Hassidic master’s grave found in Ukraine

The grave of great hassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev was uncovered by chance in the Ukrainian city where he lived and died, the magazine Mishpacha reported on Wednesday

The rabbi (1740-1809) was one of the closest students of Rabbi Dov Ber, the successor of the legendary founder of the hassidic movement, Baal Shem Tov.

While the first two sages did not really leave their teachings in writings, the next generation of students are credited to have spread the spiritual movement all over Eastern Europe, sparking a deep Jewish renewal. Levi Yitzhak authored the influential “Kedushat Levi” and became known as the “defender of Israel,” because according to tradition he was always ready to see the good in what his fellow Jews were doing, even when they appeared to go astray.

The memory of the exact location of the burial site had been lost for 80 years.

Graves of prominent rabbis are often placed in structures referred to as “ohalim,” small buildings that emphasized their importance and role. Visiting and praying over graves is a popular Jewish tradition.

A few years before the Holocaust, local Jews demolished the ohel and covered the traces of the grave of the rabbi and his three sons in the Jewish cemetery to protect them from destruction or vandalism.

Since his arrival to Berditchev in 2002, Chabad emissary Rabbi Moshe Thaler has worked to restore it.

The graves were uncovered under the structure that was built where Levi Yitzhak was previously believed to have been buried.

“We decided to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to carry on some renovation works in the building,” Thaler explained in an interview to Radio Kol Chai. “As we were working, we uncovered traces of the walls of an old ohel. We slowly continue to excavate until we reached the pavement and we found the four tombs.”

The family of Levi Yitzhak also presents a connection to the Chabad movement: one of the master’s grandsons married the daughter of the second rebbe of Chabad, Dovber Schneuri, the first one who lived in the town Lyubavichi, also known as Lubavitch.

“Now those who come will be able to visit the original grave,” Thaler said.

(Wikimedia Commons) THE MODERN ‘ohel’ of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, where inside his and his family’s graves were uncovered, in Berditchev, Ukraine.