Rabbi Shlomo Aryeh Niazov, resident of Shikun Chabad in Lud, tells how he helped renovate the tziyun of R’ Levi Yitzchok and the unusual favor the Rebbe repaid him with as soon as he moved to Eretz Yisrael.
By: Nosson Avrohom
Rabbi Shlomo Aryeh Niazov, of Shikun Chabad in
Lud, has a soul-connection with the Rebbe which
began while he still lived in Tashkent in the middle
of 5731. That year, he lived, like many of his fellow
Bucharians, in Tashkent. The rigid communist regime
did not allow people to leave the country, certainly not
to Eretz Yisrael. If someone made the request, in the
best case scenario he was just harassed, or in a worse
case he was fired from his job.
Despite this, R’ Niazov submitted a request to leave
the Soviet Union and prayed to Hashem that he would
be allowed to do so.
His friend, Rabbi Mendel Garelik, suggested that he
join him on a trip to Almaty, to the tziyun of R’ Levi
Yitzchok Schneerson, and to ask that he plead on his
behalf before the One on High. Niazov jumped at the
opportunity.
“The visit to the tziyun was an inspiring experience for
me,” he said. “We first immersed in a secret mikva in
the city and then we spent the entire day praying by
the Rebbe’s father, that he should pray to Hashem on
our behalf to speed our personal redemption from the
Soviet vale of tears.
“When I looked around me, I was upset at the
tremendous neglect at the tziyun and the environs.
The kever was surrounded by the graves of gentiles. It
was sad to see the tzaddik in exile among gentiles even
after his passing.
“That evening, I returned in an emotional state and
filled with hope to my home in Tashkent, to my wife
and four children.”
Just two days later, Niazov was astonished to see a
letter from the emigration office in his mailbox with an
exit visa from the Soviet Union for him and his family.
Afterward, he learned that he was the only one of his
neighbors, friends and people in the entire area who
also asked to leave, who received permission to go.
“I had no doubt in whose merit I received the visa.”
DOUBLE MIRACLES
The unfortunate condition of the tziyun bothered
other Chassidim too and the decision was made to
clean and renovate it. After lengthy searching, they
found a Bucharian Jew by the name of Rabbi Gavriel
Ochunov, who could do the work.
At first, he declined since he was sick and weak. He
suffered from headaches. Niazov explained to him that
only because of the merit of davening at the tzaddik’s
grave did he receive his visa. It was then that Ochunov
agreed to travel to Almaty to do the necessary work.
Needless to say, a short while later he no longer suffered
from headaches. Within a few days, he too received an
exit visa releasing him from the Iron Curtain.
Later on, the two of them, R’ Shlomo Niazov and R’
Gavriel Ochunov became mechutanim.
