Reb Velvel Kesselman, longtime mashpia (spiritual mentor) in Kfar Chabad, Israel, passed away on March 10 at the age of 91, leaving a legacy of piety, scholarship and humility.

He and his identical twin, Shalom Dov Ber (Berel), were born into difficult circumstances. The year was 1927, and Stalin was tightening his iron vice on religious life in the Soviet Union.

Their father, Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, was a devoted Chassid and a stalwart in the Chabad underground network of Jewish institutions that spanned the expanse of the Soviet empire. The Kesselmans lived a quasi-official existence outside of Moscow.

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The boys were born with very low birth weight and a message was immediately dispatched to Leningrad, asking the sixth Rebbe—Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory—to pray for the well-being of the mother and her babies.

Weeks later, the Rebbe was arrested and sentenced to death by the Soviet authorities. After extreme pressure was applied, the Rebbe’s death sentence was replaced with exile in distant Kostroma. The Rebbe was given six hours at home before he was to be taken to carry out his sentence.

Upon being reunited with his family, one of his first questions was about Bluma Kesselman and her babies.

Bluma Kesselman sourrounded by her family. Berel and Velvel, the twins, are on the left.

When the boys were toddlers, their father was arrested for the “crime” of teaching Torah and was not present for their upshernish, the traditional hair-cutting for a boy’s third birthday. As a persona non grata, there was a time when he was forced to clean the streets and was often absent from home, on the run from the Soviet authorities who were aware of his continued efforts on behalf of Judaism.

In order to remain “under the radar” and save money (of which there was never enough), the Kesselmans lived in a shack that functioned as bucolic summer house during the winter, and relocated for the summer months to the humble homes of people then vacationing in the country. This meant that they were almost always uncomfortable, freezing in the winter and hot in the summer.

The homes they lived in were often substandard, with leaky roofs and drafty rooms. Food was scarce; the Kesselmans lost two daughters to malnutrition and privation.

Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman was a transformative “ mashpia ” who left an indelible mark on a generation of students.

But the arrangement afforded them the opportunity to educate their children in authentic Chassidic style far from prying eyes.

At one point, the two Kesselman boys were sitting at home and studying when the GPU (the precursor of the KGB) came looking for their father, who had anticipated their visit and was away. However, Rabbi Bentzion Shemtov, one of the leaders of the underground movement, was hiding in their attic since the secret police were looking for him at his home.

The officers began to grill the boys. Hearing the exchange downstairs, the fugitive came down from the attic and paid the officers to leave, Soviet-style.

For the rest of his life, Velvel would marvel at the celebrated Chassid’s willingness to risk his own life for the sake of the young boys.