Many people have heard the name of the boy genius Bobby Fischer who dominated chess tournaments in the 1950s and 60s. Far less people know about his highly tumultuous relationship with his own Jewish identity. In his weekly parsha class, Rabbi Shais Taub, scholar-in-residence at Chabad of the Five Towns, begins by reading a letter that Fischer wrote denouncing his own Jewishness. It would seem that such a Jew would be similar to the four fifths of the Jewish people who refused to leave Egypt. Based on the Rebbe’s sicha from Likkutei Sichos (vol. 11, p.1) Rabbi Taub explains why even such Jews will be redeemed by Moshiach.
