The Story of Yud Tes Kislev

The black carriage was already waiting. Inside the house, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad Chasidic movement, made final preparations before his arrest and imprisonment.
Rabbi Yisrael Kazik, the Rebbe's brother-in-law, managed to exchange a few words with him. "What shall be done?" he asked worriedly. "Travel to Petersburg," the Rebbe answered, "immediately!"
The officer in charge ordered the armed police to surround the Rebbe, who was making his way toward the carriage. The black carriage drove off, leaving the distraught Chasidim behind.
The charges brought against the Rebbe were extremely serious. The government informants claimed that the money the Rebbe sent to Israel in order to strengthen Jewish settlements was actually supporting the Turks, who were, at the time, at war with Russia.
The Rebbe was brought to the prison, but not one chasid knew his whereabouts. There were many prisons in Russia, and it would be dangerous to search through them. The elder Chasidim instructed everyone to pray, and they appointed a committee to be in charge in the meantime.
The Rebbe's brother-in-law didn't waste a minute. Rabbi Yisrael didn't even take time to change out of his Chasidic garb, which he knew could cause him some difficulty in the capital city. As he didn't even have the proper travelling documents with him, which could lead to his own arrest, he borrowed the documents of another chasid, and left.
Meanwhile, in a prison in Petersburg, the Rebbe was interrogated for many hours. His interrogators were impressed by his strength of character and integrity. Deep down they knew that the accusations against the Rebbe were false, but they were bound by the law that did not allow for his release without an investigation.
One day, one of the officers said to the Rebbe, "I would like to do you a favor. What can I do for you?"
The Rebbe requested that his family be informed that he was alive and that he hoped that G-d would soon make his innocence known. The officer readily agreed to his request. He asked, however, how he would be able to contact someone from the Rebbe's family as he didn't know them.
"Before I was brought here," the Rebbe told the guard, "I instructed my brother-in-law, Reb Yisrael Kazik, to travel to Petersburg. He is wearing the traditional Chasidic garb, and he is probably wandering near a prison."
After searching for some time, the guard noticed a Jew who fit the Rebbe's description. When the guard was sure no one was looking, he motioned to the Jew to come over to him. When he asked the Jew, who was Reb Yisrael Kazik, to identify himself, Reb Yisrael identified himself with the name on the documents he had borrowed. The guard accused him of lying and left.
Reb Yisrael figured that the officer wanted to give him a message. After consulting with other Chasidim, he continued to wander through Petersburg in case the guard returned. The guard told the Rebbe of his meeting with a Jew who fit the description, but whose name was not Yisrael Kazik. The Rebbe told the guard to try once more.
The officer again met Reb Yisrael, who identified himself as such. Without exchanging another word, the guard began to walk away, and Reb Yisrael followed him discreetly. They arrived at the guard's home. The guard went inside, and while Reb Yisrael stood outside and wondered what to do next, a watermelon fell out of a window of the house. Reb Yisrael understood that it was for him, and he quickly picked it up and carried it away.
He brought it home, and in the presence of the elder Chasidim, opened it carefully. Inside the watermelon was a note that read, "Hear O Israel the Lord our G-d the Lord is One." The Rebbe was alive! But they still didn't know where he was being held.
Meanwhile, the Rebbe's health was in danger, because he would not eat the prison food. The warden offered to obtain kosher food for the Rebbe and went to Reb Mordechai of Lipeli, and asked him to prepare kosher food for a Jewish prisoner. Reb Mordechai sensed that this prisoner was the Rebbe, and on the bottom of one of the jars he hid a note that said, "Who is the one eating this, and where is he found?"
The jar was returned, and under a bit of food was a small note written in the Rebbe's handwriting. The Rebbe informed the Chasidim of his situation and where he was being held. The news quickly spread throughout Russia, "The Rebbe is alive and well!"
Eventually the Rebbe was exonerated of all charges and released on the nineteenth of Kislev, which is celebrated as the Festival of Redemption, when the Chasidic movement and the right to disseminate Chasidic philosophy triumphed.