Editing Asher Sasonka (section)

== 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."