9 Nissan: Beginning of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's Path of Suffering (5699/1939)

The NKVD Night Raid

On the night of 9 Nissan 5699 (1939), NKVD agents burst into the home of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson — the chief rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk and father of the future Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. The search lasted several hours: the entire apartment was turned upside down, and books, manuscripts, and personal correspondence were confiscated. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was arrested on charges of "counter-revolutionary activity" — the Soviet regime's classification for his tireless work in preserving Jewish religious life.

An Unbroken Spirit

During interrogations, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak displayed incredible fortitude. Despite pressure and threats, he refused to sign false confessions or name those who assisted him in underground religious activity. His "crimes" consisted of organizing secret minyanim, ensuring kosher shechita (ritual slaughter), circumcisions, and teaching children Torah — everything that had formed the foundation of Jewish life for millennia but was forbidden by the Bolshevik regime.

The Devotion of Rebbetzin Chana

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's wife, Rebbetzin Chana, showed extraordinary self-sacrifice. Every day she brought kosher food to her husband in prison, overcoming tremendous difficulties. Later, when he was sentenced to exile in Kazakhstan, she followed him, doing everything possible to ease his suffering. Even in exile, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak continued to study and teach Torah, making ink from herbs to record his chiddushim (original Torah insights). His sacrifice for the preservation of Torah became one of the most inspiring examples in the history of Chabad.