Rebbetzin Chana: The Heroism of 9 Nissan and Saving the Legacy

On 9 Nissan 5699 (1939), NKVD agents burst into the home of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson — father of the future seventh Rebbe — in Dnepropetrovsk. The search lasted nine hours. Standing beside her husband throughout was Rebbetzin Chana — a woman whose heroism would forever alter the course of Jewish history.

Exile in Chiili: Ink from Berries and Herbs

After Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's arrest, he was exiled to the remote Kazakh town of Chiili. Rebbetzin Chana followed her husband, leaving everything behind to be at his side. In exile, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak continued recording profound Chassidic teachings, but he had no ink. So Rebbetzin Chana began making ink with her own hands — from wild berries and herbs she gathered on the steppe. Every drop of that ink was an act of mesirus nefesh — self-sacrifice for the preservation of Torah.

Her Husband's Death and an Impossible Mission

On 20 Av 5704 (1944), Rabbi Levi Yitzchak passed away in Alma-Ata, his health broken by years of exile. But Rebbetzin Chana did not break. She took upon herself a seemingly impossible mission: to preserve and secretly smuggle her husband's manuscripts out of the USSR — a priceless heritage of Chassidic thought.

Saving the Manuscripts

With incredible courage and ingenuity, Rebbetzin Chana organized the clandestine removal of the manuscripts from the Soviet Union. These writings, penned in ink made from berries, were subsequently published as "Likkutei Levi Yitzchak" and became one of the most important sources of Chassidic Kabbalistic thought. Thanks to the bravery of one woman, an entire spiritual legacy was saved from destruction and transmitted to future generations.