe about coded requests from Chassidim in Russia to send them Jewish ritual items, mainly s’farim and study works. Of course, sending anti-Soviet material like that was very dangerous and it was a project that required great care.
Mulle told the Rebbe that Chassidim wanted sichos and maamarim to be sent to them. The Rebbe asked him what he thought should be done and R’ Mulle said he thought of sending the sichos. The Rebbe listened and his face turned grave. After a few seconds he said, “On the sichos it says the date when they were said, and who said them, so it is dangerous to send it there. Perhaps the front page of the kuntreisim should be removed.”
Mulle told the Rebbe that for the Chassidim there, the front page of the Rebbe’s sichos was very precious and he did not consider removing it. The Rebbe said, “It’s one thing if it’s Siddurim and Tanya, but what about sichos?” R’ Mulle felt that the Rebbe wanted him to express his opinion on the matter and so he repeated his thoughts about it. He would not remove the front page. But the Rebbe then repeated his position. Finally, the Rebbe said, “Nu, send it and may it be with success.”
Mulle told the Rebbe about the serious lack of money to buy s’farim. These were large shipments. Purchasing a large number of s’farim cost a fortune and it wasn’t clear where such enormous sums would come from. The Rebbe told him to go to his secretary, R’ Chadakov, and tell him the situation. For every lira that Mulle would contribute, he would be given a matching sum. “However you discuss it between yourselves, the main thing is the urgency.” Meaning, the Rebbe wanted the s’farim to be sent without delay. The yechidus ended after forty-five minutes.
Mulle then went to R’ Chadakov’s office and told him what the Rebbe said. R’ Chadakov said, “You give a lira and I’ll give a dollar.” He sent instructions to the Kehot warehouse to give R’ Mulle whatever s’farim he wanted in whatever quantities, and to send them immediately to Eretz Yisroel and from there to prepare them for shipment to Russia.
Mulle went to the Kehot warehouse and packed many Tanyas with Yiddish translation, booklets of the Rebbe’s sichos, and volumes of Likkutei Dibburim. He also packed many Siddurim. Even with the relatively small charge he had to pay, it added up to a lot of money.
In Eretz Yisroel, Mulle packed it all into individual packages, addressed them, and by prior arrangement he sent them to the Israeli Foreign Ministry who sent them to Moscow, Leningrad, Riga and Tashkent via diplomatic mail which was off-limits to security checks. Yosef Miller of the Mossad was very willing to be involved.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s employees and agents in Russia received the “diplomatic” packages and began the work of distribution. This was no simple matter under the ever watchful eyes of the KGB. They took s’farim with them and went to shul, ostensibly to pray, and then left the Siddurim there on the benches and tables after the davening in the hopes that they would reach the right people.
After the Six Day War and the breaking of diplomatic ties between Israel and Russia, the shipments continued but they went through England. The packages were sent in clever fashion, with each one packed in a double wrapping. On the outer wrapping was an address in England, while inside, the address in Russia. In England, the outer wrapping was removed, a return address was added of a citizen of England, and the packages were sent to the real destination.
THE FOREIGN MINISTRY ASKS FOR THE REBBE’S HELP
There is a no less heroic continuation to this heroic story which is told by Mulle’s son, R’ Zushe Gross of B’nei Brak:
“In 5724 I attended the religious high school in Beer Sheva. Once, in the middle of the day, I got a phone call from my father. ‘Come to Kfar Chabad right away,’ he requested, and I went.”
In the conversation that took place a few hours later between father and son in their home in Kfar Chabad, the father said he had just gotten a phone call from the Foreign Ministry with a request to come to the Ministry immediately for an urgent meeting. The person did not explain what this was about. When he got there, one of the senior officials told him an interesting but somewhat strange story.
There was a prisoner exchange going on at the time between Israel and the Soviet Union. Israel had a Soviet prisoner and the Soviets were holding an Israeli prisoner, who apparently had been involved in some unspecified secret activity. After the Israeli prisoner was sent home, they learned he had undergone torture by the KGB and needed urgent medical care.
He needed an operation with a vascular surgeon. After lengthy consultations it was decided to send him to a Dr. DeBakey, a world expert on blood vessel surgery whose office was in the US (some years later, this doctor led the team which treated Boris Yeltsin, the Soviet President). This doctor was so sought after that even after being accepted for an operation, it was impossible to remain in his private clinic to recover, because room had to be made for new patients. The Foreign Ministry wanted help from the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Chabad.
“In my meeting with that senior official at the Foreign Ministry,” said R’ Mulle to his son, “he told me the story and said, considering the tremendous help they are giving us to help Russian Jews, they wanted help in arranging a suitable apartment where the spy could receive proper home care under conditions that would facilitate his recovery, and a reliable person who could provide him with the necessary help.”
