A remarkable discovery was made during a Jewish summer camp in Russia, when children digging in the historic courtyard of the town where the Chabad movement began uncovered a rare pocket watch and old coins.
Russia’s chief rabbi described the find as “evidence of the triumph of the spirit.”
While thousands of children across Russia are spending their summer vacation at recreational camps, a group of campers from Moscow’s Gan Israel camp had an extraordinary experience this week.
During an educational visit to the town of Lyubavichi, the birthplace of the Chabad Hasidic movement, the children took part in an archaeological preservation project in the historic courtyard where the dynasty’s rebbes once lived and worked, and where the renowned Tomchei Temimim yeshiva was established.
During the excavation, a genuine treasure was suddenly uncovered: a rare and luxurious pocket watch that had been buried in the ground for decades, alongside old ruble coins.
The items were transferred for examination to Rabbi Gabriel Gordon, director of the local Chabad House.
Following an initial inspection, Gordon said that, given the watch’s high quality and elaborate craftsmanship, there was a strong possibility that it had belonged to a member of one of the rebbes’ families who lived at the site.
The discovery sparked an outburst of joy and spontaneous dancing among the children and the staff accompanying them.
From red necktie to symbol of a new generation
The moving discovery came alongside a visit by Russia’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Berel Lazar, to the main summer camp outside Moscow.
During his meeting with the children, Lazar received a gift carrying profound symbolic significance: an original, 100-year-old red Pioneer necktie. The necktie had been worn by members of youth movements under the communist regime, during a period in which systematic attempts were made to erase Jewish tradition.
Beside it was a green necktie, the symbol of the modern Hasidic summer camp.
“This opposite that,” the organizers said, emphasizing the message of the triumph of the Jewish spirit over historical attempts at repression.
“Our greatest success as a community is seeing how we take care of the next generation,” Lazar told the campers, the overwhelming majority of whom are children of Chabad emissaries serving in remote Russian cities, where they are often the only Jewish representatives in their communities.
Tradition that crosses borders
Chabad’s summer camp project in Russia, operated by hundreds of rabbis and emissaries, has in recent years grown into an extensive network focused on education and community building.
Alongside the Moscow camp, additional programs operate throughout the country, including a girls’ camp in the city of Nizhny, directed by Rebbetzin Frady Lerman.
For the children, who come from the most remote corners of the Russian Federation, the experience is far more than a vacation. It provides an opportunity for social connection and spiritual renewal ahead of the school year.
When the children return home in several weeks, they will take with them not only memories of summer camp, but also a sense of connection to the distinguished Jewish history of the Lyubavitch family. The watch discovered in the ground has now become the most vivid and moving testimony to that history.