One night in 1935, in the midst of the fiercest Stalinist oppression, a woman knocked on his door. "I've come from a distant city whose name I cannot mention. In approximately one hour, my daughter and her fiance? will also arrive. They both hold high government positions and so their coming here is fraught with danger. They have agreed to be married according to Jewish law, provided you would perform the wedding in your home."
Rav Levi Yitzchak consented and set about gathering together a minyan for the wedding. Within half an hour, he had brought eight other men into his home. But the tenth man was lacking. On the bottom floor of the apartment house where Rav Levi Yitzchak lived a young Jewish man who had been hired by the Communist authorities to spy on the goings on in Rav Levi Yitzchak's home. Rav Levi Yitzchak was well aware of who this person was and how he was employed. Yet when the tenth man was lacking, he sent for him.
"We need a tenth man for a minyan so that a Jewish couple can marry," he told his neighbor.
"And so you sent for me?!" the neighbor responded in utter amazement. And yet he consented to participate in the minyan and did not inform about the ceremony.
Years later, the Rebbe said: "From my father I learned never to be afraid."
One year, before Passover, the Government required each citizen to complete a questionnaire, as part of a general population census. One of the questions was, "Do you believe in G-d?"
Certain Jews who did believe, nevertheless responded in the negative because they were afraid of losing their jobs. When Rav Levi Yitzchak became aware of this, he stood up and proclaimed before a large audience in the synagogue, that for a Jew to deny his belief in G-d is considered heresy and therefore it is absolutely prohibited for any Jew to give a negative answer to this question, no matter what the consequences.
This ruling of Rabbi Lev Yitzchak was brought to the attention of the authorities by an agent who had been planted in the shul in order to observe the rabbi's manner of conducting himself and to determine the extent of his influence upon the congregation.
At a later date, after Rabbi Levi Yitzchak had been arrested and was being interrogated about this speech, he defended himself. He explained that the Government certainly expected truthful answers to all of its questions, and it being the case that so many Jews were ready to respond falsely to this particular question out of fear of losing their jobs, he had felt it his duty as a loyal citizen to urge them to answer each question honestly!
From the diary of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, wife of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, published in A mother in Israel, Kehot Publications
Ozar Wienikursky told of the traumatic time when he was about to be drafted into the Russian Communist army. He came to Rav Levi Yitzchak to ask for his blessing that he should secure a deferment. The Rav did not simply bless him. He gave Ozar extremely detailed instructions; he specified the exact date and hour at which he should report to the draft office, which route to take on the way there, the chapters of Psalms that he should say beforehand, and exactly how many coins he should give to charity.
He also prescribed that when Ozar stood at the entrance to the building, he should stop and envisage in his mind the holy four-letter name of G-d. The Rav then blessed him and promised that nothing bad would befall him. He concluded by requesting that the young man return afterwards with a detailed report of all that had transpired.
Wienikursky carefully followed all of the Rav's instructions. When he arrived at the draft office, he was sent into a large room with many tables. At each table sat a doctor with a particular specialty who had the responsibility of examining each candidate that passed before him, but only in his area of expertise. Each draftee had to go before all of the doctors to determine the true state of his health and eliminate any possibility of deception.
"I passed along the row of tables and was examined by each doctor," related Ozar. "Each one recorded his opinion in turn. Finally, I reached the desk of the clerk who notified the draftees of the board's decision.
The man looked at me pityingly and exclaimed, "What is going on with you? You poor man! Each doctor found something wrong with you and each one's diagnosis describes you as suffering from a different disease!"
He left safely with a complete exemption from the army.
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