“During the interrogation, all were seen to have outstanding abilities, answering the questions like idiots who did not know a thing and did not even understand what they were asked” – a quote from the prosecution file against the members of the Tzemach Tzedek k’hilla who were arrested 84 years ago in Leningrad-Petersburg * The full story of the arrests which led to the collapse of the k’hilla.
84 years have passed since rough knocks at the door cut short the lives of the heads of the Tzemach Tzedek k’hilla in Leningrad. It was the beginning of Teves 5690/1930 when, within a few days, members of the GPU arrested R’ Shimon Lazarov, the rav of the Chabad community in Leningrad, R’ Nissan Nemanov, the menahel of the local Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim, and other askanim and talmidim of the yeshiva. Leningrad was in an uproar.
The full story of the Tzemach Tzedek k’hilla, which collapsed because of these arrests, along with the story of the arrest and exile of the members of the k’hilla, was told for the first time in a book called Toldos Chabad b’Peterburg. The book was published by Kehos at the initiative of R’ Menachem Mendel Pevsner, shliach and chief rabbi in Petersburg/Leningrad.
The author of the book, R’ Shneur Zalman Berger, known to the readers of Beis Moshiach for his historical research, toiled to locate testimony, documents, newspaper clippings, and pictures associated with the Chabad history in the capitol city of the Russian monarchy where the Rebbe Rayatz lived and was arrested.
THE REBBE OPPOSES A PUBLIC GATHERING
The members of the Yevsektzia, the Jewish department of the communist party, knew that the Rebbe Rayatz operated an underground network of chadarim and yeshivos and encouraged Soviet Jewry, and his Chassidim in particular, not to abandon Jewish tradition but to step up activities to learn Torah, build mikvaos, have minyanim, etc.
They wanted to halt the growing Jewish activities but were afraid to take the drastic step of overt action against the Rebbe out of fear that it would generate a sharp reaction on the part of Soviet Jewry or outsiders who were, in any case, protesting the abrogation of rights of Soviet citizens.
In order to intensify the pressure, the Yevsektzia acted deviously. They came up with a “rabbinic convention” whose goal was to bring important rabbis together, under government supervision, and to force them to make resolutions that would constrain the Jewish-Chassidic activities in the Soviet Union. They planned the convention clandestinely and in a devious fashion and tried to obtain the Rebbe Rayatz’s approval of it.
In midsummer 1925, the director of the Jewish community, Mr. Lev Gurewitz, went to the Rebbe to ask him about holding a public meeting of all the rabbanim and heads of communities in the Soviet Union. The Rebbe was adamantly opposed to a public meeting such as this. He said it was preferable for rabbanim and askanim to meet secretly. The Rebbe knew that the Yevsektzia was behind this initiative, which is why he opposed it even though R’ Dovid Katzenelenbogen, the rav of Leningrad, was in favor of the convention.
One of the members of the council called for making the Jewish religion more attractive to members of the Komsomol (the communist youth movement) by making religious reforms. Rumors abounded that the education committee of the Leningrad Jewish k’hilla planned on forming secret houses of worship in which they would pray from Reform siddurim and that the children’s curriculum would include the New Testament!
A few days later, another representative of the k’hilla, Mr. Shachnowitz, went to visit the Rebbe. He suggested that the Rebbe join the k’hilla with the precondition that when it came to accepting resolutions regarding religion, the Rebbe’s opinion would be taken into account. The Rebbe dismissed this suggestion too, since it was obvious to him that the plan did not seek to enhance traditional Judaism.
THE RESIGNATION
Within a short time, the difference of opinion became known and the k’hilla in Leningrad was in turmoil. Religiously observant Jews sided with the Rebbe while the Zionists and Maskilim sided with the heads of the k’hilla. There were 23 members in the leadership of the k’hilla; ten were mitzva observant. At this point, any subject that came up immediately turned into a fiery debate between the ten religious members and the thirteen who were Zionists and Maskilim. And while the thirteen publicly preached about strengthening Judaism, they secretly tried to institute far-reaching reforms.
At the end of Cheshvan 5686, the ten religious members resigned with much fanfare from the leadership of the k’hilla. On Shabbos, 5 Kislev, the ten men went to the shuls of Leningrad with each of them visiting several shuls and calling upon all those who feared G-d to come to a big meeting that would be held in the big shul on Sunday at ten in the morning.
