Schneerson was born on the 18th day of Nissan, 5638 (1878) in the town of Poddobryanka (near Gomel) to Rabbi Baruch Schneur and Zelda Rachel Schneerson (nee Chaikin). His great-great-grandfather was the third Chabad rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch.
Chief rabbi of Yekaterinoslav and Soviet persecution
Schneerson lived in Nikolaev until 1909, when he was appointed to serve as the Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav.[2]
In 1939 he was arrested by the communist regime for his fearless stance against the Party's efforts to eradicate Jewish learning and practice in the Soviet Union, and particularly for distributing Matzah to the Jews of Dnepropetrovsk (formerly Yekaterinoslav).[3] After more than a year of torture and interrogations in Stalin's prisons, he was sentenced to exile to a remote village Chiali in Kazakhstan. Shortly before he died, Levi Yitzchak was able to move to Almaty, where he was warmly welcomed by the small Lubavitcher community.
Death
On August 9, 1944 he died in Almaty.[4] Schneerson was buried at a cemetery in Almaty.[5] A Chabad Lubavitch synagogue named in his honor has been built near his gravesite. On August 10, 2020, his burial space was declared a Kazakh National Heritage site in cooperation with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.[6][7]
Legacy
Schneerson was a distinguished Kabbalist. Some of his writings, written on the margins of the scarce books available to him in exile, have been published in a five volume set under the name Likkutei Levi Yitschok. Most of it, however, was burned or confiscated by the Soviet authorities, and has yet to be returned to the Chabad movement.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1991, the KGB admitted that Schneerson was framed.[8][9]
Gottlieb, Naftali Tzvi. Trans. Lesches, Elchonon. "Rabbi, Mystic and Leader - the Life and Times of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson" (Kehot Publication Society; 2008) 253 pages
Schneerson, Chana. Trans. Tilles, Yerachmiel. "A Mother in Israel - the Life and Memoirs of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson" (Kehot Publication Society; 1985, 2003) 226 pages
^Miller, Chaim. Turning Judaism Outward. p. 9. So, in 1909, Reb Levik, his wife Chana and their three sons relocated to Yekaterinoslav, where Levik would commence what would be a perpetual struggle as the city's Rabbi.
Light purple indicates a Hasidic Rebbe of the Chabad-Kapust dynasty
Light orange indicates a Hasidic Rebbe of the Chabad-Niezhin dynasty
Light blue indicates a Hasidic Rebbe of the Chabad-Liadi dynasty
Light yellow indicates a Hasidic Rebbe of Avrutch dynasty
Solid lines indicate parents/children, dashed lines show marriages, dotted lines show in-laws. Additional members of Schneersohn family are not listed here
Notes:
^Founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, known as Shneur Zalman of Liady
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