Founder
Levi-Itzhak Shneerson was the chief rabbi of the city and spiritual leader of the Jews in Yekaterinoslav-Dnepropetrovsk from 1909 to 1939. Levi-Itzhak Zalmanovich Shneerson was born on 18 Nisan 5638 (1878) in the village of Poddobryanka near Gomel. His lineage goes back to the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, Tzemach Tzedek. Levi-Itzhak began to study Torah under the guidance of Rabbi Yoel Haykin of Poddobryanka, his mother’s uncle. He quickly surpassed his teacher and continued his study of the sacred texts on his own. The Rebbe Rayatz wrote that “already from an early age Levi Yitzchak was characterized by extraordinary ability and diligence.” He received his rabbinic certification (smicha) from the greatest authorities of the time: Rabbi Eliyahu-Chaim Maisel of Lodz and Rabbi Chaim of Brest.
In 1900, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak married Chana, the daughter of Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky. The Fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe Sholom Dov-Ber Schneerson married them. After the wedding, the young couple moved to Nikolaev, where Hana’s father was a rabbi. In Nikolaev on 11 Nisan 5662 (April 18, 1902), a son Menachem-Mendl was born to Levi Yitzhak and Hana. Later the family had two more children, Dov-Ber and Yisrael-Aryeh-Leib.
In 1907, R. Levi Yitzhak’s family moved to Yekaterinoslav. They settled on the second floor of house No. 20 on Zheleznaya (European) Street. Then, in 1928-1934 they lived in house No. 15 at the corner of Zheleznaya and Upornaya ( Glinka – ul. Queen Elizabeth II ). And their last apartment was on ul. Barrikadnaya, 13.
In 1909, at the age of 31, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak was invited to serve as rabbi of the community of Yekaterinoslav. According to the recollections of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak’s wife, his election did not go smoothly. The young rabbi was opposed by the local intelligentsia, who wanted to see a less orthodox person as the spiritual leader of the community. They appealed to the most authoritative person in the city, engineer Sergei Pavlovich Paley, one of the leaders of the city’s Zionist organization, with a request that he use his influence to prevent the election of a Hasid from the Shneerson dynasty to the post of rabbi. Paley said that he did not like to go to anyone’s head. He decided to get to know the candidate himself and went to Rabbi Levi Yitzhak. They talked for six hours straight, and after the conversation Paley became one of the new rabbi’s most ardent supporters.
By 1925, the authority of the Ekaterinoslav rabbi had grown so much that he was offered to become rabbi of the community in Jerusalem. But he remained in Ekaterinoslav. A distinctive feature of R. Levy-Itzhak’s activity was the organization of aid to the needy. During the Beilis affair, he participated in the creation of a fund to pay lawyers. With the outbreak of World War I, together with Rebetzn Hanoi, he organized aid to refugees.
The young Menachem-Mendl’s teacher in Yekaterinoslav, besides his father, was Shneur-Zalman Vilenkin. In the mid-twenties Menachem-Mendl moved to Leningrad and in 1927 left the USSR together with the family of the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef-Itzhak Schneerson. In 1929 in Warsaw, he married the Rebbe’s daughter Chaya Mushka. Congratulating his son on his marriage, R. Levi Yitzchak wrote: “From the very depths of my heart I bless you, my son, my joy, on your marriage to Haya-Mushka. In good time. And may the G-d of our holy ancestors, through whose merit we act and live, spread over your home a veil of peace and prosperity, so that it will stand firm. Enjoy happiness with the woman you love in both the simplest and deepest sense. May the merits of your common ancestor Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek and his wife, whose names are the same as yours and your wife’s, protect you always. As you walk the path of the Torah and observe its commandments, may your life be full of peace, tranquility and every good that can be sent. May you be the pride and adornment of the Jewish people…..
“Your father, who is always with you, truly with you.”
The situation in the country was difficult for Torah observant Jews. They could not work in businesses that operated on the Sabbath. The authorities did not cooperate with the believers. The situation of many families was catastrophic. Seeing this, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak organized a fund to support the needy synagogue congregants, which aroused the sharp irritation of the authorities.