At the appointed time, the shul was full and a representative of the ten men began to speak, his voice trembling with emotion. He said the ten had been elected by the k’hilla, but now, when the director of the k’hilla and some of the members wanted to hold a joint meeting with irreligious elements, the ten of them decided to resign.
When he finished speaking, many voices were heard in support of their decision and out of the ten who resigned, a committee for a new k’hilla was immediately elected. Money was raised and a list of regulations was drawn up which said that only those who observed mitzvos would be considered as members of the k’hilla.
R’ Shimon Lazarov, rav of the Chabad community in Leningrad, started a new, official k’hilla. Any major question regarding the k’hilla was asked of the Rebbe and every Sunday, all the gabbaim of the Chassidishe minyanim throughout the city met in the beis midrash. Together, they made plans about the establishment of chadarim, the running of the mikva and the organizing of small factories for those who kept Shabbos so they could work without desecrating the Shabbos.
Despite all the persecution and the closing of shuls, the heads of the k’hilla were given a partially demolished two story building, on the corner of Vostanya and Zhukovsky Streets. The Chassidim put much money and effort into renovating the building and on 15 Kislev 5628 they celebrated a Chanukas Beis HaKnesses.
THE YESHIVA
The most important work of the k’hilla was the founding of Yeshivas Tomchei T’mimim, a Chabad yeshiva in which only about twenty talmidim learned, but they breathed new life into the Chabad activities on behalf of Judaism and Chassidus in Leningrad.
The underground branch of Tomchei T’mimim in Leningrad was founded following the closing of the yeshiva in the town of Nevel. The mashpia, R’ Nissan Nemanov, and some of the talmidim, escaped from Nevel and moved to Leningrad. A branch of the yeshiva opened in the Chabad shul on 128 Nevsky Avenue.
The yeshiva moved from 128 Nevsky Avenue to the shul on 55 Ligovka Street, and finally ended up in the Tzemach Tzedek shul. This was with the help of the rav, R’ Lazarov and the chairman of the k’hilla, R’ Berke Yasnagrovsky.
BEARDED YOUTH LEARNING
The cream of Chabad learned in the Tomchei T’mimim branch in Leningrad. If you walked into the yeshiva you would have seen bearded youth diligently learning and davening as though communism hadn’t taken over the country. The bachurim did much to strengthen the Jews of Leningrad and to help many keep the Torah and go in the ways of Chassidus. One way they did this was through Chassidishe farbrengens that took place now and then with the participation of the bachurim and men from the city.
The talmidim ate the lunch and supper meals in a room located at the Yaffe family’s home on 10 Relayev Street. Mrs. Rochel Yaffe prepared the meals every day. This house was also the address for donations for the yeshiva. Much money was needed in order to sustain the talmidim and staff, and generous people would send donations to the yeshiva. In order to disguise what it was, the donations were addressed to a different talmid each time but the address was always the Yaffe’s.
The prying eyes that constantly followed the Chassidim noticed the flow of donations and figured out the meaning of the daily trek to the dining room. In the end, the evil ones were able to discover the deeds of many of the heads of the k’hilla, roshei yeshiva and talmidim, and a wave of arrests began.
During the years that the Rebbe Rayatz lived in Leningrad, large farbrengens took place in his house. Once he left the city, R’ Chaim Yehoshua Refael Gurary, nicknamed Folik, donated his relatively spacious house as a meeting place for the scholars and Chabad Chassidim.
A kiddush took place in his house every Shabbos, which served primarily to strengthen the brotherly bond of the Chassidim, as well as a place where they talked and advised one another about how to survive; they consulted regarding parnasa, guided one another in how to save their children from public school, and encouraged one another to continue cleaving to the path of Torah and Chassidus despite the enormous difficulties.
The GPU saw that R’ Folik was an active Chassid and perhaps the “angels of death” also knew that he was a brother to the Rebbe’s son-in-law, and they arrested him and sent him to Siberia. When he returned, he was afraid for his life and he hid in the home of R’ Eliezer Karasik, his cousin through marriage, and other places.
