Following his miraculous rescue from Nazi-occupied Europe, after a 12-day sea voyage, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, arrived in New York on the 8-9th of Adar 5700 / 1940, initiating a profound transformation of American Jewish life.
The Rebbe Rayatz shortly after arriving on American shores (5700)
Thousands of Hasidim gathered at the Port Hall to welcome the Rebbe Rayatz. A powerful cry of ‘Shalom Aleichem’ rose from the crowd, with many reciting the ‘Shehecheyanu’ blessing to mark the miraculous occasion. The reception included delegations from major American Jewish organizations, and even the Mayor of New York sent a personal representative to greet the Rebbe with the highest honors.
Addressing the assembly, the Rebbe Rayatz declared that he had not come to America to ‘eat of its fruits or be sated by its blessings.’ Instead, he arrived to fulfill a mission entrusted to him by the Creator: to plant the seeds of Torah and revitalize Jewish life on American soil.
After a short reception at Port Hall, Rebbe Rayatz went to the Greystone Hotel in Manhattan and attended another reception, during which he announced: “I am pleased to announce the decision made at a special gathering of people from our circle, which took place a few hours ago: בעזרת-השם-יתברך tomorrow at the Oneg Shabbat synagogue, the Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch yeshiva will open in America!” He appealed to everyone around him to take part in this important work of spreading the Torah and awe of the Creator – now in the USA.
The Rebbe Rayatz shortly after arriving on American shores (5700)
Shortly after the Rebbe’s arrival, two long-time American residents approached him. They described the spiritual indifference that reigned in the country at the time, concluding bluntly: ‘In America, everything is different from the Old World!’ The Rebbe Rayatz later recorded in his diary: ‘It goes without saying how I felt, hearing such words from the lips of my most trusted and loving friends, and the rivers of tears that flowed from my eyes when I recited the Shema before bed for the first time on American soil.’
The following week, on Shushan Purim, the Rebbe revisited his mission with renewed fervor. He declared that his task was to prove to the world that ‘America is no different’ than the Old World. He insisted that no place and no circumstance could ever prevent the Jewish people from following the path of the Torah.
Within a decade of his arrival, the Rebbe Rayatz had established numerous branches of the Tomchei Tmimim and Achei Tmimim yeshivas across the United States. His mission gained further momentum on the 28th of Sivan, 5701 (1941), when his son-in-law and eventual successor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, arrived in New York to significantly expand the movement’s activities.
Simultaneously, the Rebbe’s vision reached across the ocean. The ‘Bureau for the Rescue of Refugees,’ established in Paris immediately after the war, saved tens of thousands of Jewish lives, many of whom resettled in Israel and other countries. Under the Rebbe’s initiative, this era of rebuilding saw the 1949 founding of the Kfar Chabad settlement in Israel, preceded just months earlier by the establishment of a Chabad community in Lod.
The Rebbe Rayatz in Lakewood, 8 Nissan 5700
The Rebbe’s arrival sparked an institutional revolution. From the founding of the Kehot Publication Society to the establishment of Machane Israel, the foundations of modern Chabad were laid. New journals and the Nichoach music project brought Chassidic life to the public, while the Otzar Chasidim library preserved its intellectual treasures. Throughout this period of intense growth, the Rebbe Rayatz remained personally devoted to his people—answering hundreds of letters from around the world, meticulously editing Chassidic discourses, and receiving individuals in yechidut (private audiences) to offer his blessings and counsel.
Just ten years after the Rebbe Rayatz first stepped onto American soil, the seeds he planted had blossomed across every continent—initiating a global spiritual revolution that continues to expand throughout the world to this day.
