Reshevsky and the Lubavitch Rebbe

An old acquaintance of mine who goes by the name BishopBerkley at chessgames.com, sent me a link of profound and provocative interest. Here is a sample:

"When Reshevsky received the Rebbe's letter [in 1984], his first reaction was one of joy: the Rebbe had chosen him for a special task. However, he understood that this mission would not be easily fulfilled. Bobby had already been out of public life for a few years, and was known to be living reclusively in Los Angeles. Soon after Reshevsky received the Rebbe's letter, he traveled to Los Angeles to play at a tournament. As soon as he arrived, he phoned Bobby and related the Rebbe's request to him. Bobby immediately agreed to see him. This was very unusual, since he did not often receive visitors. Their meeting lasted three hours, during which Bobby asked many serious questions about Judaism."

http://www.chabad.org/therebbe/article_cdo/aid/528301/jewish/Chess-The-Game-and-its-Players.htm

Almost for certain a bogus story. In Pasadena Fischer was devouring the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Rezhevsky was hardly his cup of tea.

A dozen years ago Chessgames.com member, RSD770, transcribed the following article written by Reshevesky's daughter, Shaindel for the "Beis Moshiach."


My father, Shmuel Chaim Reshevsky, of blessed memory, was an International Grandmaster of Chess and seven-time United States Chess Champion. He was born in Ozorkov, Poland, and was known as a child prodigy and chess genius at the age of 4. He learned the game by observing his father, Yaakov, play. At the age of 6 he toured Europe and defeated officers and Generals in simultaneous chess exhibitions, where he played against as many as 30 players at a time, moving quickly from board to board. He had a photographic memory for chess and could repeat all 30 games, move by move. He was known as "Shmulik der vunder kind" -- Shmuel the wonder child.

At the age of 9, my father came to America and gave chess exhibitions across the country, astounding and delighting the players and the audience. He was a graduate of the university of Chicago with a degree in accounting. He gained the title of International Grandmaster at the age of 36, after winning a tournament in England.

My father came from a very distinguished family of great and famous Rabbis. He grew up in an Orthodox home, and throughout his life he was known as a man who observed Shabbat (Sabbath). As chess was his livelihood, he refused to play it on Shabbat or Yom Tov (Holidays when business is prohibited). [Although it is permissible according to Jewish law to play chess on Shabbat, one is enjoined not to be involved with one's business matters on Shabbat]. Even the anti-Semitic Russian government had to change around the chess tournament schedule to accommodate the observance of Shabbat. This was a great Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d’s name).

Whenever my father competed outside of New York City, he always lost weight. He took along a suitcase of canned tuna and salmon and boxes of matzah and ate soft-boiled eggs. His only substantial meals were on Shabbat, when he was the guest of an observant family. All this was self-sacrifice for Torah & Mitzvos.

My father had a special connection with the Lubavicher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. His ancestors were Rabbis in a small town called Lubavitch in 'White-Russia'. When hundreds of Rabbis came to America and they all lived in the same neighborhoods they kept the name of the town they or their ancestors hailed from), and his father-in-law the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn - they are both Schneersohns because they shared the same Great-grandfather or whatever). When my father got a letter drafting him into the American army, he asked the previous Rebbe for a blessing not to get drafted. The Previous Rebbe said he would give him a blessing only on condition that he would learn Torah every day. My father said he would, and wasn't drafted. I always remember him setting aside time to learn each day with a study partner.

My parents lived in Crown Heights before the (current) Rebbe became Rebbe (In the 'early days' almost all Religious Jews lived in the Crown Heights-Brownsville area of Brooklyn, but when the demographics changed, there was a mass migration to other areas. Only the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his followers remained). During that time my father walked the Rebbe home from shul (synagogue) on Shabbat for nearly one and a half years. My father attended some farbrengens (Chasidic gatherings), and at one farbrengen the Rebbe spoke about chess and talked about my father. During one tournament, when my father's game was not going well, he got up during a break, sent a telegram to the Rebbe asking for a blessing, and won the game. Whenever my father had to participate in a tournament out of New York or out of the country, he called the Rebbe's office and asked for the name, address and phone number of a family he could stay with for Shabbat.

