Chof Av — Yahrzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson
Hebrew: כ׳ אב | When: 20 Av | Year of passing: 5704 / 1944
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson was the father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson) and one of the greatest Torah scholars and Kabbalists of his generation. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk (Yekatrinoslav), Ukraine — a position he held with great mes’rus nefesh throughout the Soviet era, when rabbinic activity was systematically suppressed and criminalized.
The Arrest and Exile
In 5699/1939, Soviet authorities arrested Rabbi Levi Yitzchak on charges of counter-revolutionary religious activity. He was subjected to brutal interrogation and ultimately exiled to Chi’ili, a remote village in Kazakhstan. He arrived there broken in body but not in spirit. In exile, with no seforim, no congregation, and extreme poverty, he continued to write — composing Kabbalistic and Chassidic Torah insights on whatever scraps of paper he could find.
These writings, compiled after his death, became Likkutei Levi Yitzchak — a work of remarkable depth that shows his mastery of pnimiyut haTorah under the most adverse conditions imaginable.
His Passing
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak passed away in Chi’ili on 20 Av, 5704 (1944) — never freed, never permitted to return to his family or community. He died in exile. His wife, Rebbetzin Chana, managed to smuggle the manuscripts of his Torah thoughts out of the Soviet Union, hidden in jars of jam, preserving them for posterity.
The Rebbe’s Deep Bond
The Rebbe spoke of his father with the deepest reverence. He would often cite Likkutei Levi Yitzchak in his sichos and ma’amarim. The Rebbe observed that his father’s suffering — and the suffering of Rebbetzin Chana — was a form of korban (sacrifice) for the Jewish people. He would go to the mikveh on the eve of Chof Av and observe the day with heightened intensity.
The Rebbe published his father’s writings and actively promoted their study. There is a quality of kibbud av (honoring one’s father) that pervades the Rebbe’s entire relationship to this legacy — not merely private sentiment, but public Torah honor.
The Teaching of Suffering Sanctified
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak’s life is a model of what it means to find G-d in the darkest place. In exile, without resources, he wrote Torah. This echoes the teaching that the Shechinah goes with Israel into exile — that the divine presence accompanies suffering when that suffering is accepted with faith.