ARREST INSTEAD OF LATKES
Avrohom Shlomo Patshin, one of the talmidim in the underground Chabad yeshiva in Leningrad, lit the Chanuka menorah in his home on 26 Charsinsky Street. The small flames illuminated the house and then went out a few hours later. The persecution and tzaros on the one hand, and the Leningrad freezing cold on the other, did not prevent Avrohom Shlomo and his mother from celebrating the holiday. A little after midnight, his mother began preparing latkes. That is precisely when knocks were heard at the door. When she asked who was there, the response was a curt order to open the door. She opened the door, and there stood members of the GPU armed and prepared with a search warrant.
The GPU were experts at their work and for four hours they conducted a thorough search in which they found Chassidic writings and other “incriminating” evidence. They asked for a sack in which to pack the suspicious items they had found, and told the shocked Avrohom Shlomo to follow them to the infamous Spalerka prison “where they will tell you everything.”
He was taken through an iron gate and then went through another gate, one room following another until he arrived in a large hall and was asked to fill out a form. At this point he received a tremendous shock for he saw all his fellow talmidim and some Chassidim. They were all arrested that same night.
Among the arrested were: the rav of the k’hilla, R’ Shimon Lazarov, the mashgiach and menahel of the yeshiva, R’ Nissan Nemanov, the chairman of the Chassidic k’hilla, R’ Berke Yasnagrovsky, the menahel of the chadarim, R’ Leib Kreinitz, R’ Shimon Dovber Lifshitz – one of the distinguished Chassidim, and the talmidim of the yeshiva: Avrohom Shlomo Patshin, Asher Sasonkin, Nachum Zalman Gurewitz, Zalman Gurary, Gershon Eliezer Lazarov, and Tzvi Hirsch Malchik.
Aside from them, R’ Shmaryahu Mekler – a distinguished Lubavitcher Chassid in the city, and Mrs. Rochel Yaffe who ran the yeshiva’s dining room, were also interrogated.
We do not have many details about how the wave of arrests took place, but as Chassidim tell it, while Avrohom Shlomo was arrested as he celebrated Chanuka, his friend Asher Sasonkin was sleeping when the GPU knocked at his door, and R’ Nissan Nemanov was arrested as he walked down the street.
HOW THEY MOCKED THEIR INTERROGATORS
The interrogations were extremely difficult and included degradation and torture. All those arrested underwent many interrogations. But despite the pressure and torture, they managed to mock their interrogators again and again. Even when they had to admit to things because of proof presented to them, they did so only partially and in exceedingly clever ways. They did all they could to reduce the “serious crimes” from themselves and their peers.
For example, the interrogators knew good and well that R’ Lazarov was the head of the Tzemach Tzedek k’hilla and that he was the one who enabled the existence of the yeshiva in the shul where he served as rav. But he had an entirely different version:
“I wasn’t pleased about this yeshiva and I certainly did not take an interest in it. I could not expel the students from the shul, nor did I think it was my job to do so since I have no connection whatsoever with the running of the yeshiva,” he said. He added that he did not know the talmidim by name, perhaps just by face. He saw R’ Nissan sitting at a table separate from the talmidim and did not know whether there was a connection between him and the talmidim.
In another interrogation, apparently after he was shown that the interrogators knew more about the yeshiva than he realized, he said he opposed the yeshiva and even censured R’ Nissan for learning with the talmidim, but R’ Nissan did not listen to him.
At first, R’ Nissan also denied the allegations and said he did not know what a yeshiva is, but the secret police knew his role in running the yeshiva in Nevel and Leningrad. When they showed him that they knew of his activities in recent years, he said that he learned in Nevel but did not teach, and he went to Leningrad in order to find work. In the end, he began teaching just seven talmidim in the Tzemach Tzedek shul.
What “parnasa” did he find in the city? He said he did not receive money from R’ Lazarov or from Shmaryahu Mekler but from other Jews who came to pray in the shul. Thus, he shifted the financing of the yeshiva to anonymous people.
R’ Berke Yasnagrovsky claimed he did not know about the yeshiva even though he saw individual talmidim coming to the shul. And he saw R’ Nissan “coming infrequently” but did not know a yeshiva existed there.
The talmidim Asher Sasonkin, Tzvi Hirsch Malchik, Avrohom Shlomo Patshin and Gershon Eliezer Lazarov declared that they went to the shul only to pray and they did not learn in a yeshiva.
