A fire tore through the main visitors center and synagogue near the gravesite of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, in Haditch, Ukraine, Friday night.
The blaze reduced the center, one of the most visited Jewish sites in Eastern Europe, to a burned-out shell. The complex had been preparing to welcome large crowds next month for the 281st anniversary of Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s birth. While the red brick mausoleum in the ancient Jewish cemetery down the hill was unharmed, the synagogue and main visitors center was destroyed, with only exposed beams and blackened walls remaining.
“We are in utter shock,” said Rabbi Shneur Zalman Deitsch, the Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi who oversees operations at the holy site. “The building is gone. The center that once teemed with life is now a shell. But I am here on a mission, as an emissary of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, successor to the Alter Rebbe,” he said, referring to Rabbi Schneur Zalman by his familiar Yiddish title, which translates as the Old Rebbe. “We are in pain, but we are not discouraged. We will find the strength to rebuild, whatever effort and investment it requires.”
This past weekend, a Jewish group from Kyiv arrived for a Shabbat seminar. Shortly after midnight on Friday morning, participants noticed a fire and immediately called emergency services. Jewish law permits calling emergency services and extinguishing a fire when lives may be at risk, as is generally the case with fires in modern occupied buildings or residential areas.
The fire began in a sealed space between the ceiling and the roof. With no way to access its source, firefighters struggled to contain the flames as they spread rapidly through the main building. Before long, the entire structure was engulfed.
All the guests escaped unharmed, with several of them managing to rescue the Torah scrolls from the burning synagogue.
The building itself was reduced to a burned-out shell, its concrete and steel frame left exposed to the sky. Burnt pages from holy books lay scattered among charred wood and illustrations of Rabbi Schneur Zalman.
Dating Back 200 Years
Born in 1745, at the age of 20 Rabbi Schneur Zalman became a follower of Rabbi Dovber, the famed Maggid of Mezritch, the successor of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement. Following the Maggid’s passing in 1772, his leading disciples divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence within which each would work to spread the wellsprings of Chassidism, with the Alter Rebbe’s territory lying roughly within the boundaries of today’s Lithuania, White Russia and eastern Ukraine.
For the final decade of his life, the Alter Rebbe lived in Liadi, modern-day Belarus. When Napoleon invaded the Russian Empire in 1812, the Alter Rebbe pointedly supported the Russian Czar, declaring that while the Jewish people’s material prospects would improve under Napoleon, their spiritual state would suffer. He added that whatever material gain they enjoy would likewise be temporary. “It is a great distress for the Jews, for not one will remain [steadfast] in his Judaism, nor retain his possessions,” he said.
As Napoleon’s Grande Armée advanced into Russia, the Alter Rebbe fled deeper into the Russian interior with his family and hundreds of his followers. During the journey, while stopping in the village of Piena (today’s Peny, deep in Russia’s Kursk province), he passed away on 24 Teves, 5573 (December 27, 1812 O.S.).
Because Piena had no Jewish cemetery, his family and Chassidim brought him to Haditch, approximately 180 miles away southeast, for burial. Later that year, an Ohel was erected over the gravesite, in keeping with the tradition of building such a structure at the resting place of a tzaddik.
The Ohel was constructed under the careful supervision of the Alter Rebbe’s son and successor, Rabbi Dov Ber, together with the Alter Rebbe’s brother, Rabbi Yehuda Leib, himself a distinguished Torah scholar.
They issued detailed practical and halachic instructions for the site, including that an olive oil lamp remain lit in the mausoleum at all times and that a small synagogue be built beside the room containing the grave.
Over the generations, the site became an important destination for Jews from across Europe, who traveled there personally or sent written petitions known as panim. Members of the local Jewish community maintained the site under the direction of the successive Chabad rebbes.
During the turbulent years of the Russian Revolution, visiting the site became increasingly dangerous. In 1942, the Nazis murdered Haditch’s local Jewish community. The restoration of Soviet rule after World War II brought renewed persecution of religious life, and the site remained virtually deserted, visited only by the courageous few who made the journey when possible.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, visitors slowly began to return. As travel to the former Soviet Union became more accessible, their numbers steadily grew, particularly on dates associated with the Alter Rebbe: his birthday on 18 Elul; the anniversary of his release from Czarist imprisonment on 19 Kislev,; and especially 24 Teves, the anniversary of his passing.
To accommodate the growing crowds, a spacious visitors center was built in 2012. It included a large synagogue to supplement the smaller shul adjoining the gravesite, as well as a library, mikvah, dining facilities, and other amenities. Guest rooms for extended stays were built in adjacent buildings.
The complex was dedicated by the Rohr family of Miami and New York in memory of their parents, Sami and Charlotte Rohr. A leading philanthropist who played a major role in the worldwide expansion of Chabad, Sami Rohr felt a special connection to the Alter Rebbe. He envisioned the complex as a place where more people could connect with the Alter Rebbe’s teachings and legacy, and with the Chabad movement he founded.
The number of visitors continued to rise each year, with thousands arriving every winter for 24 Teves. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the suspension of all air travel caused a sharp decline, but as the war continued, visitors gradually began returning. Most come from across Ukraine, with groups holding Shabbaton weekends, weekday prayer services, and other gatherings at the site.
A preliminary investigation has determined that the Friday night inferno was likely caused by an electrical short circuit. It is believed that repeated wartime power outages and damage to the regional energy infrastructure compromised the building’s electrical system, ultimately causing the short.
With the gravesite itself unharmed and the need for prayer particularly acute at this time, closing the center has not been considered. Workers have already begun to clear the ashes, and temporary walls and roofing will be erected around the damaged structure while plans for a complete reconstruction are prepared.
“From the moment Shabbat ended, we began receiving hundreds of calls offering support and encouragement from around the world,” Deitsch said. “We are already looking ahead to a new complex. We will not simply replace what was lost. With G‑d’s help, we will build an even larger and more beautiful center, capable of serving the many thousands of visitors we hope to welcome.”
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