Jewish holidays are not merely a commemoration of an event in time. The time of year in which the amiracle occurred was an opportune time for the conception of that miracle. As we make our way toward the Purim holiday, we are entering a time zone in which the all the Haman's of the world can fail and Jewish redemption is born. The death and downfall of Stalin is an example of a miraculous, yet untold, modern day Purim story.
Joseph Stalin, tyrant of communist Russia dubbed the invincible “man of steel,” who murdered approximately 20,000,000 of his own people, was particularly hateful toward the Jews. After World War Two, his anti-Semitic campaign took a more aggressive, public stance. In 1947, he targeted thousands of Jewish scientists, politicians, and intellectuals who were dismissed from their positions, humiliated, arrested, and tortured. Stalin's infamous Doctor's Plot, in which six Jewish doctors were arrested and tortured into making a confession, began with the Stalin-controlled media spreading rumors that Jewish doctors were poisoning Russian children by injecting them with diphtheria and killing infants in hospital wards. (Daily Mail, National Journal, 2003)
After spreading his toxic rumors about Jews to the public, Stalin carried on with his plans to eliminate Russia's two to four million Jews, by deporting them to the freezing, uninhabitable regions of Russia and leaving them to die of starvation, hypothermia, and disease. An article from the National Journal in 2003 reported that newly discovered documents proved that in the February of 1953, Stalin commissioned the construction of four camps in Kazakhstan, Siberia and in the Arctic North. The conjecture about Stalin's genocidal plans were confirmed by P.K. Ponomarenko, Soviet Ambassador in Poland, in an article in the French Newspaper, 'Paris-Soir'.
“A week before the Purim of 1953… Jewish faces were far from merry," recounted Mrs. Batyah Barg, author of the autobiography Voices in the Silence. “In train stations all over Russia, train cars were being requisitioned to carry huge caravans of Jews into exile and slow death. Reliable sources confirmed that the expulsion would begin on the sixth of March, just a few days after Purim” (pg. 216).
God will yet help…. Stalin is a mere mortal... no one can know what will be with him in a half hour.
Rabbi Yitzchak Zilber, another Jewish hero and author of the autobiography, To Remain a Jew, recounts this climatic time during which he was imprisoned in the frosty region of Siberia. After Rabbi Zilber read the Book of Esther recounting the miracle of Purim to a group of Jewish prisoners, one prisoner responded, “Who needs your tales about what happened 2,500 years ago? Tell me, where is your God today? It's not enough that Hitler finished six million – here they are about to be done with another three. Do you not see the trains and the barracks that have already been built (for this purpose)?” To which the fearless Rabbi Zilber replied, “True, our situation is difficult, but don't be so quick to eulogize us. Haman also sent orders to 127 provinces. God will yet help…. Stalin is a mere mortal... no one can know what will be with him in a half hour.” (pg. 236- 237)
That Purim night, a few days before the Jewish doctors were due to go to trial, and just thirty minutes after Rabbi Silver's foretelling of Stalin's vulnerable fate, Stalin was said to have “collapsed in a fit of rage” during a meeting in which his supporters expressed opposition to his evil plan, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. That Purim, thousands of Jewish prisoners were freed. Joseph Stalin died on March 5, just a few days later, to the great relief of Russian Jewry. “To this day, I am choked with emotion every time I think back to that Purim of miracles,” recounts Mrs. Batyah Barg.
May we continue to re-experience the miracles of our holidays each and every year.
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(4) Wow, April 13, 2021 3:37 AM
During the Russian Revolution, after the fall of the czar, the Rebbe Rashab told the Chassidim to take part in the elections. There was a Chassid who went to vote but was so completely removed from matters of this world, that he knew nothing about what was occurring in the country. He went to vote solely because the Rebbe had said to do so. Naturally, he did this after immersing in a mikvah and fastening his gartel, as one should while fulfilling the Rebbe’s instruction. “After he voted, he saw people standing and proclaiming, ‘Hoora,’ and he stood there too and proclaimed, ‘Hoo-ra (he is evil), hoo-ra, hoo-ra.’” As he related this, the Rebbe imitated what the Chassid did. With a big smile on his face he put his hands together in the shape of a triangle and proclaimed “hoo-ra” three times. When the Rebbe finished recounting the story, he turned to his right and repeated the story and once again put his hands together and said “hoo-ra” three times. Then he turned to his left and repeated it again, doing as the Chassid did. The crowd of Chassidim at the farbrengen were completely taken aback and astonished by the script playing before their eyes, but they understood that they were witnessing something far beyond what the eye can see. Then the Rebbe’s face grew serious once again and he began the second maamar of that farbrengen, which was based on the verse in Esther, “therefore they called these days ‘Purim’ for the lot.” After the farbrengen, the Chassidim discussed amongst themselves the wondrous events of the evening: the second maamar (this was the first time the Rebbe said two maamorim at a single farbrengen), the story related beforehand, and the calling out of “Hoo-ra.” No one could explain these unique occurrences, but it was clear that something heavenly had just transpired. Several days later, the Soviet radio broadcaster began reciting the news in a saddened voice and announced that Stalin had fallen seriously ill and had lost consciousness.
(3) Leon Mintz, March 11, 2020 2:25 AM
Purim Of 1953.
My old letter published in The Jewish Advocate. Now on my FB
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2635052149954130&set=a.688356184623746&type=3
(2) Faigy, March 3, 2020 11:51 PM
Another piece to the story
That year in crown Heights, in 770, the lubavitcher rebbe told a story and then asked all the thousands of chasidim in the room to scream hurah! Which as a continuation to the story meant hurray. But in Hebrew means hu ra- he is bad- this was screamed three times. And then the rebbe changed topic. Chasidim understand that something happened- but only days later was the news released that just before signed those documents- stalin suddenly died. Ps. My grandfather clearly remembers his mother preparing dried bread and blocks of sugar with tears..prostatic for the imminent trip to nowhere..
(1) Miriam, March 25, 2016 11:19 AM
The Jew who said that to Reb Yitzchak Zilber
gave him the news that Stalin died. He went over to him and said, "Zilber, you're right. Your G-d is alive." Then he told him that Stalin died.