Hundreds Expected in Alma Ata for 80th Yahrtzeit

This Shabbos, 20th of Menachem Av, will mark eighty years since the passing of Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn, the Rebbe’s father. In the city of Alma-Ata, preparations are being completed to host large crowds.

This Shabbos, 20th of Menachem Av, will mark eighty years since the passing of Harav Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn. In the city of Alma-Ata, preparations are being completed to host large crowds.

R’ Levi Yitzchak was imprisoned after the communist revolution, but he continued to fight with his complete body and soul for the observance of the Torah despite the prohibition imposed by the authorities. He was exiled to the country of Kazakhstan, where his great soul ascended to the heavens, leaving behind him a large blessing of manuscripts, full of deep and wide secrets in Kabala that to this day open further and unlock more secrets, revealing the most wonderful Torah innovations.

On the night following the 9th of Av, exactly forty years ago, the Rebbe wrote, “I feel a great obligation to offer and ask everyone to study in groups from his Torah, and to donate daily for the sake of his soul.” Indeed, over the years, many institutions and foundations for education, Torah, and kindness, were established in his honor and great merit. The wonderful emotional connection between the father and his eldest son, can be seen among the letters that remain, from which emerges a supreme connection between two pure and holy Tzadikim, discussing all areas of Torah and Chasidus.

Harav Levi Yitzchok, who is the fifth generation from the Tzemach Zedek, served in the rabbinate in many cities. When he was still very young, he served in the city of Nikolayev until the proposal of the Rebbe Rashab to appoint him as the rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipro). In every place he was, he did great things. His wife, Rebbetzin Chana AH, stood with him with great dedication in those difficult and bitter years.

In the city of Alma Ata, close to and visible to the holy building over his grave, magnificent institutions of Torah and education operate under the emissary and chief rabbi to Kazakhstan, Rabbi Yeshaya Cohen and many other shluchim in the major cities of the country, and together with the organizing committee, the many preparations are being completed these days to receive the great crowds who will come from all over the world for the 80th anniversary of his passing.

A large Shabbos gathering will be held in one of the largest hotel buildings in the city, and individual groups will be dedicated to education for the hundreds of shluchim who will come from all the CIS countries for three days of gathering in a lofty and uplifting atmosphere. That includes hundreds of Russian shluchim led by the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, and with the participation of educators, mashpi’im, and many guests, including the philanthropist, R’ Israel Avraham Shaulzon, who has spread his patronage over the gathering, along with his great support over many years for the holding of the anniversary day events at Alma Ata.

And at the initiative of the Chief Rabbi of Russia a group selected from Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim in Moscow, which has been preparing for several months, will be holding a Yeshiva for a week, studying Torah and especially the Torah of R’ Levi Yitzchak, and will join on Shabbos near the ohel, with the support of the R’ Yehuda Davidov of Moscow.

In the photo: Rabbi Levy Yitzchak Scheersohn’s burial place in the city of Alma Ata in Kazakhstan