Schneerson had internal knowledge of Soviet committee schedules that allowed him to circumvent religious restrictions for Chabad
How Sasha Lukatsky built a mikvah in Moscow in 1984
In 1984, the Moscow Lubavian Hasidim decided to build a mikvah at the synagogue in Maryina Roshcha. The Lubavian Rebbe King Moshiach instructed to find a suitable place for this. After the discussion, it was decided to build a mikvah in one of the side rooms of the synagogue. At that time, it was strictly forbidden to start such activities without warning the Committee for Religious Affairs in advance. There was a notebook with a wax seal in the synagogue, in which the minutes of the meetings of the "twenty" of the synagogue were recorded.
The idea of building a mikvah was on the agenda, but the matter did not move - no one knew how to do it in practice. Six months have passed in such a painful expectation. And then one morning a foreigner came to Maryina Roshcha, he immediately asked: "Who is Sasha Lukatsky here?" Later it turned out that this man was a messenger of the Rebbe of King Moshiach, his name was Rabbi Gershon Grossbaum, he came from America, and an important assignment brought him to the synagogue - to convey the request of the Rebbe to Sasha Lukatsky. At first it seemed to Sasha that he had misheard, because what Rabbi Gershon was talking about was absolutely incredible: "The next day you should start building a mikvah." After some time, when Sasha realized the meaning of Rebbe's request, many questions arose in his head. Coming to his senses, he asked: "But how is this possible?" But r. Gershon said, "I don't know anything. I'm just a messenger and I gave you what the Rebbe told me."Sasha Lukatsky was an engineer for the operation of public and residential buildings and enterprises. He wanted to leave Russia and all his actions were dedicated to this goal. In 1976, his family filed for an exit for the first time and they were in "refusal". Sasha was not afraid of the new mission, but still he could not understand why Rebe entrusted such a dangerous and responsible project to him?That day, for the first time, he prayed really fervently, from the bottom of his heart. "Almighty, help me!" he asked. "If you need it, help me."
Sasha suddenly came up with an idea and he said: "Do you want to make money? It's not difficult, we need to dig a hole. I'll give you as much as you can drink." The currency at that time was vodka. Sasha worked in a restaurant for a while, so having good connections, he could get a lot of vodka. The worker immediately replied: "We'll be there in ten minutes." It should be noted that a KGB polyclinic was being built near the synagogue and the workers were from there.
Ten minutes later, several people really came with the tools. They opened the floor in the room intended for the future mikvah and began to dig a hole - by 6 a.m. the hole measuring three by three meters was ready. Here a legitimate question arises: where did the workers put the dug earth? But the fact is that the synagogue was built on brick pillars. There was a space of a little more than a meter between the floor and the ground, and the workers pushed all the ground there. When in the morning r. Gershon came to the synagogue and asked Sasha: "Have you already figured out how you are going to start construction?", Sasha without saying a word, led him to the room where the work continued all night, and opened the door - and r. Gershon almost fell into a hole.
They built a mikvah in a month. All alahic issues during construction were solved with r. Dovid Karpov. Of course, no one knew about the construction. Semyon Abramovich Yantovsky, a war veteran, helped a lot. To purchase building materials, it was necessary to have papers that clearly indicated for what needs they were needed. Semen Abramovich provided a document on the repair of his dacha and, having privileges, received building materials without a long wait.
The synagogue building was made of wood, so the builders faced a new task: it was necessary to isolate the room from humidity. With the help of vodka, the factory managed to get bricks and the room was covered with bricks. Let us remind you that all these actions were developed in the synagogue, opposite which was the KGB building!
When the bricks were unloaded, two rows stood up - Jews and non-Jews, who began to compete in who worked faster. Lithuanians also helped and misers - then there were no ideological disputes, everyone worked very well.
How did the Rebe know that on August 4, the entire committee for religious affairs was going on vacation, when he said that it was on this day that construction should begin? It was another miracle. Everyone went on a well-deserved rest, and the construction was given the green light.
