The fifth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneersohn, known by the acronym for his name: "Rashab," was born in the town of Lubavitch in Belarus on the 20th of the Jewish month of Cheshvan in 1860 (5621 from the creation).
Rabbi Sholom DovBer was the third child (and second son) of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, the fourth Chabad Rebbe (known as the "Maharash"), and his illustrious wife, Rebbetzin Rivkah.
At the young age of twelve, Rabbi Sholom DovBer began transcribing the discourses on Chabad-chassidic philosophy that his father delivered—a task usually reserved for distinguished elders. At the age of fifteen, he married his wife Shterna Sarah, a match arranged by his saintly grandfather, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, prior to his passing in 1866.
Rabbi Shmuel passed away in 1882, at the young age of forty-eight; Rabbi Shalom DovBer was only twenty-one years old when he was orphaned. Though Rabbi Shalom DovBer began delivering chassidic discourses immediately following his father's passing – traditionally an act reserved for Chabad Rebbes – he refused to officially accept the mantle of leadership of the movement, in deference to his older brother, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Aharon, himself an eminent scholar and worthy leader. Yet, Rabbi Schneur Zalman Aharon, recognizing his younger brother's holiness and leadership abilities, also refused to accept the leadership. It was only after Rabbi Schneur Zalman Aharon moved from the town of Lubavitch in 1893, eleven years after the passing of their father Rabbi Shmuel, that Rabbi Shalom DovBer officially accepted the mantle of leadership.
Teachings
Famed for his phenomenal mind and analytical treatment of Chabad philosophy, Rabbi Sholom DovBer wrote and delivered some 2,000 chassidic discourses over the thirty-eight years of his leadership. Rabbi Sholom DovBer became known as the "Maimonides of Chabad Chassidism," for his ability to organize topics in chassidic thought (much as Maimonides codified the Oral Law). He would often recite hemshechim (long series of discourses) – some that lasted for several years! – wherein he comprehensively covered the most abstruse kabbalistic concepts
Simultaneously, Rabbi Sholom DovBer took great interest in the simple folk, and said many discourses specifically geared towards those with a limited knowledge of chassidic thought.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer wrote all his discourses prior to saying them, but none of them were published in his lifetime. His son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth Chabad Rebbe, and his grandson, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the seventh Chabad Rebbe, worked on publishing his works. His works, that fill tens of volumes, were all published by Kehot Publications, the publishing arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Establishes School
In 1897, Rabbi Shalom DovBer established an institution of Jewish learning, a school whose curriculum included the study of Talmudic and legal courses as well as the mystical teachings of Chabad chassidism. This school also placed special emphasis on prayer; students were encouraged to meditate while praying, to use the opportunity to open their hearts and souls to their Father in heaven.
Rabbi Shalom DovBer named this innovative school "Tomchei Temimim."
This school producing an army of learned, inspired and devoted disciples who, in the decades to come, would be at the forefront of the effort to keep the flames of Judaism alive under Soviet rule and oppression. And these students then carried the torch to the West, where they actively battled the blight of assimilation.
The school was later replicated in countries all over the world. Today, the Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch school system is the largest network of Jewish schools, with branches in dozens of countries from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Leadership
Rabbi Shalom DovBer took an active role in assisting the Jews oppressed by the Czarist government. In 1891, when the Jews were expulsed from Moscow under the May Laws, Rabbi Shalom DovBer established a factory for knitting, giving thousands a source of livelihood. He would also take an active role in assisting the Jewish soldiers in the Russian army, helping them secure their religious and spiritual needs. Rabbi Shalom DovBer also took a leading role in combating Jewish "reformation" and all other movements and "isms" whose ideologies ran contrary to traditional Jewish values.
In what would become the prototype for Lubavitch outreach, Rabbi Shalom DovBer sent out emissaries to assist the largely ignorant "mountain Jews" living in the Russian Caucasian mountains. The emissaries worked on educating the youth, in the interest of creating educated leadership from within the ranks of the local communities.
Rabbi Shalom DovBer is the one who compared the chassid to a lamplighter: "The lamplighter," he explained, "walks the streets carrying a flame at the end of a pole. He knows that the flame is not his. And he goes from lamp to lamp to set them alight."
His Passing
Due to the turmoil caused by the First World War, in the autumn of 1915, Rabbi Shalom DovBer moved from the town of Lubavitch to the city of Rostov on the Don River. There he was during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and from there he started to wage a war against the Soviet Union's attempt to squelch Jewish religious life. After his passing, this effort was continued and expanded by his son.
Rabbi Sholom DovBer passed away in Rostov on the 2nd day of the Jewish month of Nissan, 1920. His final words were: "I'm going to heaven; the writings I leave for you...", a reference to the thousands of manuscripts that he penned.
He was immediately succeeded by his only son, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.
