10 Shvat Hillula (Yartzeit) of Rabbi Y. Y. Schneersohn

This past week (Wednesday) was the marking of 56 years since the passing of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950.) He was the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe also known as the Rebbe Rayatz and was a very remarkable character, due to the special upbringing of his father Rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneersohn (1860-1920) (for he was his only child.) Rabbi Y.Y. kept a diary/journal of all the special moment of his life and his early memories from a very young age. (Today these journals are printed known as Likutei Diburim).

From being his father's personal secretary to eventually being his successor Rabbi Y. Y. always lived up to his fathers' expectations and he kept at it to the end of his might, causing him to get arrested and exiled several times. Rabbi Y. Y. suffered greatly all in order to make sure Judaism was still being practiced.

Providence had it and brought Rabbi Y.Y. and most of his family and belongings to New York in 1940. When he came he saw that the Jewery was much farther away from Judaism than in USSR and the surroundings. However Rabbi Y. Y. kept the mentality and motto as "America is no different."

For a whole decade Rabbi Y.Y. lived in NY on 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. He was the first citizen ever that the immigration office came to his house to sign the papers of his citizenship! On Shabbat the 10th of Shvat 5710 (1950) The holy Rabbi passed away. One year later in 5711 (1951) on the anniversary of the first year Rabbi Menachem Mendle Schneersohn succeeded his saintly father in law making him the seventh and final Lubavitcher Rebbe.