A congress of Ukrainian rabbis was convened in Kharkov in order for them to make a Bolshevik-pleasing statement that there was no religious discrimination in the USSR. Levi Yitzhak refused to sign the document prepared by the organizers. Rabbi Levi-Itzhak Shneerson did a lot for the believing Jews of the city. He obtained a reception from M. I. Kalinin and received permission from him to control the kosherness of the flour for baking matzah.
Using the formal statements of the leaders of the USSR about freedom of religion and human rights, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak strongly defended the religious needs of the Jewish communities. Already in those years, Rabbi Levik became famous as a righteous man and a great Torah scholar. Stories were told about him that became legendary. For example, such as this one: once at a late hour there was a knock at the door of his house. A frightened woman stood on the threshold. “Rebbe, you must help us, my daughter is getting married. Will the new family begin without a Jewish wedding, without a chuppah.” At midnight, R. Levi Yitzchak and his wife, Rabanit Hana, invited reliable people. One more, tenth Jew was missing – because without a minyan it is not customary (although it is possible) to put on a chuppah. In the same house, one floor above, lived a Jew who was the chairman of the house committee, and at the same time an NKVD snitch assigned to R. Levik. Rabbi invited him to be the tenth! The wedding was without music, without a feast, the hupa was a tablecloth stretched over four corners. But is all this a hindrance to the real Jewish fun and the great miracle of the union of two pure Jewish souls, which no regimes and prohibitions can prevent? The family started its life according to all the rules, against all odds. Who knows how many children and grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren of this couple live near us now….
Early in the morning, even after dark, the guests began to disperse. The happy bride and groom and their mother left – seven more festive days awaited them, which they would also celebrate secretly at home. R. Levick returned to his daily duties. But who says that arranging and conducting a Jewish wedding is not a rabbi’s daily duty? This story would be incomplete without one, by no means unimportant detail.
What happened to the chairman of the house committee, the “tenth” Jew? From that very day, or rather, from that very night, he became a devoted disciple of Mr. Levik. Soon he finally returned to Jewishness and more than once helped the Rebbe by interceding for him before the authorities. Unfortunately, his intercession did not always help either. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak was eventually exiled to Kazakhstan, where he died.
In 1927, Mr. Menachem-Mendl Schneerson left Russia for good. He was never to meet his father again. His younger brother, Aryeh-Leib, lived in Leningrad for several years. In the early thirties he went to the Holy Land. Here he passed away very young (in 1952), buried r. Aryeh-Leib in the old cemetery in Safed. Little is known about the middle son of r. Levik. We only know that he was shot by the Nazis together with the Jews in a hospital in the Irgen district.
The “anti-Soviet” (or rather, Jewish) activities of R. Levi Yitzhak could not but incur the wrath of the NKVD. Levi Yitzhak could not but incur the wrath of the NKVD. In 1939, a census was conducted in the USSR. In the questionnaire it was necessary to indicate whether a person was a believer or a non-believer. Many were afraid to tell the truth and wrote “no”. When Rabbi Levi Yitzhak learned about it, he made a fiery speech in the synagogue, saying that Jews should never hide their faith in the One God. Levi-Itzhak Shneerson was summoned by the head of the NKVD of the city to confirm that there was no discrimination against believers. The rabbi refused to lie, and on March 28, 1939, the following decision appeared:
“Approve” head of the NKVD Department of the Ukrainian SSR in the Dnepropetrovsk region Lieutenant of State Security (Komarovsky) March “28” 1939
DECLARATION
г. Dnepropetrovsk, March “28” day, 1939. Head of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Division of the 2nd Department of the UGB of the NKVD Administration in Dnepropetrovsk region – Lieutenant of State Security – PIVAK, having considered the operational materials on the chief Dnepropetrovsk rabbi Shneerson Levik Zalmanovich,
RELATED:
Under the guise of religious activity, Shneerson L.Z. conducts active anti-Soviet agitation of a slanderous and defeatist nature. Having a regular connection with his son, the chief rabbi of Warsaw, who is a major agent of Polish intelligence, as well as with his close relative, the chief rabbi of Riga, Shneerson carries out organizational activities to build up the cadres of the anti-Soviet clerical underground. Suspicious of espionage. Shneerson uses the right of weekly sermon in the synagogue to slander the Soviet power and its leaders. On a large scale he organizes material aid to repressed enemies and their families.
