Haditch

Haditch is a city in the Poltava Oblast of Ukraine, where the ohel of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidus, is located. Since the Alter Rebbe's passing, individual Chabad Chassidim have lived there, and over the years a flourishing Chabad community took root — one that was ultimately destroyed in the Holocaust.

A "770" replica building in Haditch

The river in Haditch

Since the fall of Communist rule, Jews from around the world have streamed to Haditch to pour out their hearts at the Alter Rebbe's tziyun.

Adjacent to the tziyun stands the Heichal HaAlter Rebbe synagogue, and nearby are guest accommodations for visitors who come to pray at the site. The local shliach — Chabad emissary — is Rabbi Schneur Zalman Deutsch.

The Tziyun of the Alter Rebbe

Main article: Ohel of the Alter Rebbe

The Alter Rebbe passed away — his histalkus (spiritual ascent) — on the 24th of Teves, 5573 (January 14, 1813), in the village of Pyena, where he had taken refuge while fleeing the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars. It is told that before his passing he repeated several times: "Haditch, Haditch" — and his household understood that he wished to be buried there. His holy remains were therefore brought to this city on the banks of the Psel River, some 300 kilometers from Pyena.

Haditch had a Jewish cemetery established some years earlier. The Alter Rebbe was interred there, and an ohel was erected over his grave.

The Cemetery Dispute

In the years that followed, it emerged that there was a legal difficulty concerning the cemetery, which stood on government-owned land. The Mitteler Rebbe wrote a lengthy letter to Rabbi Moshe Meizelish urging him to use every effort to prevent any possibility of relocating the cemetery to an alternative site.

As part of the campaign to keep the cemetery — and the tziyun — in place, appeals were made both to senior regional authorities and to the Russian imperial government.

What ultimately prevented the relocation is not known today, but it is clear that the cemetery remained where it stood.

History of the Town

The Tzemach Tzedek Settles in Haditch

The synagogue at the Alter Rebbe's tziyun in Haditch (Av 5771)

Graves near the Alter Rebbe's tziyun, with the Psel River in the background

After the Alter Rebbe's histalkus, the Tzemach Tzedek — Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the Alter Rebbe's grandson and eventual successor — temporarily settled in Haditch, until his father-in-law the Mitteler Rebbe established himself in Lubavitch at the end of 5573 (late 1813). At that point the Tzemach Tzedek and his family also moved to Lubavitch, which became the capital of Chabad.

While in Haditch, the Tzemach Tzedek supported himself through a business venture he entered into with a partner named R' Moshe HaKfari. R' Moshe would travel to the surrounding villages to purchase raw materials for sack-making, while the Tzemach Tzedek managed the accounts and kept the inventory.

Rebbetzin Freida Is Buried in Haditch

Following the Alter Rebbe's histalkus, Rebbetzin Freida — his daughter, who had long been in fragile health — grew still weaker. She was brought to a more comfortable setting to recuperate. One day, sensing that her end was near, she asked the Chassidim around her to bury her in Haditch, at the right hand of her great father. The Chassidim were uncertain how to proceed, since it was not customary for a woman to be buried within a tzaddik's ohel.

Several days later, on the 16th of Sivan, 5573 — some five months after her father's passing — she again called the Chassidim and asked them to gather around her bedside. She then began to recite the morning prayer Elokai Neshama — "My G-d, the soul You have placed within me is pure" — and when she reached the words "and You will one day take it from me," she suddenly raised both hands, stretched her ten fingers upward, and called out: "Father, wait! Here I come already!" — and her soul departed.

The Chassidim who witnessed this sublime passing understood that her request must be honored, though a measure of doubt remained. On the road to the cemetery, when they reached the crossroads between Kremenchug and Haditch, they resolved to give the horses no direction — wherever the horses carried her holy remains, there she would be buried. The horses continued toward Haditch, and she was indeed interred, as she had asked, beside her father.

Visits of the Chabad Rebbes

The Mitteler Rebbe passed away on the 9th of Kislev, 5588 (November 16, 1827) in Nyezhin, having spent time in Haditch at his father the Alter Rebbe's ohel.

Among those who spent considerable time at the site was Rabbi Menachem Nachum, the Mitteler Rebbe's son. Though he lived in Nyezhin, near his own father's grave, he would travel to Haditch every year and stay for a period.

The subsequent Chabad Rebbes — the Tzemach Tzedek, the Maharash, the Rebbe Rashab, and the Frierdiker Rebbe — likewise came to Haditch and prayed at the Alter Rebbe's tziyun.