When my father was 70 years old and no longer always among the top three winners in tournaments, he asked the Rebbe if he should retire. The Rebbe said to continue playing because it was a Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d's name), and my father never retired. He wrote seven books on chess, was a chess columnist for the New York Times, Chess Life magazine, The Herald Tribune, World Journal Tribune, Medical Opinion and Review, and the Jewish Press. He was a television commentator during two World Chess Championships. My father was the only person ever to have beaten Bobby Fischer in a match [?!-batgirl]. In 1952 he was on the front page of the "New York Times" after he beat WC Mikhail Botvinnik in a match. However, it wasn't for the WC, so the American press called him the 'unofficial World Champion'.

After the age of 70 (with the Rebbe's blessing) in a Russian tournament he beat former World Champion, Vassily Smyslov, and the Russian audience of 1,000 people gave him a standing ovation. In 1986 he was inducted into the "United States Chess Hall of Fame." At the age of 72 he tied for first place in a Tournament in Reykjavik, Iceland.

For many years my father gave private chess lessons in his house and played corr. chess. Some people told my father that the fact that he was famous and still adhered to Torah and mitzvot inspired them to remain religious. On his 80th birthday the USCF and the ACF gave a party for him in a kosher restaurant, of course, and presented my father with a chess set and board and a beautifully worded tribute engraved on the box. He represented the US in the International chess Olympics, often playing first board, and he won an international tournament in Israel. At one point there were as many as 12 chess clubs in Israel in his name.

During a trip to play in a tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, my father's plane arrived late -- very close to Shabbat. He hailed a taxi to take him to his hotel and remained in the cab until it was almost Shabbat. At that point he got out of the cab, asked the driver for directions to his hotel and to meet him there with his belongings -- money, passport, clothes and food (one is not allowed to sit in a car nor carry on Shabbat (among many other things)). He continued to walk the rest of the way. He met a Jewish man along the way who accompanied him to the hotel, and my father was pleased to discover that all of his luggage had arrived intact at the hotel and wasn't stolen.

My father passed away on 2 Nissan (around April), 5752 (1992), at the age of 80. Even in his passing, my father caused a tremendous Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d's name). From the New York Times to the Jewish newspapers, all of them carried obituaries, which stressed the fact that Shmuel Reshevsky was an Orthodox Jew who wouldn't work (play chess) on Shabbat and ate only kosher food.

In 1984, the Rebbe (see the second installment above) wrote a beautiful letter to my father about the public kiddush hashem (see previous posts) that my father does and for the first time, sent my father on a shlichus (mission). When my father told us about the letter, that was the only time I ever saw tears in his eyes. He said: "Imagine, the Rebbe asked me to do this." He was so in awe of the Rebbe, and we are, too. Just at that time my father was soon to be playing in a tournament in LA and that's where Bobby Fischer resided at the time. My father called Bobby, told him of the Rebbe's letter and Bobby agreed to meet with my father, which is amazing because Bobby was reclusive then. They talked for three hours. My father said time would tell if Bobby was influenced.

[In the article, there is a picture of the letter which the Rebbe sent to Reshevsky which reads]:

The following lines may appear strange, but I consider it my duty not to miss the opportunity to bring it to your attention.

You are surely are familiar with the life story of Bobby Fischer, of whom nothing has been heard in quite some time. Unfortunately, he did not have the proper Jewish education, which is probably the reason for him being so alienated from the Jewish way of life or the Jewish people. However, being a Jew, he should be helped by whoever possible ... perhaps you may find some way in which he could be brought back to the Jewish fold, either through your personal efforts, or in some other way.