By Menachem Rubinstein

Two things stood out to Rabbi Yosef Mishulovin as he approached the Chabad shul in Samarkand this past Adar.

First, the community had an actual shul that he was no longer afraid to attend. Second, local police were protecting it.

Both facts stood in stark contrast to the last time R’ Yosef strolled the streets of the Uzbek city almost 60 years earlier, when it was buried deep behind the Iron Curtain.

Many people know R’ Yosef as the owner of Chabad Atara’s bookstore and one of the pillars of the Los Angeles Chabad community. R’ Yosef started Cheder Menachem in the early 1990s despite never attending formal school as a young child in Samarkand. He was also one of the original members of Congregation Levi Yitzchok.

Less well known is the story of R’ Yosef’s childhood in Samarkand and the many challenges his family overcame along the way. A recent family visit to Samarkand made it crystal clear that the Mesiras Nefesh of the previous generations produced visible results almost 60 years later.

The Legend of Samarkand

R’ Yosef was born in Samarkand in Adar 1956. His parents, R’ Eliyahu and Sara, née Zaltzman, fled to Samarkand during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The city had a large Lubavitch community, but everyone had to observe Yiddishkeit secretly. R’ Eliyahu served as the unofficial “Rosh Hakohol” of the city despite suffering a major illness he developed as a young man while walking home from a Yud Tes Kislev farbrengen in the snow.

R’ Eliyahu made sure never to record any of his community-related cheshbonos in writing out of fear that the Soviet authorities might discover them. Mrs. Mishulovin had extended family in the city, including her brothers Hillel and Berel Zaltzman. The Mishulovin family had a pet goat that supplied them with Cholov Yisrael milk, and only the kitchen of their home had indoor plumbing.

The city had a few mikvaos, including the mikvah made famous by the chosid R’ Refoel Chudaitov. R’ Refoel once drank the murky mikvah water in front of a Soviet official to assure him the pool was being used for water storage and not ritual purposes. The Mishulovin family also had a mikvah in the shed behind their house.

Most community members, including adults, davened at home in Samarkand out of fear of being caught by the secret police. Children gathered in a different boy’s house every few weeks instead of an official school building. Yiddishkeit could only be practiced in secret in the Soviet Union. R’ Yosef did not set foot inside a shul the entire time he lived in Samarkand. As a result, today he is particular to respect the decorum and sanctity of shul and davening. R’ Yosef is also a perfectionist when it comes to pronouncing the words of the Tefilos and Krias HaTorah. Those who sit at his table know that R’ Yosef does not permit any talking during davening or Kaddish.

R’ Yosef remembers his parents sending letters to the Rebbe via Israel, addressing the letters to “uncle” instead of Rabbi Schneerson. A relative in Israel would receive the letters and then forward them to the Rebbe’s office. Once, the Rebbe responded to one of the letters and signed it “Mendel.”

R’ Yosef remembers learning the Bar Mitzvah ma’amar in the living room of his childhood home. Many families left Samarkand in 1946. R’ Yosef’s family tried for many years to gain permission to leave too. The family was finally allowed to move to Israel in 1969. The majority of the community left Samarkand a few years later, in 1971. Many of these families, including R’ Yosef’s, settled in Kfar Chabad. Sadly, R’ Yosef’s father, R’ Eliyahu, passed away from his illness at the age of 41 just three years after the family resettled in Israel. Mrs. Sara Mishulovin, later Cohen, passed away at the age of 91 in 2023.

70th Birthday

R’ Yosef’s children wanted to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday in a unique way. The Mishulovin children grew up knowing about the legendary stories of Samarkand, many of which are published in the book “Samarkand,” written by their great-uncle, Hillel Zaltzman. R’ Yosef did not discuss his Samarkand experiences often. The Mishulovin children had the idea to accompany their father on a visit to Samarkand to see where it all began for their family.

“I didn’t want to do it,” relates R’ Yosef. “My children took me kicking and screaming! But for my children to see where their ancestors lived with Mesiras Nefesh, I agreed to do it. This was only for my children.”

After months of planning and arranging the logistics, six of the Mishulovin children flew from various cities throughout the world and met up with their father in Tashkent. From Tashkent, they hired a driver to take them on the five-hour journey to Samarkand.

Visit to Samarkand

Once in Samarkand, the Mishulovins visited the Chabad shul. R’ Yosef was surprised to see police guarding the building. Growing up in Samarkand during Soviet times, there was a small shul, but only elderly members of the community attended. In fact, the police at the time sought to arrest people who davened, not protect them! It was a true “V’Nahafoch Hu” moment and a fitting experience for the month of Adar.

R’ Yosef and his children also visited the Jewish cemetery. This was particularly meaningful, as R’ Yosef remembers many of the people buried there, including his grandmother and two great-grandmothers. R’ Yosef’s daughter Alta Bracha Goldstein was especially moved to daven by the kever of her great-grandmother, for whom she is named. Her great-grandmother, together with her husband R’ Avraham Zaltzman, sacrificed to live as observant Jews in Samarkand. Decades later, Alta and her family are continuing their ancestors’ example by spreading Yiddishkeit as shluchim in Naperville, Illinois.

23 Roza Luxembourg

R’ Yosef wanted to find his childhood home, but he was not hopeful. A relative recently visited Samarkand and reported that the home was no longer there. After discussing this with a cemetery attendant, R’ Yosef was surprised to learn that his childhood home was actually still standing, only the street had been renamed after the fall of Communism. The Mishulovin children sprang into action, knocking on every house on the block until they reached 23 Roza Luxembourg. That’s when R’ Yosef saw a familiar sight.

“I was completely shocked,” says R’ Yosef.

His children had helped him find his childhood home. The residents of the home were happy to allow the Mishulovin children and their father inside the home where he lived until he was thirteen.

R’ Yosef’s parents sold the home in 1969 to another Chabad family to ensure that the mikvah would continue to operate. The home was sold again in 1971 when it became clear that most of the community intended to leave Samarkand. The Uzbeki family who bought the home in 1971 still owns it today. The grandfather of the current owner, who speaks Russian and also lives in the home, was able to converse with R’ Yosef and give him a guided tour.

“My father was stunned,” relates Levi Mishulovin. “You could just see it on his face.”

R’ Yosef says it was a happy form of shock. This living room was where the majority of R’ Yosef’s time was spent as a child. It was the room where his brother Shalom Ber’s bris took place in 1959, R’ Yosef’s first memory from Samarkand. It was the room where he learned in the underground Cheder, studied his Bar Mitzvah ma’amar, put on Tefillin for the first time in secret, and even just played with the construction toys his mother bought him. Standing there with his children almost 60 years later was an emotional but proud moment.

When asked whether he was happy he made the trek to Samarkand, R’ Yosef responds without hesitation: “Yes, yes, yes!” He was proud to show his children where it all began, and he even wants to visit again. For his children Chana Cohen, Chaim Eliyahu, Alta Bracha Goldstein, Levi, Ahron Laizer, and Mushka, an important piece of the family puzzle had been pieced together. Nearly 60 years after R’ Yosef and his family left Samarkand, the Mesiras Nefesh of the previous generations had tangible results.

It was a meaningful and inspiring way to celebrate R’ Yosef’s 70th birthday.

Rabbi Yosef Mishulovin can be reached at [email protected]. The author can be reached at [email protected].