Monday, the twentieth of Av (August 7) will be the 79th yahrzeit, of the Rebbe’s father, the gaon, chassid and mekubal Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, nishmoso Eden.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok was born in 1878, on the 18th of Nissan, in the town of Podobrankah (near Gomel), to Rabbi Baruch Schneur and Rebbetzin Zelda Rachel Schneerson. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was the oldest of four children: two brothers, Rabbi Shmuel and Rabbi Shalom Shlomo, and one sister, Rebbetzin Rada Sima. His father, Rabbi Baruch Schneur, was the son of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, Rav of Podobranka, son of Rabbi Boruch Sholom, the oldest son of the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Tzemach Tzedek.
As a small child, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak showed signs of being a prodigy, as the Rebbe Rayatz (Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak), the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe,would later write, “Already from a young age, his extraordinary talents were discovered.” He mastered Kabbalah, Talmud, and chassidic philosophy and was ordained by the leading Torah authorities of his time, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk and Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Meizel of Lodz.
In 1900, at the age of 22, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, who had already become renowned as a kabbalist and halachic scholar, married Rebbetzin Chana Yanovsky. The daughter of Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, the Rabbi of Nikolayev and a chassid of the Rebbe Maharash, the young Rebbetzin Chana was known as a scholar in her own right. Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, had suggested the shidduch. The wedding took place on the 11th of Sivan in Nikolayev, where Rabbi Levi Yitzchok and Rebbetzin Chana would remain for almost a decade.
Rabbi of Yekatrinoslav
In 1909, at age 31, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was called upon to serve as rabbi of the Ukrainian city of Yekatrinoslav (known today as Dnepropetrovsk). The fifth Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom DovBer Schneerson, was instrumental in securing the position, and he sent letters to various community leaders.
Besides the chassidic constituency, the Jewish community of Yekatrinoslav included many Jews of different backgrounds who also held Rabbi Levi Yitzchok in high esteem. Rebbetzin Chana, who was fluent in several languages, contributed to her husband’s success and influence as Rav and communal leader.
During his years of leadership, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok resolutely engaged in religious activism, never giving in to the ever-growing anti-Jewish pressure from the Soviets. He oversaw the building of a new mikveh and clandestinely officiated at weddings and circumcisions. One area of particular note was his involvement in the production of kosher-for-Pesach matzah. As all factories in Russia were owned by the government, it was their policy that set the standard for matzah production.
Yet even the Soviets knew that for the Jews to purchase their matzah, they would require a rabbinic authority to provide halachic certification. When they turned to Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, who was renowned as the chief rabbi of a prominent city, he demanded that he be allowed to install his own rabbinic supervisors; otherwise, he could not offer certification. When they refused, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak remained steadfast. He traveled to Moscow and met with Mikhail Kalinin, then president, to explain his position. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s efforts bore fruit and the Soviets relented. The Passover matzahs would be produced under the proper rabbinic standards.
Arrest and Trial
On 9 Nissan 5699 (March 28, 1939), at three o’clock in the morning, four agents of the NKVD (precursor to the KGB) arrived at the Schneerson home on 13 Barikadna Street.
Stationing guards at each of the doors, they began to search the house. Rifling through the thousands of folios of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s written works on Kabbalah, halacha and rabbinic correspondence.
Finally, at six o’clock in the morning, after they had ended their search, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was arrested for his activities on behalf of Judaism in the Soviet Union. After more than a year of torture and interrogation in Stalin’s notorious prisons, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was tried in Moscow and sentenced to five years of exile in Central Asia. Rebbetzin Chana subsequently followed him to be with him at his remote location of exile.
(To be continued)
