Chanukah Miracle In Snowy Communist Russia

By Rabbi Moshe Gurkow

When I was still a boy of 6 years old in my home in Communist Russia, I went with my Uncle, Rabbi Michoel Teitelbaum, who later founded the Lubavitch Educational Institute Oholei Torah in Brooklyn, to light the first candle of the Chanukah menorah in an outdoor setting in an effort to publicize the miracle. All of a sudden from out of nowhere a policeman appeared, wielding a huge knife, with which he attempted to kill us!

My uncle and I ran for our lives. We came to a gigantic snow pile and plunged into its snow, but the policeman with his deadly knife was still at our backs. He thrust it deep into the snow; the knife's sharp blade literally reached the throat of Uncle Michoel when he suddenly bit the policeman's thumb, causing him to drop the knife to the ground. In the midst of the commotion my uncle and I fled the scene. We returned back to the place where we started out only to find that lone, first Chanukah candle still burning joyously.