As World War II raged and Hitler's Final Solution for European Jewry was brutally implemented, the Jewish people desperately needed a leader- a leader of extraordinary intellect, boundless devotion to the Almighty and His people, and most of all, superhuman mesiras nefesh, self sacrifice. Out of the blazing fires of the Nazi inferno came just such a man: Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, the Klausenberger Rebbe. From a young age his diligence and accomplishments in Torah study and his outstanding character marked him for greatness. But it was in the hellfires of Auschwitz, Dachau, and the Warsaw Ghetto that the enormity of the Klausenberger Rebbe's spirit became apparent for all to see. Suffering personal loss, tragedy and brutality that would drive an ordinary person to the depths of despair, the Klausenberger Rebbe soared to immeasurable spiritual heights. Refusing to compromise his observance of mitzvos in even the slightest way, Rav Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam was a defiant inspiration to his suffering fellow Jews. With the war's end, his spirit unbroken despite his suffering, he inspired his fellow survivors, bringing hope to the hopeless and the light of faith to those whose world had been darkened.