The Rebbe's approach to other groups of Chassidim

Rabbi Menachem Mendel also worked for the support of needy Torah scholars studying at the Yeshivahs and advanced institutes of learning. During all these years he carried on his work without any interference from the opponents of Chassidism, in either the religious ("Mitnagdim") or the so-called "enlightened" groups in Russia ("Maskilim"). During this time also, there was no conflict between Chassidim and Mitnagdim. On Rabbi Menachem Mendel's frequent visits to Chassidic communities in Minsk and Vilna, the Mitnagdim always accorded him great honor and attended his chassidic and talmudic discourses.




In 1843 the Russian Government announced that a conference was to be held at Petersburg for the purpose of deciding important religious problems. It was the intention of the government, at the instigation of the Maskilim, to use the conference as a means to introduce into the school system innovations which would interfere with traditional procedures in Jewish education and prayer. A Rabbinical Commission composed of leaders of Chassidim and Mitnagdim was convened to plan how best to combat the threat the conference posed. Rabbi Menachem Mendel was appointed to the commission. The first meeting between Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Yitzchok of Volozhin, the leader of the Mitnagdim, made a favorable impression on both of them. Observers remarked that the meeting proved to the Mitnagdim that the Chassidim were Torah scholars, and convinced the Chassidim that the Mitnagdim were pious. This rapprochement and communal cooperation had salutary effects on the general relationship between Chassidim and Mitnagdim. The antagonists were reunited and began to work together for the common cause of traditional Judaism. At the first meeting of the government-called conference in 1843, Rabbi Menachem Mendel expressed his opinion that the purpose of the conference could only be to encourage religious observance among the Jews and he reiterated the indefensibility of tampering even with Jewish custom, since "customs are also considered Torah." Despite threats by the chairman of the conference, a Minister of Government, and being placed under house arrest on numerous occasions during the four-month period of the conference of the conference, Rabbi Menachem Mendel showed unswerving determination to oppose any proposed change of any Jewish custom whatsoever. "We are not summoned to legislate," he said. "We are here to clarify statutes previously decided in the laws of the Mosaic faith. We are here to clarify too, the customs of Israel, to protect both the commandments of G-d and Jewish usage from tampering." The conference ended without the adoption of any of the changes proposed by the Maskilim. Rabbi Menachem Mendel's resoluteness and selflessness impressed all the participants and enhanced his already considerable reputation.



The granting of "honorary citizenship" papers signed by Czar Nicholas was one of the honors bestowed on Rabbi Menachem Mendel in 1844, in recognition of his valuable work at the Petersburg conference the previous year. This great honor bestowed on Rabbi Menachem Mendel by the government made a deep impression on the Jewish population throughout the Russian Empire.








-As taken from Chabad.org