Encouragement for American-Jewish Soldiers During the Second World War
SCHNEERSON, Yosef Yitzchak. Courage and Safety through Faith and Trust in G-d. A Message to the Jewish Servicemen … רעכיז ןוא גיטומ ןעמ זיא ד-ג ןיא ןוחתב ןוא הנומא טימ Brooklyn: Machne Israel. Elul (i.e. August/September) 1944.
16mo. Stapled as issued in the publisher’s wrappers printed in English and Yiddish; pp. 20, iv; text in English (pp. 1–20) and in Yiddish (pp. i–iv), with occasional Hebrew; small rust-marks to spine and to inner margin from staple, some spotting and staining to pp. 1, 12-13 (see below), a few leaves loose or detached.
Extremely rare pocket-sized prayerbook containing words of encouragement from the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880–1950), printed in English and Yiddish in the midst of the Second World War and distributed to American-Jewish soldiers fighting in Europe by Machne Israel, the social service branch of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Established by Schneerson in 1941, Machne Yehuda aimed to ‘protect Jewish rights and to represent and defend Jewish spiritual and material interests’, and, in the context of the Second World War, to ‘assist the spiritual and material well-being of Jews in the armed forces by furnishing them with books, reading materials, kosher food, etc.’ (inner cover).
This bilingual pamphlet, small enough to be stored in soldiers’ pockets, contains the text of the Shema and several Psalms as well as a message from the Rebbe on the importance of maintaining faith and courage.
The section headed ‘Read this Message Frequently!’ was evidently read frequently by its original owner, and appears to be lightly spattered with traces of mud; here, a message of ‘renewed hope, renewed strength, and fortitude’ is directed at Jewish soldiers, marines, and pilots in the hopes of calming feelings of ‘apprehension and fear of the future’, wishing that ‘the better world be victorious over the common enemy of mankind, and may we, together with our suffering Jewish brethren, merit the Complete Redemption through our righteous Messiah’.
OCLC finds copies at YIVO and National Library of Israel only. Not in Library Hub.
SKU: 2124966