The Holy KehillahThe passing of the holy Defender
Before Rabbi Levi Yitzchok ben Sara Sasha passed away, the tzaddikim of his generation already foresaw it: “The Defender of Israel is fighting a difficult battle with the Sitra Achra, teaching merit on the Jewish nation and cleansing them of every sin. The Satan is fighting to drive him from the world.”
The battle went on for a long time. For a whole year Rabbi Levi Yitzchok lay weak and exhausted, but in the end he overcame the forces of tumah and accusation and continued to defend the Jewish people.
Then came Rosh Hashanah of 5570 (1809). That Rosh Hashanah the Satan used all his might to accuse the Jewish people. When Rabbi Levi Yitzchok lifted the shofar to blow the tekios, no sound came out. He argued before his Creator: “Did You not command us to hear the shofar? If You do not wish us to blow, so be it! Ivan the gentile will come and blow…”
His words brought the shul to tears. Immediately afterwards the tzaddik took the shofar again, and this time clear, distinct tekios were heard. After the tefillah he revealed: “Indeed I removed the accusation, but I gave up my soul. I will be the atonement of Israel.”
On Motza’ei Yom Kippur, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok said that his time to leave the world had come, but that he had succeeded in Heaven in deferring it until after Sukkos, so that he could once more fulfill the mitzvah of the Arba Minim.
On the 25th of Tishrei the light of the world darkened: the holy Rabbi Levi Yitzchok ascended to Heaven. At that hour Rabbi Nachman of Breslov zy”a wept and said: “Anyone with pure eyes can see how the light of the world was extinguished.”
The holy ohel, a source of yeshuos
From the moment Rabbi Levi Yitzchok was buried in the center of the Berditchev cemetery, his holy tziyun became a beacon. The city’s Jews returned again and again, and Jews from all over the world began to come, knowing that at Rabbi Levi Yitzchok’s tziyun any yeshuah is possible.
A magnificent ohel was built over the tziyun. According to the testimony of Berditchev’s Jews of long ago, it was known as the most impressive structure in the entire city.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok is buried beside his son, Rabbi Meir zy”a, author of Keser Torah, who passed away young, in his father’s lifetime. Later his two other sons were buried in the same row: Rabbi Yisroel of Pikov zy”a, who served as rav of Berditchev after his father, and Rabbi Dov Berish zy”a.
To this day, not a single day passes without Jews experiencing a yeshuah there. Jews come and feel that whoever they are, they will find their place with the holy Defender.
The ohel during the Shoah and Communist rule
In the late 1930s, the Jews of the city felt the Nazi sword hovering over them, and feared the Communist regime as well. Afraid the holy tziyun would be plowed over, they found an original solution.
In 1938 (some say 1939), they took down the upper part of the ohel, filled its interior halfway with the earth and stones, and poured a thick layer of concrete over it. Around 1940 they added earth and concrete around the ohel too, covering the graves of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok’s family and other tzaddikim buried nearby.
Throughout the Communist years no one touched the concrete. At the edge of the slab they set up a stone marking the resting place of the Defender of Israel, deliberately not over the exact grave, so that people praying would not climb onto the concrete and tread on the graves.
The ohalim that were built
Only after the fall of the Iron Curtain could a new ohel be built. The first was built in the 1980s, led by Rabbi Nachman Elbaum z”l, Rabbi Tzvi Dov Ber Abraham z”l, Av Beis Din of Berditchev-Monsey, and Rabbi Leibel Surkis. Rather than lifting the concrete, they built on top of it, like the Cave of Machpelah: one ohel on top of another.
Between 2000 and 2005 a larger ohel was built, encircling the old one.
The discovery of the original tziyun
During the COVID period, when the flow of visitors stopped, Hagaon Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Thaler shlita decided to use the quiet to install underfloor heating in the ohel, for those who come to pray through the harsh Ukrainian winter.
Under the guidance of rabbanim, experts and gedolei Yisroel, the concrete was lifted slightly, and remnants of the original ohel were revealed. Following the gedolim’s instructions, the earth and stones were carefully removed, and the original matzeivah of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok was exposed, in one row with those of his three holy sons, along with the ohel’s original floor of colorful stones.
The discovery shook the entire Jewish world.
The moro d’asro
Hagaon Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Thaler has served Berditchev for two decades. He came as a shaliach of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, succeeding the shaliach Rabbi Shmuel Plotkin, and for the past decade he has been the only rav living in the city.
His connection to the city is one of blood: he is a descendant of Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev zy”a. The five hundred Jewish families of the city turn to him, and the rav and rebbetzin are like a father and mother to them.
The rav devotes many hours and great resources to saving, restoring and guarding the Jewish cemetery, above all the holy tziyun. Now, during the war, there are far fewer visitors and the expenses have only grown, but the work of guarding the site continues.