Rough-hewn and unpretentious in his Russian cap and bushy white beard, Reb Mendel Futerfas was a legend in his own time.
He endured eight years in the Soviet Gulag and a seventeen-year separation from his family - punishment for his work in Chabad's clandestine yeshivahs.
Released from the Soviet Union in 1963, he would eventually rebuild his life as a mentor in Israel, where he drew on his experiences to inspire a new generation of Chasidim.
Reb Mendel Futerfas proved that a strong faith in G-D triumphs over all life's adversaries.
