Editing Ukraine (section)

==== Kharkov ====
Kharkov is a city that was outside the Pale of Settlement on the border of Ukraine, and therefore Jews did not settle there. The first to settle there were craftsmen who received special permission to live there or released Cantonists who were allowed to live outside the Pale of Settlement.

They established a large synagogue there - called 'Meshchansky', near the river - 'Kharkov' because of the mikvah. Over the years, as many Chabad Chassidim arrived, they prayed in the Arizal nusach on the upper floor, and in the Ashkenazi nusach on the lower floor.

On his way to Yalta and on his return to Lubavitch, the Rebbe Rashab stopped for several weeks in Kharkov, where - at Meshchansky - he held farbrengens with the Chassidim and delivered several Chassidic discourses.

In 5675 (1915), the decree was canceled due to World War I, and then thousands of Jews and Chassidim began to flood into it.