Shortly after the learning commenced, boys began to arrive in Samarkand from other areas. One of them was Moshe Leib Rotner, from the town Munkatch in the Carpathian Mountains.

Moshe Leib Rotner's father, a Jew by the name of R. Yaakov Chaim, was a pious man who raised his children to be observant Jews, and he was looking for a place where they could study and be raised according to the Torah.

Boys began to arrive from other areas

Since the Carpathian region was only conquered by the Communists in 1946, the Carpathian Jews were not as accustomed to secrecy as were the Lubavitchers, who had been hounded by the government for years, and many of whom had been imprisoned. As such, when R. Yaakov Chaim heard that there was a yeshiva in Samarkand, he was sure that as soon as he arrived he would find it. If he did not find it, he figured that he could ask in the local shul and he would be directed to the right place.

When he arrived in Samarkand, he quickly realized that there was no one to speak to, so he went to the shul in the Old City, frequented only by the Bucharian Jews and a few older Lubavitchers, as it was under constant surveillance by the authorities. Inside the shul he met R. Feivish Genkin.

When R. Feivish heard that this Jew was looking for a yeshiva for his son, it sounded somewhat suspicious to him; anyone looking for a yeshiva should have known that the shul was the last place to talk about such things! Besides, R. Feivish himself knew nothing about the yeshiva, as its existence was a total secret. After a lengthy conversation, R. Feivish realized that he was an honest and reliable person, and a devout Jew. He then told him that he had also heard a rumor about a yeshiva but his efforts to discover its location were surely in vain. Even if a yeshiva truly existed, he would surely not be told about it. R. Yaakov Chaim realized he would not get anywhere, so he returned to the Carpathians, brokenhearted.

Heaven must have seen his genuine desire that his children study Torah, and Divine Providence orchestrated events in the most extraordinary way: A few years later, my brother Berel went to the Carpathians for the summer for a family vacation, as the climate there was mild even during the hot summer months. He heard thatHeaven must have seen his genuine desire there were G‑d fearing Jews living in Munkatch, and as fate would have it, he came to stay with the Rotner family.

When he saw how the house was run in accordance with Halacha and how the father longed for his children to learn in a yeshiva, he suggested that he send one of his sons to be our guest in Samarkand. This would slowly enable him to integrate into the Jewish community in Samarkand. At that point, Berel still made no mention of any learning.

Indeed, Moshe Leib Rotner showed up in Samarkand sometime later, and before long, he had joined the learning in the yeshiva.