Yaakov Zechariah Maskalik, known publicly as Reb Yankel Zhuravitzer (1897–1938) was a rabbi and underground

Chabad-Lubavitch Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

activist in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the early years of the

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

regime. In defiance of the Soviet authorities, Maskalik compiled locations of usable

mikvah Mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvoth'', ''mikvot'', or (Yiddish) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. Most forms of ritual impurity can be purifi ...

s (ritual baths) across the Soviet Union and distributed them in little notes to Jewish women in marketplaces. In the early 1930s, he resided in the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

suburb of

Malakhovka Malakhovka (russian: Мала́ховка) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Malakhovka, Moscow Oblast, a suburb of Moscow with historic dachasToda, Yasushi and Nozdrina, Nadezhda N.(2008) ''The Cottages in ...

until his arrest in 1935. Like many Chabad activists arrested by the authorities, he was deported to Central Asia, exiled to the village of Halkina, located 35 miles from the Kazakh city of

Chimkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is on ...

.Berger, Shneur Zalman "FROM RUSSIA TO MOROCCO ON THE REBBE’S SHLICHUS" ''Beis Moshiach'' Magazine 13 Kislev, 5668 http://beismoshiach.org/_pdf/624.pdf Maskalik was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in 1935 and executed in 1938. The exact date and location of his execution is not known.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhuravitzer, Yaakov Soviet dissidents Russian Orthodox Jews Russian people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Soviet detention Jews executed by the Soviet Union