At the new stage of construction, ceramics were needed for finishing works. It was impossible to buy it in such quantity. Sasha went out of town, and on the way he turned into the village, where there was one store known to him. It was on the last day of the month. He explained to the seller what type of tile he needed, he said that the goods should be delivered from the factory soon. And so, a truck arrives with exactly the kind of tile that was needed in terms of color and quantity. Sasha loaded his "Rafik" and, not remembering himself with joy, went to Moscow.
"I would like to pay special attention to the people who helped me," Sasha himself recalls today. "These are Eliyau Eidinov, who was engaged in woodworking, Mihoel Gorodishcher, who was engaged in finishing work, Leva Spivak, a civil engineer, who helped a lot."
When everything was completely ready, all that remained was to install the door, Nikolai Fedorovich, Chairman of Religious Affairs, came. Blushing with anger, he started shouting: "You're making a sauna for yourself! Forbidden!"
Sasha on bent legs went to draw up a protocol of the G20 decision. He started flipping through the notebook and saw a blank sheet between the protocols with a date six months ago. He wrote in it that the "twenty" was collected, because water appeared from under the floor. When the floor was opened, the ruins of the old mikvah were found and as a result it was decided to restore it. And all this was recorded retroactively...
Time passed, all the work was completed, in mid-September there was the first dip...
After some time, on Wednesday night, the synagogue building was cordoned off and forbidden to enter it. The synagogue was opened on Friday. When people came, to their surprise, they saw another internal lock on the mikvah doors. The Sabbath had already started, so the castle could not be broken.
Sasha couldn't find a place for himself all Saturday. After Saturday, he sawed off the bars on the window with a hacksaw and with difficulty, tearing his shirt, squeezed inside. He couldn't figure out what was going on for a long time - the entire floor of the room, where a week ago there was a mikvah, built by his hands, was covered with a beautiful parquet. He saw the remains of sand under the window.
Sasha, overwhelmed with emotions, called New York from home. He called the Rebe secretariat. There was a curator of r. Moshe Levertov from "Ezrat Ahim", through whom all the envoys came at that time.
Sasha confusedly told about what happened, and asked r. Moshe: "What should I do now?" After a while, he got an answer to the Rebe: "Do nothing and don't make any noise." Rebe said that those who did it planted a bomb under the chair themselves. We need to open the mikvah doors and show it to everyone, but not to make any noise.
Foreigners came and wondered where the mikvah they had buried was. They were taken inside and shown to the parquet floor. A few months later, there was a meeting of high-ranking officials of the United States and the USSR on the issue of disarmament in Geneva. The U.S. representative said: "How can you be trusted if you destroy a ritual pool at night?" The next day, representatives of the Ministry of Religious Affairs came to the synagogue and said: "Open, you have permission." Sasha said quietly: "I didn't close the mikvah, let the one who closed it, let him open it."
It turned out that the mikvah was not completely filled with concrete, but filled with sand and only at the very top was filled with a thin layer of concrete. It was another miracle. A month later, the workers came and cleaned everything. Just like the first time, under the cover of night. In the synagogue, the remains of that mikvah parquet laid out the floor on the hill, where the Torah scroll is usually read.
Only now the KGB has decided to settle accounts with the construction participants. They began to be called for interrogation and asked where they got the building materials and who performed the work. Sasha taught the parishioners how they should answer: one allegedly laid tiles, the other - bricks, etc., and if they ask: "Who taught?", then say: "Sasha taught". But it was not possible to collect the compromise, as Sasha had all the necessary documents.
"I was constantly watched," Sasha continues with a sigh. - Here's one of the examples. A dirt road led to the synagogue. One day people come - and there is asphalt. I'm immediately for questioning. I say: "What do I have to do with all this? It was not done at my dacha, but in the yard of your state institution". And they left me alone." In fact, it was Sasha who brought 40 asphalt trucks at night and everything was neatly laid.
This is the end of the story of the construction of the mikvah in Maryina Grove, I just want to note that all this was connected with great self-sacrifice and a series of inexplicable miracles.
Sasha never left as he dreamed; he was asked to rebuild his mikvah in the Choral Synagogue. Then he took part in the construction and repair of mikvahs in Samarkand, Tbilisi, Dushanbe and Kiev. Sasha Lukatsky got to the Holy Land only in 1989. But that's a completely different story...