Based on the above and taking into account the proposals of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR to arrest Shneerson.
ORDERED.
SHNEERSON Levik Zalmanovich, born in 1878, a Jew, non-partisan, a religious worker by profession, chief rabbi of the city of Dnepropetrovsk. To subject him to arrest, having instituted criminal prosecution under Article 54-10, Part II. Lieutenant of State Security (Pivak) “Agreed” Head of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Division of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Division of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Department of the 2nd Department of the UNKVD State Security Lieutenant (Sapozhnikov).
At 3 a.m. on March 29, NKVD officers searched house No. 13 on Barrikadnaya Street and took away the manuscripts and books of the arrested rabbi. His interrogations led to nothing. The prisoner was transferred to Kiev, but the investigators in the capital were powerless. And L.-I. Shneerson was returned to Dnepropetrovsk. The arrest of the rabbi shocked the citizens of the city, the members of the synagogue board Lyakhov and Shifrin died suddenly. On May 14 the synagogue workers Abram Samoilovich Rogalin, Shlema Vulfovich Moskalik and David Mordukhovich Perkas were arrested. David Perkas stated: “Europe will not leave the arrest of Shneerson like that, he is a very prominent figure…”.
But the hope for Europe was in vain. The investigation was tightened, the accomplices were interrogated by the deputy head of the investigative unit, Chulkov. Colleagues called him “Grozny”. Under torture Rogalin and Moskalik signed their “confessions”. Afterwards Rogalin stated that he did not control himself at that moment. Abram Samoilovich Rogalin’s appeal to the authorities testifies about the methods of investigation: “On May 14, 1939 I was arrested in Dnepropetrovsk, where I permanently lived and worked. By the decision of the Special Council of November 23, 39, I was deported for 5 years to the Kazakh SSR as socially dangerous.
After my arrest in the NKVD prison in Dnepropetrovsk, where I was held, I was asked to sign that I was a member of a religious underground organization that acted to undermine Soviet power. In Dnepropetrovsk, where I was held, I was offered to sign that I was a member of a religious underground organization which acted to undermine Soviet power. The testimony offered to me to sign was made up with the statement that our newspapers wrote untruths about the Spanish war, about China, that under Soviet rule it was worse for the Jews to live and better abroad, that we had nothing in the USSR, there were long lines everywhere, etc. In order to force me to sign the lies offered to me, I was cruelly tortured, kept in the investigator’s office, absolutely prevented from sleeping, eating, drinking, not allowed to use the restroom.
Investigator Starchy would put a bottle over my head and threaten me, set fire to my hair with a burning candle, scold me with all sorts of shameful words, etc. Senior investigator Chulkov constantly gave instructions to the investigators who were torturing me to abuse me, to exhaust my guts, my soul, to break my ribs, to torture me until I signed everything. Exhausted by such methods to the point of unconsciousness, not owning myself, I signed everything they offered me….
What happened to me, I don’t understand. Why did it happen? Who needed it? For what purpose? Everything that was presented to me, which I was forced to sign, was a complete lie, slander, injustice. I have never been a member of any organizations, I have never harbored any hostile malice towards the Soviet power. I am already an old man – I am 61 years old, now I am quite bad, torn away from my family, I am in terrible material and moral conditions, deprived of everything human, I am in filth, I am starving. Why do I have to bear this injustice? Please take measures to restore my truth.
A.S.Rogalin, 29.1.1941″.
