Levi Yitzchak Schneerson

19th Century Rabbi

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson

Born	April 21, 1878 Podrovnah, Mogilev Governorate, Russia
Died	August 9, 1944(1944-08-09) (aged 66) Almaty, Kazakh SSR, USSR
Occupation(s)	Chief Rabbi of Yekatrinoslav, Russia
Known for	Likkutei Levi Yitzchak on Kabbalah and Chabad philosophy
Spouse	Chana Schneerson
Children	Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson Yisroel Aryeh Leib Schneerson Dovber Schneerson

Chabad (Rebbes and Chasidim)
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Rebbes of Chabad Shneur Zalman of Liadi (Alter Rebbe) Dovber Schneuri (Mitteler Rebbe) Menachem M. Schneersohn (Tzemach Tzedek) Shmuel Schneersohn (Rebbe Maharash) Sholom Dovber Schneersohn (Rebbe Rashab) Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (Rebbe Rayatz) Menachem M. Schneerson (the Rebbe)
Schneersohn family Chaim S. Z. of Liadi (1814–1880) Yitzchak Dovber of Liadi (1833–1910) Chana Schneerson (1880–1964) Chaya M. Schneersohn (d. 1860) Chaya M. Schneerson (1901–1988) Levi Y. Schneerson (1878–1944) Moshe Schneersohn (ca. 1784–before 1853) Sheina Horenstein (d. 1942) Shlomo Zalman Schneersohn (1830–1900) Shmaryahu Noah Schneersohn (1842–1924) Yehuda Leib Schneersohn (1808–1866)
Rabbonim Avraham Osdoba Chaim Gutnick Avraham Chaim Naeh Meir Ashkenazi Mordechai Ashkenazi Mordechai Gutnick Moshe Gutnick Pinhas Hirschprung Shneur Z. Fradkin Yaakov Schwei Yehuda K. Marlow Abraham Hecht Yitzchak Hendel Yosef Heller Yosef Y. Braun Zalman Dworkin Zelig Sharfstein Shmuel L. Medalia Shmarya Y. L. Medalia Sholom Rivkin
Mashpiim and scholars Aaron of Staroselye Herman Branover Yehuda Chitrik Manis Friedman Mendel Futerfas Yitzchak Ginsburgh Menachem Z. Greenglass Moshe Gutnick Moshe Havlin Zalman M. HaYitzchaki Aizel Homiler Simon Jacobson Yisroel Jacobson Yosef Y. Jacobson Yoel Kahn Abraham Y. Khein Yehoshua Mondshine Avraham C. Naeh Nissan Neminov Hillel Paritcher Ezra Schochet Adin Steinsaltz Shais Taub Shlomo Y. Zevin
Mazkirus and other leaders Leib Groner Jacob J. Hecht Chaim M. A. Hodakov Yehuda Krinsky Nissan Mindel Dovid Raskin Abraham Shemtov
Shluchim Menachem Brod Azriel Chaikin Shlomo Cunin Pinchus Feldman Gershon Garelik Yitzchok D. Groner Hanoch Hecht Gavriel Holtzberg Berel Lazar Shimon Lazaroff Chezki Lifshitz David Masinter Zalman I. Posner Menachem S. D. Raichik Aaron Raskin Arie Z. Raskin Shlomo Sawilowsky Mordechai Scheiner Abraham Shemtov Levi Shemtov Yehudah Teichtal Simcha Weinstein Manis Friedman
Other notable figures Shmuley Boteach Avraham Fried Benny Friedman Aharon Gurevich Joseph Gutnick Moshe Hecht Shea Hecht Bernard Levy Hendel Lieberman Michoel Muchnik Mendy Pellin Zvi Yair
Controversies Chabad messianism Chabad offshoot groups Barry Gurary Public menorah The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference
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v t e

Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (April 21, 1878 – August 9, 1944) was a Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi in Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine. He was the father of the seventh Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Early life

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.