Zalman Gurary who was very active in the yeshiva and in the city in general, told the interrogators that he learned in Nevel, but claimed that he had never heard of a yeshiva in Leningrad and out of all the talmidim he only knew Lazarov.
Why did he admit to knowing Lazarov? Because it would have been ridiculous to claim he did not know the son of the rav of the Chabad k’hilla. But when it came to the other talmidim he denied any association with them. This was even though he was apparently told that he had to know them whether from Leningrad or from the period in which he studied with some of them in Nevel.
What did the interrogators think of these shenanigans? The answer is found in the prosecution file from the KGB archives, and which was publicized a few years ago by the Lazarov family:
“During the interrogation, all were seen to have outstanding abilities, to answer the questions like idiots who did not know a thing and did not even understand what they were asked.”
Tragically, despite the unusual mesirus nefesh and the uniquely clever tactics used by all the arrestees, it turned out that most of the incriminating material was prepared ahead of time and the interrogations were only done in order to extract more material. The interrogators were not that successful but with a crumb here and a crumb there, along with a few admissions, they managed to put together a prosecution file that tells the story of the Tzemach Tzedek k’hilla and the yeshiva in Leningrad.
Word about the arrests spread widely. Residents of Eretz Yisroel knew about it from an article published in a publication called Shaarei Tziyon: “The latest news from the Soviet hell is that R’ Lazarov and his son and four members of the yeshiva were exiled to the Solovki Islands for ten years.”
PROSECUTION FILE
In order to explain what the interrogation was about, let us open the prosecution file:
“During the interrogations and the examination of material that was amassed over the years since 1929 about the activities of the Chassidim in the Tzemach Tzedek organization, which was founded and supported by the tzaddik Schneersohn, known for his anti-Soviet activities, it was discovered that the most active activists in the organization established their strongest branch in Leningrad.
“The activists of ‘Tzemach Tzedek’ in Leningrad were also highly active in this area. They set up chadarim and yeshivos in Leningrad and its environs, which were attended by youth from cities all over the Soviet Union. Aside from disseminating fanaticism for the purpose of attracting children and youth to learn in these schools, the activists of Tzemach Tzedek disseminated anti-Soviet propaganda. In addition to disseminating religion in the shuls, yeshivos and chadarim, the organization also educated religious Jews in an anti-Soviet spirit. For this purpose, it received special financial support which was sent from abroad through the tzaddik Schneersohn who was expelled from the country because of his anti-Soviet activities. In order to stop the activities of the organization, all activists of the organization were arrested and taken for interrogation.
“Members of the Tzemach Tzedek organization in Leningrad are now the nucleus upon which leans the entire Chassidic movement throughout the country.”
According to the file, the leaders of the organization and its top officers knew not only about the activism in Leningrad but were also privy to the secret activities throughout the Soviet Union. They ran the activities in Leningrad and also had an ongoing connection not only with underground people within the Soviet Union, in the cities of Moscow, Rostov, Kremenchug, Mogilev, and other cities which have Chassidic communities, but also with people abroad from whom they received orders and financial support.
Aside from the k’hilla and the shul, the file also describes other important mosdos:
A yeshiva with twenty talmidim and its dean, R’ Nemanov; two chadarim run by R’ Leib Kreinin; a dining room that serves the talmidim of the yeshiva run by Rochel Yaffe; a fund for private loans (a gemach) given to simple Jews, run by R’ Lazarov.
At the end of the long list of charges, there are conclusions drawn. The following is a summary:
*All those whose names are mentioned above stand accused of membership in the Chassidic organization Tzemach Tzedek and were talmidim in the underground yeshiva. Likewise, they are accused of disseminating an anti-Soviet spirit through their important standing and their deep connection to religion. Aside from the serious and terrible activities in general, the leadership and the students ran anti-Soviet propaganda including printing propaganda tracts.
*All those mentioned above are accused of being under fanatic influence, being educated under strict discipline to operate clandestinely, and were under the influence of “tzadikism.” Therefore, all their activities were dangerous to society and therefore, they need to be punished according to Soviet law.
*All of them are being charged under Article 58, the article concerning treason, whose maximum penalty is death.