On August 11, the head of the UNKVD in Dnepropetrovsk region, Lieutenant of State Security Sedov, approved “the indictment on the investigation case No. 103129 on the charges of Shneerson Leivik Zalmanovich, Rogalin Abram Samoilovich, Moskalik Shlema Vulfovich, Perkas David Mordukhovich under Articles 54-10 4.2 and 54-11 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR”. It stated that the anti-Soviet activities of Rogalin, Moskalik and Perkas were carried out on direct assignments from Schneerson. A few days later, the rabbi was acquainted with the charges, and was accused of having links with “the Jewish clerical community abroad,” founding a network of illegal cash offices to help relatives of repressed Jews, and conducting anti-Soviet propaganda in the synagogue and at home under the guise of religious ceremonies. The case was transferred to Kiev, where it was concluded that “the materials collected for the hearing of the case in open court were insufficient”. However, taking into account the social danger of the accused, it was recommended to send the case to the Special Council of the NKVD of the USSR for consideration; it was also taken into account that the case materials “contain data that cannot be used in a court hearing”.
On November 23, 1939, L.-I. Schneerson and others were sentenced by the Special Council to five years’ exile in Kazakhstan. Repeated appeals to the authorities by relatives of the condemned, citing poor health and intolerable living conditions, went unanswered. One of L.-I. Schneerson’s applications to L. Beria was also considered by the Special Consultation on May 14, 1941, and a review of the decision was refused. In this statement he wrote: “I am an old man, 70 years old, sick …. Do I have to suffer innocently for the rest of my life … All my life I have served the Torah.” R. Levi Yitzhak served his exile in the station settlement of Chili of the Tashkent railroad, located 128 kilometers from the city of Kyzyl-Orda. He arrived in Chili in the winter of 1940. The living conditions in Chili of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak and Rebetzn Hana Shneerson are evidenced by the rabbi’s letter to his children, written on March 11, 1943: “My dear beloved children! A few weeks ago I wrote to you. Without waiting for your letter, I am writing again. I have been living here for about 4 years now, and my mother came to me 2 years ago for Easter….. All our possessions: blankets and the like, were left at home, and we are without anything, without means of subsistence. We are alive, thank God, but our health is very poor and we are often sick. Oh! How we would like to be near our children in our old age, but we are among strangers, we have no acquaintances. I ask you to write to us immediately on receipt of this letter about your health and how you are living, and also to send us parcels: clothing parcels – underwear and warm underwear, cuts for suits, also boots – for me (No. 43) and my mother (No. 38) and the like, as well as food parcels.
We look forward to your letter. A big kiss, your father Leivick.
Hi from mom. She will also write in the next letter.” Rebetzn Hana did everything she could to enable her husband to live and work in these conditions. There was no ink or paper – so she prepared ink from herbs, and for paper she gave the most necessary things. Thanks to this, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was able to continue his brilliant commentary on the Torah – “Likutei”. During these difficult years, R. Levik wrote a series of books that were later published: “Likutei Levi Yitzchak” – commentaries on the books “Taniyah” and “Zo ѓap”, “Torat-Levi Yitzchak” – commentaries on the Talmud.
After Levi Yitzhak’s death, the faithful Hana did everything to preserve and transport his writings to America. In one of his articles upon his arrival in Dnepropetrovsk, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky wrote: “Perhaps now everything seems simple and ordinary. But at that time it was heroism. In doing so, she did more than a rabbi’s wife, and her deed should serve as a model for all women of selflessness and devotion to the Great Cause. Today is not the time, nor is such self-denial required of us. The life and deeds of the remarkable Rebetzna Hana, whose death anniversary is on the 6th of Tishrei, continue to serve as an example: how in the most difficult and complex situations one should not lose heart and should not give up…. Hana’s name contains the first letters of three mitzvos that are essential to family life. A great woman carried this name with honor. We will always remember her.” In April 1944, the rabbi and his wife were allowed to move to Alma-Ata. There were many Hasidim there, and on the first Sabbath the rabbi prayed in a minyan on the outskirts of the city. The harsh living conditions in exile made themselves felt. His old illnesses worsened. On the night of 20 Av 1944, he woke up and asked for water to wash his hands. When the water was brought, he said: “We have to get to the other side.” Those were his last words. He died on the 20th day of the month of Menachem-Av in the year 5704 (1944) in Alma-Ata and was buried there in the local Jewish cemetery.
His grave in the Jewish cemetery in Alma-Ata became a place of veneration. R. Levi-Itzhak Shneerson was rehabilitated in 1989. In 1995, a three-volume biography of Levi Yitzhak was published in the United States and Israel.
