The following is excerpted from Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskala Movement, by Joseph Schneersohn, circa 1962, page 10.
Confined to the Pale of Settlement and subject to forced military conscription from the age of seven, the Jews of 19th century Russia were barred from various trades and occupations and subject to countless official and unofficial persecutions. Yet they were allowed, and at times even encouraged, to establish agricultural settlements in cerytain districts of Southern Russia.
A cache of records recently discovered in St. Petersburg's Russian State Historical Archive detail the founding of one such storied settlement, Schedrin (Щедрин), which lies a little to the southeast of Babruysk, Belarus. The discovery was made through the research of Jewish Educational Media, and published in a new volume of the Tzemach Tzedek's correspondence (Igrot Kodesh Admur Hatzemach Tzedek, Kehot Publication Society 2013) by Rabbi DovBer Levin, head librarian of the Central Library of Chabad-Lubavitch in New York.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel [Schneerson] was systematic and an excellent organizer. It was his policy to carry on all his communal activities covertly; only those directly involved were aware of his work. For example, when the Conscription Laws were applied to Jewish youths in 1827, Rabbi Menachem Mendel arranged to have people at the conscripts assembly points, to care for the spiritual needs of the recruits, to encourage them. and inspire them to observance of Judaism, and to resist the blandishmens of conversion they would soon face.
He was deeply interested in the material welfare of his people, and encouraged his followers to engage in agriculture; assisting them financially when necessary. Because of the difficulties resulting from official restrictions on Jews, he decided to purchase a large tract of land in the Pale of Settlement, in Minsk province, where Jewish families could settle near existing Jewish communities.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel purchased the 17.5 square kilometer estate of Schedrin in 1846. He purchased some 3,600 desiaten (about 9,700 acres) of forest and farm land laced with brooks, from Prince Schtzedrinov, in Minsk. He settled sixty Jewish families on the land, provided them with building materials and other necessary equipment, and ceded them each a rent-free agricultural allotment for a period of 25 years. Every family received enough land for a home and farm buildings, and several acres for cultivation and pasture, besides farm equipment. Some 1,700 desiaten were thus distributed.
The people of Schedrin had to work hard to make ends meet. Not all were content with lowly agricultural labor. Some found a more lucrative source of income in the large lumber business run by the wealthy Golodetz family, whose patriarch Chaim purchased part of the Schedrin estate from Rabbi Menachem Mendel in 1865. 1,800 desiaten of forest were sold to Efraim Holodetz of Bobruisk. A condition of the sale being that lumber be supplied for homes and stables for the colonists.
The settlers were granted special government privileges, among them a long term loan of 200 rubles, by the Provincial treasury, to be repaid with farm produce. The settlers prospered and were soon able to devote several periods of the year to Torah study. The purchase money paid by Holodetz was used to defray the expenses and debts of colonization. Part of the down-payment was sent by the Rabbi to the Holy Land, and the rest contributed to his regular Charity Fund.
The establishment of the Schtzedrin colony impressed Russian Jewry and Government officials alike. The Governors of Minsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev provinces wrote laudatory letters to the Minister of the Interior in regard to the officially sanctioned colony. The Governor of Minsk noted the beneficial effects of the colony in diverting Jews from unstable and insecure petty trading activities.
Though not relevant to Schedrin, the conclusion of this section in Rabbi Schneerson's account is as follows:
He noted that Rabbi Schneersohn of Lubavitch had considerable influence over all segments of Russian Jewry, including former Misnagdim and Chassidim of Vohyln and Poland. They recognized and appreciated his activities on their behalf, not excluding their material welfare, as exemplified in the establishment of the new colony in Minsk Province.
The Governor of Vitebsk, too, notified the Minister of the official registration of "Rabbi Mendel Schachnovitch Schneersohn, son-in-law of Rabbi (Dov-Ber) Schneuri of Lubavitch, grandson of Rabbi (Schneur Zalman) Baruchovitch of Liadi as a citizen of Vitebsk. He described the Rabbi's conduct as faultless, and also remarked upon his influence among the Jews who consulted him regarding their material problems.