“The Impression Remains”: How the Slonim Rebbe’s Words Saved a Jew from Assimilation

Author Rabbi Moshe Gutman tells a remarkable story about how just a few words from the Slonim Rebbe saved a young man from assimilation.

During World War II, as the plight of Jews worsened, the Slonim Chassidim made every effort to rescue their Rebbe from danger. The Rebbe, however, firmly refused to escape and abandon his followers.

When the Chassidim told him there was a chance to organize a large group of followers who could leave Europe together, he finally agreed to hear the idea. Preparations began to arrange his passport, which required a photograph.

The Photograph Session

The photographer, Moshe Zavetsar of Baranovich, invited the Rebbe to his home, where he had a darkroom suitable for taking a proper picture. The Rebbe came, and Moshe placed him in the pitch-black room before the large, cumbersome camera, which stood on three thick legs.

The process required the photographer to cover both himself and the camera with a heavy black cloth, leaving only a small slit for the lens. Hidden under the cloth, unseen by others, photographer and camera stood together in total darkness.

When the flash finally went off, the Rebbe turned to Moshe with burning passion and said: “Moshe, Moshe, remember! One can lock himself away in a dark room, covered, hidden, unseen. But the impression remains!”

He repeated the final words with holy fire, shouting them with great force as he looked at the young man standing before him in the darkness: “The impression remains!”

A Memory That Saved a Life

Decades later, the Rebbe had perished in the Holocaust, refusing to abandon his people, while Moshe endured both the horrors of the Nazis and later the cruelty of Communism.

“I lived through Hitler and Stalin,” recalls Moshe as an old man. “After the war, I lived behind the Iron Curtain. I was completely cut off, wandering far from the heritage of my fathers, until I thought I had forgotten my Judaism altogether.

“When I was about to build my home, I faced the test of assimilation. I thought I had no reason to hesitate, and I began preparing for marriage with a Russian girl. In the midst of the preparations however, I suddenly heard deep in my mind the thunderous cry of the Slonim Rebbe: ‘But the impression remains!’

“No matter how I tried to shake it off, I couldn’t. It pursued me wherever I went. It stood before me, blocking my path, until I had no choice but to build my home with a Jewish woman.”