R’ Zushe wondered aloud, “Can such a thing be written to the Rebbe? Can the Rebbe be told what to do?”
He thought a bit and then suggested, “We cannot write the Rebbe and tell him what to do, but I will write to R’ Chadakov about the request and say I did not dare to write about this to the Rebbe but to him, and if he sees fit, he will show the letter to the Rebbe. I added that I relied on R’ Chadakov’s judgment and we would do as the Rebbe instructed.”
R’ Mulle agreed and R’ Zushe carefully composed the letter and sent it by express mail to R’ Chadakov’s office.
Just a week later (very quickly for those days), a letter arrived from R’ Chadakov in which he briefly stated that the apartment was ready and whatever the man needed he would get. He included the address of the apartment and contact people. The relevant details were sent to the person at the Foreign Ministry.
I later learned that the Rebbe also sent the man a psychologist to help him recover emotionally, and the Chassid R’ Lazer Nannes who himself had endured twenty-five years of suffering under the communists and remained strong of spirit nonetheless. R’ Lazer strengthened the man in lengthy conversations he had with him, in which he told him what he went through in the labor camps and prisons in Russia and how despite it all he managed to survive and start his life anew.
CLOSING A CIRCLE AT THE GATES OF THE MILITARY BASE
“A few years passed,” said R’ Zushe Gross, “and then came the Six Day War. I was drafted to the front along with some other residents of Kfar Chabad. My father was already older so he wasn’t drafted but he could not sit home quietly, and he decided to do something. He obtained all kinds of candies and went to the gate of the army base in Tzrifin and began giving them out to the soldiers he met.
“A big truck came by and stopped at the entrance to the base. On the truck stood a man leaning on crutches. In the truck were thousands of small bottles of Coca Cola. The man on crutches began giving them out to the soldiers standing there.
“My father stood on one side and this man on the other side and they both gave out treats to the soldiers. They got to talking and my father asked the man about his crutches. The man said he had undergone a complicated operation by Dr. DeBakey in the US and then he spent a long time in rehab.
“He did not explain about the torture he went through and his job for Israeli intelligence, but my father thought the story sounded familiar. He began to carefully question the man for additional details and dates and then he realized this was the very same man that he had been involved with getting him a place to recover. What divine providence!
“Then my father said to him, ‘I know your story. I am the one who asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe about it and was the one who arranged things for you.’
“The man looked incredulously at my father and after a long pause he wrapped him in a hug. Hundreds of soldiers stood there, looking at the two of them in astonishment.”
CLOSING A CIRCLE AT THE “NETIV” OFFICES
The series of events forming concentric circles did not end here.
Years went by and R’ Zushe Gross was appointed by the Ohr Avner organization and the Education Ministry as supervisor over many Jewish schools scattered throughout the CIS. This sensitive job demanded much educational experience and knowledge of the character and mentality of Russian Jewry, and was perfectly suited to R’ Zushe. Born and raised in Russia and a learned Chassid, he also has a rich record in the field of education for many decades.
Before he formally accepted the position, he was called for an interview to the Netiv offices, the office that operated under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry for providing aid and assistance to the Jews of the CIS. He was called down to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv with directions to go to one of the small departments housed in the place, without being told what function it served or the identity of the people he would meet. It was only when he was there that he saw that these were shadow operatives who worked under the radar for Russian Jewry. Some topics were better not spoken about even after the fall of the Iron Curtain during the era of perestroika.
Past the faded green metal desk sat someone who identified himself by name but not by his position. He began interrogating R’ Zushe about his knowledge of Russian Jewry. R’ Zushe told him at length about his childhood in communist Russia, about his youth and his learning there, about his own higher education credentials and his educational experience.
“Do you have any experience helping Russian Jews?”
R’ Zushe said yes and described how he helped his father send packages of food and clothing to Russia behind the Iron Curtain in collaboration with government agencies in Eretz Yisroel including the Mossad.
Toward the end of the interview, he told about his role as a broker in helping find an apartment and provisions needed for the recuperation of that man.
R’ Zushe can still picture the scene:
“All at once, the man turned white. He leaned forward and with great interest asked for more and more details about that story. I told him everything as far as I could recall, and the man was silent but he wrote every word down.
“When I finished telling the story, he got up and came around his desk to me, grasped my hand and without saying anything, began leading me through the long hallways as we passed many rooms. At a certain point he opened a door and in the room sat a woman working. He asked her, ‘Do you remember this story,’ and he repeated the story to her. She nodded and reached out for a thick file that contained all the details of this story as though it was just sitting there, ready for my arrival. The two of them went over the file and saw that the story I had told was corroborated. They were amazed.
“‘You got the job!’ they announced. ‘You are one of ours.’”
In the years to come, R’ Zushe Gross did much for the education of thousands of Jewish children in the CIS by preparing curricula for Jewish studies and tradition.