Anatoly Kochanov (Naftali ben Avshalom, Cohen)
Part 3, October 2024, Exodus Issue 264
OUR VISIT TO HADITCH
Fifteen years ago, on a rainy summer day, my wife and I travelled to Kyiv. We were invited to the Bat Mitzvah celebration of a girl from a well-known and wealthy Jewish family from Ukraine. Numerous guests gathered for the celebration, including the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman. The famous Lubavitch Chassid, Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan, also attended. The celebration ended with a beautiful ceremony, during which the Bar Mitzvah girl delivered a speech extolling the beauty of the modesty of a Jewish woman and how she is rewarded in her life for modesty and good deeds.
The next day, Rabbi Moshe Azman took us to the Brodsky Choral Synagogue. The synagogue was built in the center of Kyiv, on Shota Rustaveli Street. On August 4, 1898, on the birthday of Lev Izrailevich Brodsky, with whose money it was built, the synagogue opened its doors. It is a very beautiful building in the neo-Moorish style. However, like most religious institutions in the USSR, the synagogue was closed in 1926. The premises were used in different ways. First, a craftsmen's club was opened there, then a puppet theater, and in the 1970s, the building was completely rebuilt. The historical style was lost, religious symbols were removed and destroyed. Only in December 1992 were services resumed in the synagogue. For three years, with funds from European philanthropists, work was carried out to restore the building. The synagogue was officially re-opened after restoration in 2000.
Entering the magnificently restored building, we were amazed at how carefully the synagogue had been recreated. The visit evoked a feeling of deep awe in us, traditional people. Rabbi Azman and Rabbi Kogan led us and the other Jews present in the afternoon mincha prayer.
The next day, another significant event awaited us. The Bat Mitzvah girl's father organized a visit for all the guests to Haditch – the place where, at the end of Shabbat, 24 Tevet 5573 (December 27, 1812), the First Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liady, returned his soul to the Creator. He was buried here.
The Alter Rebbe brought the Chassidic teachings to the broad masses of Jewry and founded a new path of study called Chabad. The Alter Rebbe is an infinitely holy man and one of the disciples of the founders of the Chassidic movement, the Baal Shem Tov (Besht). He was born in the town of Liozna, south of Vitebsk, on the same day of the year as the Besht himself, only in a different year. In his native town, the Alter Rebbe completed work on the book “Tanya,” in which he outlined the foundations of the philosophy of Chassidic thought. The book describes the spiritual aspects of the structure of the world, the purpose of its creation, and man's service to the Creator.
In 1798, the Alter Rebbe was arrested on a false accusation and spent 53 days in captivity in the Peter and Paul Fortress. During his imprisonment, Tsar Paul I, seeking to meet the “Jewish sage who was attempting to usurp his power,” visited him incognito. Rabbi Shneur Zalman’s clear answers to the investigative commission’s questions convinced everyone of his complete innocence, and he was released by an emergency decree of the Tsar. This happened on the 19th of Kislev, which has since been celebrated as the “New Year of Chassidism.”
Haditch is a small Ukrainian town in the Poltava region, located 274 km from Kyiv. In the 19th century, more than 24% of its population was Jewish. Nowadays, a comfortable tourist bus took our group to their destination in three hours. We stopped at a parking lot by the highway, and our entire group went out onto the road. It had recently rained, it was damp, the sky was covered with heavy clouds. In front of us on the hillside were the remains of an old Jewish cemetery, seemingly unchanged for two hundred years. Clearings with slender birch trees descended to the banks of the quiet Psel River. Below, slightly to the right, was a tomb of darkened red brick, and behind the building were tall bushes. This is the grave of the Alter Rebbe - Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.
We walked together down the path, following Rabbis Azman and Kogan. Some of the group went straight to the tomb, but Rabbi Isaac Kogan and I were not allowed to go down to the tomb, since we are Cohens and are forbidden to visit cemeteries. Rabbi Kogan explained to me the laws related to the Cohens' observance of the principles of preserving spiritual purity, and helped me carry out certain halachic procedures stipulated by the code of Jewish laws, the Shulchan Aruch.
The entire group gathered inside the tomb. Women wrote notes with requests to the Alter Rebbe to place on the grave. Men read Tehilim - Psalms, and the rabbis prayed. It is difficult to describe and convey the feeling of purity and spirituality that is felt near the grave of a righteous man of the Alter Rebbe’s stature.
After visiting the holy burial place of the Alter Rebbe, our group left the building and, climbing the slope, headed back to the parking lot. We walked in silence, all in a deep spiritual aura from the visit to the grave of the Alter Rebbe. Then, also silently, we boarded the bus and travelled to Kyiv.