In 1900, Schneerson married Chana Yanovsky, whose father, Rabbi Meir Shlomo Yanovsky, was the rabbi of the Ukrainian city of Nikolaiev. In 1902, their eldest son, Menachem Mendel, who become the rebbe of Lubavitch, was born.^[1]

Chief rabbi of Yekatrinoslav and Soviet persecution

Schneerson lived in Nikolaiev 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]

In December 1999 the then President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev gave the complete KGB files on Schneerson to a group of Chabad Chassidim in New York City, and are now housed in the Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad.^[10]

External links

Family Tree with Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's biography on Chabad-Lubavitch Kazakhstan
Select teachings of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson translated into English
Life and times of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson on Chabad.org

References

^ "Biography of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson". Chabad.org.
^ 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.
^ "Is matzah the key to Soviet Jews survival". Jweekly. 11 April 1997. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
^ "Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878–1944) The life and legacy of the Rebbe’s father" chabad.org.
^ Himmelman, Khaya (1 June 2020). "Post-Soviet immigration strengthens Kazakhstan's Jewish community". eurasianet. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
^ Lipshiz, Cnaan (10 August 2020). "Kazakhstan adds Chabad leader's grave to its list of national heritage sites". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
^ "Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson's Grave Declared Heritage Site". Chabad.org. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
^ Cooperman, Alan (9 August 1991). "Jewish Leader Vindicated 47 Years After His Death in the Gulag". Associated Press. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
^ Margolin, Dovid. "The KGB's Belated Apology for the Persecution and Death of the Rebbe's Father". Chabad.org. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
^ Mosconi, Angela (20 December 1999). "KGB FILES ON RABBI GIVEN TO BROOKLYN JEWS". NY Post. Retrieved 10 August 2020.

Schneersohn family tree

Shneur Zalman^[i]
(1745–1812)

Shterna

Shalom Shachna^[ii]

Devorah Leah
(d. 1792)

Dovber^[iii]
(1773–1827)

Sheina

Menachem Mendel^[iv]
(1789–1866)

Chaya Mushka
(d. 1860)

Baruch Shalom
(1805–1869)

Shmuel^[v]
(1834–1882)

Yosef Yizchak^[vi]
(1822–1876)

Yisroel Noah^[vii]
(1815–1883)

Chaim Schneur Zalman^[viii]
(d. 1879)

Yehuda Leib^[ix]
(1811–1866)

Levi Yitzchak
(1834–1878)

Shalom Dovber^[x]
(1860–1920)

Shterna Sara
(1860–1942)

Avraham
(1860–1937)

Yitzchak Dovber^[xi]
(1833–1910)

Shlomo Zalman^[xii]
(1830–1900)

Shalom Dovber^[xiii]
(d. 1908)

Shmaryahu Noah^[xiv]
(1842–1924)

Baruch Schneur
(d. 1926)

Yosef Yitzchak^[xv]
(1880–1950)

Nechama Dina
(1881–1971)

Levi Yitzchak^[xvi]
(d. 1904)

Levi Yitzchak
(1878–1944)

Chana
(1880–1964)

Menachem Mendel^[xvii]
(1902–1994)

Chaya Mushka
(1901–1988)

Light green indicates a Hasidic Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty

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
^ Surname Altschuler
^ 2nd Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, known as Dovber Schneuri and the Middle Rebbe
^ 3rd Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, known as Tzemach Tzedek, first to assume the surname "Schneersohn"
^ 4th Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, known as Maharash
^ Rebbe in Avrutch
^ 1st Rebbe of Chabad-Niezhin
^ 1st Rebbe of Chabad-Liadi
^ 1st Rebbe of Chabad-Kapust, known as Maharil of Kapust
^ 5th Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, known as Rashab
^ 2nd Rebbe of Chabad-Liadi, known as Maharid
^ 2rd Rebbe of Chabad-Kapust
^ 3rd Rebbe of Chabad-Kapust, known as Rashab of Rechitsa
^ 4th Rebbe of Chabad-Kapust
^ 6th Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, known as Rayatz
^ 3rd Rebbe of Chabad-Liadi, Levi Yitzchak Guterman, son-in-law of Chaim Schneur Zalman Schneersohn
^ 7th Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch, uses the spelling of "Schneerson"

References:

Schneersohn, Yosef Yitzchak; Schneerson, Menachem Mendel (2005). Hayom Yom: Bilingual Edition. Brooklyn, NY: Kehot Publication Society. ISBN 0-8266-0669-5.

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