Asher Sasonka

Rabbi Asher Sassunkin (Sasanka), also known as "Asher Batumer", (1908 - 5 Cheshvan 5748) was a Chabad chossid who was arrested and exiled by Soviet authorities for spreading Yiddishkeit. After his release from Russia, when he moved to live in the United States in his later years, he served as the shamash in the synagogue at 770.

Rabbi Asher Sassunkin was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine in 1908 to his father, the chossid Rabbi Nachum Shmarya Sassunkin and his mother Mrs. Feigel.

Between 1924-1931, he studied in various branches of Yeshivas Tomchei Tmimim.

After he and his first wife, Sarah, had three children, his wife contracted typhus and passed away from her illness. His daughter Rachel was raised in the home of her grandfather, Rabbi Nachum Shmarya Sassunkin. In his second marriage, he married Mrs. Freida Menia, daughter of Rabbi Ephraim Shmuel Levin from Lipovitz. The couple had a boy and a girl. After R' Asher was caught by the KGB and exiled to Siberia, his wife went shopping and left the children at home. When she returned, she discovered that the children had perished in a fire that broke out due to playing with matches. About a year and a half after his release from prison, they had a child who was named Yosef Yitzchak.

In Russia

R' Asher kept Torah and mitzvos in Russia with mesiras nefesh. He was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia, but even there he continued to keep Torah and mitzvos with mesiras nefesh until the authorities knew it wasn't worth forcing him to work on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim lest they become a laughingstock. During some years, he lived with his family in Samarkand.

On 3 Marcheshvan 5724, his relative had a yechidus with the Rebbe and asked for a bracha for the release of R' Asher and his family, who had been requesting an exit permit for three years and being rejected. The Rebbe responded: "I think they will receive an exit permit soon, because now they are becoming more lenient regarding exit permits. I will mention him again at the Tzion." The Rebbe even explicitly stated about R' Asher: "He will leave soon."

Indeed, that year R' Asher and his family left Russia and arrived in Eretz Hakodesh where he settled in Yerushalayim alongside his father Rabbi Nachum Shmarya. Even before his arrival, he informed the Rebbe, who blessed him that his reward would be "according to the pain is the gain."

In Eretz Hakodesh

As per the Rebbe's request that he stay with his family for several years, he lived for several years in Yerushalayim (with his father and family) and then in France (with his wife Mrs. Freida and his son). His father, Rabbi Nachum Shmarya, lived in the Rabbis' Housing, about a ten-minute walk from Shikun Chabad. On Shabbos, he would come to pray in the Shikun Chabad synagogue, even though his father prayed in the 'Baal HaTanya' synagogue in Meah Shearim. R' Asher, as someone who had been moser nefesh for Torah and mitzvos in Russia, couldn't bear to see people there living in tranquility, and additionally, the communication between him and them wasn't successful as they didn't speak the same language. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed hearing and seeing the chassidic figure. After several years, he traveled to New York, where he established his residence near the Rebbe's court in the Crown Heights neighborhood.

With the Rebbe

During his first Yechidus with the Rebbe in Tishrei 5725 (1964), he presented the Rebbe with a pack of cigars from Russia. The Rebbe thanked him and said "I don't smoke at all," but nevertheless took one cigar from the package and instructed him to distribute the rest of the cigars in the zal downstairs.

In Sukkos 5725 (1964), the first farbrengen after leaving Russia was held in Rav Yisroel Duchman's sukkah. This farbrengen especially expressed R' Asher's way. The heart and soul friends, R' Asher and R' Mendel Futerfas, participated. R' Asher, in his holy way, demanded from those at the farbrengen to learn the Likkutei Torah of the parsha every week and to daven with deliberation. He even added that he felt disappointed, as he expected every tomim in Eretz Hakodesh to know all of Tanya by heart. R' Mendel, who had a completely different temperament, scolded him to stop being in a state of merirus, and compared it to a story of a person who constantly complained about smelling something unpleasant, until they discovered dirt stuck under his nose. R' Asher immediately responded with his own story, comparing it to travelers who lost their way and suddenly found a sign showing the direction - no matter how it looks, they will follow it because it tells the truth. The farbrengen continued for hours and the elder chassidim never forgot it.

In 5726 (1965), he entered for Yechidus with the Rebbe, during which he presented the Rebbe with a question on the commentary of the "Tiferes Yisroel," and said that if the Rebbe doesn't look at the "Tiferes Yisroel" he would read the words to the Rebbe from the sefer. The Rebbe took the sefer and examined the question, and afterward said that "in the past there were chassidim who didn't look at 'Tiferes Yisroel'" and asked R' Asher if he studies the sefer, noting that "I look at it because it's a good and convenient commentary." R' Asher replied that if the Rebbe looks at the sefer, then he will look at it too.

It is said that upon arriving at 770, the Rebbe drew him very close and would speak with him with great friendship. He was among the group of chassidim with whom the Rebbe would converse directly as friends. R' Asher pleaded for his soul and asked the Rebbe to treat him as a regular chossid. "I am not a friend," he said to the Rebbe, "I want to be a chossid!" The Rebbe agreed to his request and the special closeness ceased.

Upon arriving at 770, he asked the gabboim for permission to be the "shamash" of 770. Though the gabboim firmly refused due to concern for his honor, when they saw how important it was to him, they allowed it, and from then on he became the shamash of 770.

Many remember his brocha for lighting the Chanukah candles which he would make each year before the Rebbe. It wasn't adorned with chazzanus and the like, but with great emotion that moved all who heard it.

Rav Asher Sassonko passed away on 5 Cheshvan 5748 (1987).

Family

His wife (second marriage), Freida Menia - passed away 14 Nissan 5758 (1998).

Brothers:

• His brother, Rav Moshe Sassonkin
• His brother, Rav Chaim Sassonkin

Children:

• His son, Rav Yosef Yitzchok Sassonko - Mashpia of the Chabad community in Miami, Florida
• His daughter Mrs. Rachel, wife of Rav Avraham Dunin - The Rebbe's shliach in Meitav, Ta'anach

External Links

• A Burning Look of Mesiras Nefesh: Pictures of R' Nissan and R' Asher in Prison
• Rav Sassonko Lighting the Menorah in the Rebbe's Beis Medrash, in JEM's 'Toras Chaim' video program, 30 Kislev 5747 (1986)
• "Five"? Chanukah in a Frozen Labor Camp in Siberia / As told by Rav Asher Sassonko, on "Chabad.org"
• Letters of a Chossid
• Insisted on Walking Around with a Broom, a memoir column by Rav Eisenbach
• One Against Two Hundred

Further Reading

• Yosef Ashkenazi, Otzar HaChassidim - The Personalities and Chassidic Teachings of Chabad Mashpi'im in Eretz Hakodesh, published by Chazak, 5772 (2012)