We are in the thirty-seventh lesson in the chain of lineage, on the life story of the Rebbe Rayatz, in the seventh part. We have reached the year 5702 (1942). It is written thus: "Founder of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva with preparatory schools in the city of Montreal, Canada." This short sentence contains within it an entire history.
Rabbi HaRayatz, as we already recounted earlier, decided that he would neither rest nor be still until he rescued all the students of Tomchei Temimim who remained in Europe. This was during the war, at mortal risk. Tremendous efforts were made to help them succeed in escaping from Poland to Vienna. And after they arrived in Vienna, great efforts began to obtain visas for them, to reach the United States, to escape the inferno. And this too was an entire saga, until they succeeded in obtaining those visas.
And in the winter of 5701, thirty-six students managed to leave for Japan. In Japan they waited for visas. The visas were at the consulate in Russia, and they had to be transferred to Japan. This was an entire ordeal, and they were stuck in Japan for a long time, waiting for this. After the visas had already reached them, the United States canceled these visas. So essentially they were stuck, they could not travel to the United States. Japan also did not want them, so it expelled them to Shanghai, to China.
When that group of students was stuck in China, the Rebbe Rayatz, while in the United States, through all sorts of connections and funds, managed to obtain — there was some initiative of eighty visas that the Canadian government agreed to accept for students from various yeshivos. Out of that initiative of the eighty, the Rebbe Rayatz managed to obtain nine visas to Canada for those few bochurim who managed to get out, and the rest remained stuck in Shanghai for a long time.
They arrived in Montreal on the 2nd of Cheshvan 5702, and on that very day that they arrived, the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Montreal was opened. And then the Rebbe Rayatz sent there the mashpia, to bless them, Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, so that he would help them in establishing the yeshiva at the beginning of its period. Shmuel Levitin was about a month in Montreal, helping them arrange matters. Over time the yeshiva of course grew and developed, and a small yeshiva was added. And this is what is written here: "founder of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva with preparatory divisions," a preparatory division for the yeshiva. And why did this come specifically to Montreal? Because it was the only place to which they succeeded in transferring the survivors.
Another thing written about the year 5702: "Founder of the Central Organization for Jewish Education." What is the Central Organization for Jewish Education? There was an organization established by the Rebbe Rayatz, called "Merkaz Yeshivos Tomchei Temimim." It included the network of Achei Temimim yeshivos, and a network of Torah cheders. At the head of this organization stood the elder son-in-law of the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Shmaryahu Gurary, in short the Rashag.
Here it is related that in addition to this center, the Rebbe Rayatz founded a center called "Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch" (Central Organization for Jewish Education). At the head of this center stood our Rebbe, the younger son-in-law of the Rebbe. What was the purpose of this institution? It dealt with all matters of education of Jewish boys and girls, apart from yeshivos and chadarim. There is much work to be done in dealing with the education of the Jewish people. There is a list printed at the end of the Hayom Yom, and in other places, of the entire program and goals of this center. There are fifteen different sections there that Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch deals with, in various fields connected to strengthening Judaism among the Jewish people. This is the center that the Rebbe Rayatz founded here.
Another matter: it is written, "founder of the Achei Temimim yeshiva in the cities of Newark, Worcester, and Pittsburgh." These yeshivos were in the provincial towns of the United States. He founded in each place yeshivos that were called Achei Temimim. The order of their establishment — the first was established in Pittsburgh, in the winter of 5702, right at the beginning of 5702, in the month of Kislev. The Rebbe would send there a student, Rabbi Mordechai Altein, to Pittsburgh in order to arouse the chassidim and the youth, to create an awakening there, and he succeeded in establishing a yeshiva there. This was not so easy, a city where the observant were truly few. People had never seen what a yeshiva looks like. All of the United States did not know at all what a yeshiva looks like. This was the first yeshiva that was established, in Pittsburgh.
Afterward, the second one in order was in Newark. To Newark the Rebbe sent the chassid, the disciple, Rav Sholom Ber Gordon, who stood at the head of the yeshivah in Newark. And the third was in Worcester, and this was already in the summer, in Teves 5702. The one who directed the yeshivah in the first period was the chassid Rabbi Avraham Hecht. Later the Rebbe sent his brother there, who remained there as a permanent shliach, Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Hecht. These were the activities in that year.
Another matter about that same year is written: "Founder of the Karnei Hod Torah publishing house, Kehot Lubavitch." We will immediately explain what this is. But so that the understanding will be complete, let us also look at 5703. What is written about 5703? "Founder of the Otzar HaChassidim Lubavitch library." What is the difference between these two institutions, which are mentioned here in sequence—Kehot Lubavitch and the Otzar HaChassidim Lubavitch library?
On almost every Chabad book we see these two institutions combined together. On the title page it says Otzar HaChassidim Library Lubavitch, or it says that the book was published by Otzar HaChassidim, and in the middle there is the imprint of Kehot. This appears in almost every Chabad book. We have the heading above, and we have below — what is the difference between Otzar HaChassidim and the Otzar HaChassidim Library?
The difference between them, as I have seen in someone who makes this distinction: the publishing house Kehot "Karnei Hod Torah," which by the way is called Kehot, as we already mentioned, this is the year in which the Alter Rebbe was born. The meaning of the Kehot publishing house is to publish books both in nigleh and in Chassidus, all kinds of books, no matter who the author is, any Jew who authors a book. It is a center called a publishing house, a place that publishes books. Which books does it publish? Torah books, books of Judaism, no matter, nigleh, Chassidus, of the whole world. This is the first organization that the Rebbe Rayatz founded, which is called "Kehot Publishing House, Karnei Hod Torah."
The second center that was subsequently established is something else. "Otzar HaChassidim Library" — these are books that were authored by our Rebbeim, the leaders of our generations, or by the chassidim, and this is not merely the publishing of ready-made books, but also a library whose purpose is to edit books and compose books. There is the Otzar HaChassidim editorial staff, a staff that works on publishing books, and there is a library whose purpose is publishing books. These are two different organizations. In practice they are very much integrated together in their roles, but these are two different roles.
So it turns out, in summary, that the three institutions which the Previous Rebbe established and placed the Rebbe at their head, and we have already learned about all three of them: "Machaneh Yisrael," "Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch," and "Kehot." And over the course of the years from 5703 until 5705, under those conditions of those years, dozens of various books and pamphlets were printed and published by the "Kehot" publishing house and by the "Otzar HaChassidim Library."