The Community in the Time of the Tzemach Tzedek

Among the letters of the Tzemach Tzedek there is one addressed to "the Anash of the town of Haditch." The letter speaks of strengthening oneself in prayer, Torah study, and heating the mikveh. This indicates that already in the Tzemach Tzedek's time there was an established Chassidic community in the town.

The Rebbe Rashab's Instructions Regarding Haditch

In the years that followed, a community — or at minimum, active Chassidic life — continued in Haditch. This is evident from a letter the Rebbe Rashab wrote in late 5652 (1891–92) concerning repairs needed for the mikveh near the ohel. Shortly thereafter, the mikveh was indeed repaired through funds the Rebbe Rashab raised.

In 5667 (1907), on the Rebbe Rashab's instructions, a large and spacious ohel was built over the holy tziyun, with an adjoining room serving as a synagogue. The construction was funded by the philanthropist and Chassid R' Avraham Yosef Sirkin.

Emissaries for the Hilula

Beginning in 5673 (1912–13), on the Rebbe Rashab's directive, a group of Chassidim would travel to Haditch each year on the 24th of Teves as representatives of the entire Chabad community.

Before the Holocaust

In the period preceding the Holocaust, Haditch was home to a small but vibrant Chabad community, with synagogues and active Chassidic life including regular classes in Chassidus and farbrengens — Chassidic gatherings.

For several years, Rabbi Shimon Trebnik served as rav of Haditch (his brother, Rabbi Nachum Trebnik, later served as rav of Kfar Chabad). His son, Mr. Lazar Trebnik, recounted: "My father, Rabbi Shimon Trebnik, was appointed rav of Haditch in 5685 (1925). Five years into his tenure, the Communists decided he was a man of excessive private property — which did not sit well with them. His possessions were confiscated, and he was forced to flee Haditch. He subsequently settled in Snovsk."

R' Yosef Gansbourg — Guardian of the Ohel

The central family of the community from roughly the 1880s through the 1930s was the Gansbourg family. While there were other Chabad families in Haditch at the time, they were all related to the Gansbourgs.

R' Yosef Gansbourg, son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hillel Gansbourg, served as the guardian of the ohel in Haditch. He spent his entire life in Haditch and had studied at Tomchei Temimim in Lubavitch.

For many years he administered the ohel compound at the Alter Rebbe's tziyun — maintaining and preserving the site, welcoming worshippers, and reading aloud the panim (petitionary notes) that were sent from across Russia.

Chassidim who came to pray at the tziyun would stay with the Gansbourg families, including with R' Yosef himself.

He founded and directed a branch of Tomchei Temimim in Haditch.

He was murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis. His entire family was killed, with the exception of one daughter who survived.

An Underground Yeshiva

R' Yosef Gansbourg founded an underground branch of the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Haditch. Precise details are scarce, but it is known that in 5696 (1935–36) a number of students studied there, among them R' DovBer Riekman, R' Muni Rapoport, R' Mordechai Trigubov, and R' Yosef Gansbourg's own sons — the students Yitzchak and Sholom DovBer. The mashgiach — spiritual supervisor — of the yeshiva was R' Avraham Zelig Gansbourg, and for a period he was assisted by Rabbi Yosef Goldberg (who later headed the Tomchei Temimim yeshiva in Brunoy). In addition to this group, a second division operated in the town, attended primarily by younger students.

The Destruction of the Jewish Community

In Tishrei 5702 (September 1941), the Nazis entered Haditch without encountering armed resistance. Five months later, in Teves 5702 (late December 1941), the Jews of Haditch were taken out and murdered.

Every Chabad Chassid living in Haditch at that time was killed — with one exception: Miriam Shpira Gansbourg, twenty years old, who managed to escape at the last moment. Her father, R' Yosef Gansbourg, the guardian of the ohel, was murdered.

The book Yisroel Noach HaGadol contains a harrowing account by the sole survivor, Shpira Gansbourg, of her family's fate:

"Father — R' Yosef [the ohel's guardian] — was shot dead by the Nazis immediately upon their entry into Haditch. Then the Nazis seized my grandfather R' Tzvi Hirsh Gurvich (my mother's father) along with other Jews, and told them they were being taken to 'labor camps.' They never came home.

"One day Nazi soldiers entered our home, seized my grandfather R' Menachem Mendel Hillel Gansbourg who was living with us at the time, and cut off part of his beard. Grandfather pleaded and wept, but nothing helped. They seemed to enjoy his suffering and tormented him. I saw it with my own eyes. Then they took all the holy books in the house and burned them before us. It was a horrifying sight. Their sadistic cruelty knew no bounds. After burning the books they turned to murder — they shot my grandfather R' Menachem Mendel Hillel, may G-d avenge his blood, in cold blood."

