After the Communist revolution, the authorities demanded that all citizens hand over any gold treasures in their possession to the state. Anyone suspected of hiding gold was imprisoned and tortured in order to reveal the hiding place of the valuables.
Many wealthy Jews in the city of Yekaterinoslav tried to conceal their gold and were subsequently imprisoned and tortured. The city’s Rabbi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, decided to visit them in prison and rebuke them for endangering their lives and the well-being of their families for the sake of money and gold.
Upon entering, he said to them:
“If you want to sit in prison—by all means, sit there for keeping Shabbat and fulfilling the Torah and mitzvot. But to be imprisoned and tortured over gold? That is absurd and illogical.”
His words convinced many, and as a result, their lives were spared.