THE SENTENCE
At the end of the list of charges is the sentence:
Regarding R’ Lazarov and R’ Nemanov it said that they were very dangerous to Soviet society and therefore, they should be sent to a labor camp for a period of ten years.
R’ Leib Kreinin and R’ Berke Yasnagrovsky were sentenced to three years in exile.
The talmidim Zalman Gurary, Asher Sasonkin, Gershon Eliezer Lazarov and Tzvi Malchik were sentenced to be sent to a faraway location for a period of three years.
R’ Shimon Dovber Lifshitz and the talmidim Nachum Zalman Gurewitz and Avrohom Shlomo Patshin were sentenced to “minus six,” which meant that they were prohibited from living in six large districts of the Soviet Union.
After a while, some of the sentences were reduced. R’ Lazarov and R’ Nemanov received three years instead of ten and Tzvi Malchik’s sentence was reduced to “minus six.”
What happened to R’ Lazarov?
During the period of these arrests, the Rebbe Rayatz was on an extended visit to the United States, which began at the end of 5689 and ended in the summer of 5790. One of the main purposes of the visit was wide ranging activity on behalf of Soviet Jewry. On this visit, the Rebbe did a lot for the release of a group of rabbanim who were arrested in Minsk, and at that time he wrote about those imprisoned in Minsk and Leningrad:
“Regarding the rabbanim in Minsk, special efforts were made and thank G-d were successful, but what shall we do now about those who were sentenced, R’ Lazarov and his fellows?”
In later years, a document was publicized with a list of rabbanim and other figures in the Soviet Union who received special aid from a committee of rabbanim led by the Rebbe Rayatz during the year 5690. Next to some of their names it says pei-shin, acrostic for “pidyon shvuyim,” for those who were exiled. Among those marked with pei-shin were some of those arrested in Leningrad: R’ Shimon Lazarov, R’ Nissan Nemanov, Zalman Gurary, Shmaryahu Mekler.
R’ Lazarov was exiled and died in exile in 5693. When the sad news reached the Rebbe Rayatz, he sent a special letter to R’ Lazarov’s son, Gershon Eliezer:
“I was shocked to hear of the terrible tragedy that occurred with the passing of your father, ha’Rav ha’Gaon. May G-d (HaMakom) console you and strengthen your hearts to go in his paved path and may the Father of orphans endow all of you with an abundance of blessing (write the names of all of them and their ages and their present condition and about the possibility of considering Mattos-Massei [code for emigrating from Russia]).”
REOPENING THE YESHIVA
A year passed since the wave of arrests and a yeshiva in Leningrad was reestablished despite the enormous danger involved. It followed the closing of the branch in Vitebsk and some of the students from that branch went to Leningrad. They arrived in the city at the end of the winter 5691 and after Pesach they began organized learning. The yeshiva lasted only until the winter of 5692. In this group of talmidim were R’ Yisroel Shimon Kalmanson, later a shochet in New York, R’ Nissan Eber, later a maggid shiur in the Chabad yeshiva in Tel Aviv and then in Lud, and R’ Shmarya Feldman, later the son-in-law of the Chassid, R’ Yisroel Levin (Yisroel Neveler).
In the winter of 5692, the Rebbe Rayatz, who was in Riga, told them to disperse, set themselves up with work, and to try and leave the Soviet Union.
A short while after the yeshiva closed the Tzemach Tzedek shul was also closed.
Besides for regular minyanim, the shul had meetings every Sunday in which the members discussed issues with religious education and strategies to help those who refused to work on Shabbos. The government viewed these meetings as perfidious and “kept an eye” on the shul while constantly plotting to undermine it. At first they succeeded in removing the Chassidim from the first floor of the building. The worshipers protested mightily but were unable to reinstate themselves on the first floor. In the winter of 5692, the board of the neighborhood council where the shul was located refused to extend the rental contract of the shul.
Complaints from the community leaders about the lack of justice on the part of the council board were to no avail. Following this decision which, of course, came from the GPU, the Leningrad municipality passed a final resolution to close the shul. On 9 Adar II 5792 the resolution was carried out.
That is how the Tzemach Tzedek Chassidic k’hilla was shut down by the communists. The k’hilla came back to life decades later with the establishment of a vibrant community led by the shliach, R’ Menachem Mendel Pevsner.