More than 1,000 local residents and visitors from around the world gathered in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, on Monday, Aug. 7, to mark the 79th anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, and to honor his legacy. Today, his resting place—declared a National Heritage Site by the Kazakhstan government in 2020—is a focal point of local Jewry, who turn to him in good times and difficult times.
In honor of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s self-sacrifice in spreading Judaism—and accompanied by Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries from throughout Kazakhstan—a local Jewish teenager underwent a brit milah, or ritual circumcision, which was performed after morning prayers. The mohel was Rabbi Elchanan Cohen, co-director of the Jewish Center Chabad-Lubavitch in Almaty.
Cohen also serves as a representative of Bris Yosef Yitzchak, which provides free circumcisions to men and boys worldwide. Next to the boy stood Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zalmanov, co-director of Chabad of Kostanay, the young man’s hometown.
The young man chose the name Chaim for himself, leading Rabbi Yeshaya Elazar Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Kazakhstan to declare: “This brit is further evidence of the continuation of Jewish chaim (‘life’) in our country. We are reaping today in joy what Rabbi Levi Yitzchak sowed in tears.”
Arrested by the Soviets for the crime of upholding Judaism and exiled from his community in Yekatrinoslav, where he served as chief rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson spent a year in Stalin’s prisons, undergoing harsh torture before being sentenced to five years of exile in Central Asia. A mystic and scholar, he wrote commentaries on Judaism’s most esoteric texts. As rabbi of a major Ukrainian city, he struggled valiantly to strengthen Judaism, in spite of Soviet intimidation.
In 1944, in the harsh conditions of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s hot summer, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s health worsened, and he passed away on 20 Av at the age of 66.
A Chassidic ‘Farbrengen’ in a Hakhel Year
A farbrengen marking the anniversary of the passing was held on the Jewish community center’s campus, which took on special significance with this being a Hakhel year, said the chief rabbi. The idea of Hakhel, a time of bringing Jewish people together for the sake of mitzvahs, was illustrated by the gathering of local Jewish children and yeshivah students from Moscow who traveled to Almaty for a musical performance at the event.
Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, head of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States—of which the rabbis of Kazakhstan, a Muslim country, are members—and Rabbi Chaim Hillel Azimov, co-director of Chabad of North Cyprus also attended the event.
Letters to the community commemorating Rabbi Levi Yitzchack’s life were sent by Rabbi Meir Porush, Israel’s Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition; Amichai Shikli, Minister of Diaspora Affairs; and Rabbi Michael Malchieli, Minister of Religious Affairs.
“Rabbi Levi Yitzchak tirelessly toiled for the spread of the light of Judaism, even under the most difficult and dangerous conditions,” wrote Porush. “His legacy continued even more strongly through the prominence of his son, the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory], who was foremost in spreading Judaism and strengthening it everywhere in the world.”
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