Rabbi Menachem Wolf

 

Rabbi Menachem, we know that you have been
in our community not so long ago. Please tell us
about your family.
Let's start with the family of my Yiddish Mammeh, Khaya Nisonovna, nee Yosfin, and now, like the whole family, Wolf. The history of my mother's origin is intertwined with the history of Jewry in the former Soviet Union. Her father, Nisson Yosfin, was born in the Chassidic town of Nevel (Belarus). Due to oppressive Soviet policies, he was not able to receive a full-fledged Jewish education. But my grandfather absorbed the Chassidic spirit of his family from birth. Later they all moved to Leningrad. There, his father – my great-grandfather – Eliyahu Yosfin, was put in a Soviet prison for spreading Jewry. Grandpa Nisson was a young 16-17 year old boy when he was also arrested. Formally, the authorities accused him of financial crimes: Somehow he arranged for the flour mill to give him allegedly written-off flour
for baking matzah. In this way, he provided the Jews of Leningrad with matzah for
Passover. When the inmates learned his last name, they asked, “Is Eliyahu Yosfin your
father?” “Yes,” Grandpa replied. "Are you as crazy as he is?” they asked. He replied:
"No, my father used only his hands, but I can't do without a knife."
What does this mean?
The fact is that my great-grandfather was a legendary strong man: even in extreme
old age (at 90 years old), he bent a horseshoe with one hand. His son, my grandfather
was not as strong. Great-grandfather Eliyahu together with a small handful of
Chassidim faced down all the hostile opposition in in his town: non-Jewish neighbors,
church ministers, Cossacks. He opposed them and, constantly risking his life, rebelled
against them in the name of preserving Judaism. Today's emissaries of the Rebbe,
being in the most difficult conditions, even during the war in Ukraine, are not alone.
They always feel the support of the entire Jewish world. And no one stood behind
great-grandfather Eliyahu with his several Hasidic friends. It was just them and G‑d…
Nisson’s wife, my grandmother Ella, was one of the five women in Leningrad who
regularly visited the mikvah in Soviet times. In the 70s, my grandparents were able to
escape to Israel. My mother was born in Israel.
In the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, a Jewish school in Kherson
needed teachers from Israel. At that time, few Israeli teachers wanted to go to the
former Soviet Union: Not only were were they missing the necessary elements of
Jewish life (kosher food, kindergartens), but also basic household items (including
even toilet paper). My mother was the youngest daughter in the family, and by that
time her parents were already quite old. There was no internet, no mobile phones,
international calls had to be ordered in advance. It was very difficult for the parents to
let the girl go to a country with such conditions. But they decided to do it, because
they knew that this is exactly what the Rebbe expects from them, that this is done in
the name of the Jewish upbringing of children in the former Soviet Union. And my
mother went to Kherson.
Now it's time to tell about your father's family.
The Wolf family comes from Germany, from the city of Nuremberg. My greatgrandfather's
father, Binyomin Wolf, was the owner of a large factory (together with
a non-Jewish partner) producing silverware. When Hitler came to power, my greatgreat-
grandfather realized that the Jews in this country had no future, and he offered
his partner to buy out his part of the factory. To which his “friend” and partner replied
that he was not going to spend a single mark on this, since after a while he would
get the whole plant for nothing. Great-great-grandfather Binyomin collected all the
cash, including diamonds, sold what he could, and left with his family for Palestine,
which at that time was under the British Mandate. The British then demanded that
incoming Jews present a certain amount, as they did not want to let the poor into the
country. Binyomin helped many Jews by providing them with the necessary amount
of money. It so happened that subsequently many did not return his money to him,
and Binyomin's wealth was dissolved in Israel.
His son, my great-grandfather, Ephraim Wolf from Germany, went to Poland to the
yeshiva of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe. As already mentioned, he was from a very
wealthy family and had 17 suits, which he gave away to his poor fellow students.
Many in the non-Lubavitch Chassidic traditions pray loudly, but Lubavitchers did not
adopt this practive. The previous Rebbe told him: "You must shout, but in such a way
that no one will hear." And this became the fundamental principle of life for my greatgrandfather.
He was a very modest person. And this despite the fact that he was the
director of Chabad institutions in Israel and constantly had contact with people who
held high positions in the country – the president, ministers, etc. The Sixth Rebbe
spoke of him in this poetic way: "I have planted a strong tree in the Holy Land."
Great-grandfather Ephraim was infinitely devoted to the task of fulfilling his task – the
leadership of the Chabad yeshivas in Israel. In the 1960s, the central yeshivah of the
Rebbe was in Lod (near Tel Aviv). For several years he lived in this yeshiva, sleeping in
a simple student bed. He came home to Jerusalem only on Shabbat