By COLlive reporter
When the Rebbe Rayatz was 15 years old, his father the Rebbe Rashab brought him to the shul that stood at the historic Jewish cemetery in the Russian town of Lubavitch.
Interred alongside the shul are the 3rd and 4rd Rebbes of Chabad-Lubavitch, the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash. It was built in the summer of 5626.
Rabbi Nachman Kahoken, who learned in the original Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in Lubavitch, recalls in his book “Lubavitch Vachayaleha” that “the entrance to the Ohel was through the shul built near it. On the north part there was a door through which they would enter the Ohel and there was a wooden plank to mark until where the Kohanim may enter.”
Before arriving at the shul, the Rebbe Rayatz went to the nearby river to toivel as a mikvah. Once in the shul, his father brought him to the Aron Kodesh and opened it.
“I am bringing my son today for an Akeda,” the Rebbe Rashab said, alluding to the Akeda when Avrohom Avinu placed his son Yitzchok Avinu on an actual alter as told in the Torah.
“In the matter of the Akeda, there is binding and being bound,” the Rebbe Rashab continued. “Avrohom Avinu bound his son Yitzchok so that there won’t be any wrong (p’sul), Heaven forbid. I wish that this Akeda shall be as desired. I am making a covenant with you. From today, I will hand over to you the work of public affairs in material and spiritual matters.”
From that day on, the shul was called by Chassidim the Akeda Shul where many davened during the week, Shabbos and Yomim Tovim. During the first World War, the Rebbe Rashab and chassidim relocated from Lubavitch. Non-Jewish locals destroyed and burned down the shul and the Ohel.
In recent years, Rabbi Gavriel Gordon has been working to restore historic Jewish locations in the town and discovered evidence of the shul’s existence.
“We discovered inside a mound of dirt the sooty wooden floor of the shul and remnants of lamps, nails and hinges,” he said.
The shul has now been fully rebuilt for the use of visitors to the town. Part of the new floor was made of glass to show the original flooring under it.
The shul has an Aron Kodesh, library, tables and chairs. “I am very excited about the successful restoration and that Kohanim can now daven there near the holy Ohel,” Rabbi Gordon said.
He thanked New York philanthropist Yossi Popack, as well as Rabbi Moshe Rubin of Geder Avos and Mendel Levin of Crown Heights for their support.
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