Those Who Perished

Chabad Chassidim murdered in Haditch:

The Gansbourg family

• R' Menachem Mendel Hillel Gansbourg and his wife Sarah, may G-d avenge their blood
• Their son R' Yosef Gansbourg and his family, may G-d avenge their blood (excepting Shpira)
• The student Yisroel, may G-d avenge his blood

The Gurvich family

• R' Tzvi Hirsh Gurvich, may G-d avenge his blood

The Levitin family

• The family of R' Zalman Levitin. R' Zalman was in Moscow when the Jews of Haditch were annihilated and was thus spared; his wife Rochel and their children perished, may G-d avenge their blood.

The Khershukhin family

• R' Mordechai and his wife Feiga Rivka Khershukhin, may G-d avenge their blood.

The Rebbes' Concern for the Ohalim

In the post-war period, the Frierdiker Rebbe took a keen interest in the condition of the graves of the Chabad Rebbes. In a letter dated 24 Adar Sheini 5708 (March 5, 1948) to Rabbi Yonah Aidelkopf, who was then in Föhrenwald, he wrote:

"To ask that he inform… the state of the towns where the resting places of our holy ones are found: our master the Baal Shem Tov, the Rav the Maggid of Mezeritch, Haditch, Nyezhin, Lubavitch, Liadi, Kapust, Bobroisk."

Over the years, both the Frierdiker Rebbe and the Rebbe maintained a special ongoing concern for the ohalim of the Chabad Rebbes throughout the Soviet Union, including the ohel in Haditch.

Haditch Today

The Ohel and Hospitality

The Heichal HaAlter Rebbe, adjacent to the tziyun in Haditch

In 5748 (1988), the gravestones and the ohel underwent major renovation, carried out by Rabbi Dovid Nachshon and Rabbi Avi Taub. In more recent years the ohel building has been rebuilt and access passages constructed to accommodate the growing number of visitors — fulfilling the wish of the Rebbe Rashab, who had hoped to make it possible for as many Jews as possible to reach the ohel and pray there.

The exterior of the Alter Rebbe's tziyun

Today Haditch has a synagogue, a space for farbrengens, and guest accommodations for those who come to pray at the tziyun.

At the end of 5772 (late 2012), the Rebbe's shliach Rabbi Menachem Mendel Teichman arrived and settled there with his family, taking charge of the site's ongoing operations and serving in Haditch for a number of years.

On the 19th of Kislev, 5773 (December 3, 2012) — the Chassidic festival marking the Alter Rebbe's release from Czarist imprisonment — Rabbi Teichman organized the chanukas habayis (dedication ceremony) of the Heichal HaAlter Rebbe, a newly built hospitality and retreat center adjacent to the tziyun, intended to host visiting worshippers and to run Shabbaton programs for Jews from Ukraine and the former Soviet republics. The building was donated by the Rohr family, and the dedication was celebrated with many guests.

Rabbi Teichman also produced beautifully designed pamphlets to welcome visitors who came to prostrate themselves at the tziyun, offering them a taste of the Alter Rebbe's teachings.

The shliach currently active at the site is Rabbi Schneur Zalman Deutsch, a descendant of the Alter Rebbe.

Road Renewal to Haditch

In recent years, travelers to Haditch have had to endure a severely deteriorated road. After traveling the main Kyiv–Sumy highway, visitors turn onto the Sumy–Haditch road for a 45-kilometer stretch along an extremely worn surface, riddled with ruts carved by years of wear and winter snowloads.

On Shabbos Parshas Ki Sisa, Adar I 5784 (March 2024), the governor of Poltava Oblast visited Haditch with his entourage. At the conclusion of Shabbos he announced that the Sumy–Haditch road would be repaved, for the benefit of those who travel to pray at the tziyun. The project was advanced through the joint efforts of Rabbi Schneur Deutsch, the Haditch shliach, and Rabbi Meir Stambler of Dnipro.

Further Reading

• Schneur Zalman Berger, Chabad in the Holocaust series, "When the Nazis Reached the Alter Rebbe's Tziyun," Beis Moshiach Weekly, issue 539 (20 Teves 5766), pp. 34–43.

External Links

• Schneur Zalman Berger, The End of the Chabad Community of Haditch, from the book Yisroel Noach HaGadol, 24 Teves 5773 (January 6, 2013).
• Schneur Zalman Levin, Haditch 5773 — Alive and Breathing, travel diary, Beis Moshiach Weekly, 21 Teves 5773 (January 3, 2013).